Looking Twice at Sarah Palin

The media (old and new) is rushing to tell Americans who the real Sarah Palin is. I may be am admittedly a little cynical, but in truth I don’t believe it’s a job the American people particularly want done.
    Those who thrilled to her last week at the Republican National Convention know what they want to know about the governor of Alaska and vice presidential candidate.
   Those who were appalled by the spirited attack of her acceptance speech know all they need to know about Sarah Barracuda.
   Palin has proven to be the most divisive political figure of the election. I have absolutely no idea who wins from that fact: She energizes both the Republican conservative wing, who were never that fond of John McCain, as well as Democrats who see her as George Bush with an up-do.
    I guarantee that newspapers, magazines, and broadcast news organizations win from Palin’s unique story and colorful character. She is, as newspapermen used to say, “good copy.”
    In this kind of environment, the role of political imagery becomes really interesting. Pictures don’t inform people with facts, but they do create an iconography that tells a story, and they do allow voters to gaze into a candidate’s eyes and judge them on an emotional level. This week’s newsweeklies are each a case in point:

Newsweek
Here is some iconography, for sure: Palin, workshirt, gun. (Can anyone tell us what kind of gun that is? It’s broken open like a shotgun, but I thought she shoots moose…is that what you use to hunt moose?)
     I can hear the Palin-haters exhaling is disgust at the Newsweek shot, which is a visual amplification of the Palin mythology unleashed last week at the RNC. The brilliant cover line, “Palin*tol*ogy,” promises something more and suggests we will be given an unapologetic peek behind the myth. But the power here is the reinforced image of Palin as an unorthodox politician with blue-collar values.
     There is also a case to be made that in casting Palin in this way, Newsweek is accurately pointing out that the 2008 election has become a one-issue contest. That issue is Sarah Palin and the psycho-cultural space she occupies. With Palin aboard the Republican ticket, the election is not about economy or war, but about red-state vs. blue-state values.

Time
Here is another approach to the Palin story, and a far more emotional one. If Newsweek presents the Palin myth, Time wants to show us Palin the person. We come in very close. Eye contact? Forget about it—this is soul contact.
     Unlike Newsweek, the Time cover line does not promise to coldly dissect the Palin story. This is a warmer promise. Let’s dispense with the vitriol, this cover says, and really get to know Sarah Palin, what she’s been going through, and how she is learning what it means to be a big-time politician.
     I'm not entirely comfortable with emotional responses to great issues, and this cover seems to me to be a win for Palin. Test yourself and look into her eyes. Judge the set of her mouth. Do you see the compassion of a mom, or the grit of a maverick politician who gets things done her way? (Either way, it’s a positive message for Palin. Michael Shaw of Bag News Notes has an interesting discussion of the psychological implications of the image.)
    For my part, I am simply struck by the fact that Time cropped out the famous Palin hair-do, a visual way of saying, “Let’s get past the clichés.” But photography is not very good at that.—David Schonauer

Comments

[MarcW]

The picture's not really clear enough to tell, but it's almost certainly a single-barrelled shotgun. I can't tell if that's a hammer-spur or not. She is a firearms enthusiast and might have taken the picture for publicity purposes, so the firearm may not be hers.

You could hunt moose with a shotgun using slug projectiles, I guess, but yes, normally you'd use a rifle. There *are* rifles that break that way, but they're very, very expensive. OTOH, again, it might not be hers, or she might just have a really, really expensive rifle.

[David Schonauer]

Thanks for clearing that up Marc. I suppose moose is not the only thing she goes after, so if it is her gun she may use it for other game.

[joycemocha]

It's certainly not carried in what I would consider to be a safe manner for field use, or general gun handling. Most other gun-knowledgeable women I've talked to are recoiling from the awkward and unsafe positioning of that gun. In fact, that was my first reaction. While it's a staged shot, anyone who's had even a modicum of safe gun handling training would have insisted on a more responsible picture.

Wonder just how many other gun-knowledgeable women out there had a reaction like mine?

[LBD]

The breech looks too big to be a rifle, plus there is no rear sight, so I doubt it's a rifle. If I had to guess, I'd say it's a 12 gauge shotgun, but it could even be 10 gauge.

> joycemocha: Handling it like that is not what I learned, but I've seen pictures of people carrying their shotgun this way, most recently from the Olympics. The breech is open, so I don't believe there is a fundamental safety problem.

[Matthew A. Flinchbaugh]

For one I have to comment on the way News is reported. If a News/media of any type is going to write an article about something then do some research. Yes, using slugs, you can hunt moose they have a good knock down power at short range, like 50-100yards. The gun is not broken open, it is a break action 12 or 10 gauge shotgun. Get the terminology correct. Also, how is she an unorthodox politician? Because she has a gun? Guess I must be unorthodox, because I own a gun to, and almost anyone I know. Next gripe is, a gun carried in this manner, will not fire if the action is open, or in State of the Art's words, broken open. At that point all the gun is, is a piece of wood, synthetic material, and some steel. And guess what there are alot of blue-collar people out there, more then are not.

I say good move on her part to appeal to the majority. And it makes me glad to say I'm republican, and that she is my VP candidate.

Also one last gripe while I'm on a roll. News/media unless openly admits to being one party or another should not even print something that goes around the corner with out saying that they them selves are biased to another party.

[Embassy Pro Books]

Let the fiasco begin!