#obamahope

[irisputnam]

Rumination 13

In this week's class lecture, we focused on the topic of still life with rhetoric in chapter 8! Our main focus was on the idea of the Obama Hope poster and the remixes that came along with this art! This original photo was owned by AP when Shepard Fairey decided he wanted to take this work and remix it in his own ways! The original Obama poster said “Progress” but later the new one read “Hope.” Not only was the title altered in the beginning, but the photo of Obama himself was changed. In the real-life picture of him, he wasn’t exactly showing hope. They altered his head location and his gaze to create this image of hope that may have not been there. This photo grew very quickly and soon had over 300,000 prints by the end of 2008. As this art became more and more popular many people also decided to create their own versions of this art, some even made jokes. This image started to be used on accessories, toys, tote bags, and even in fashion along with many other things. The remixed art wasn’t always red, white, and blue or very political. There are many examples that are now seen as memes. One of my favorite remixes we talked about in class was the Obama Brains poster. The poster has turned Obama into a zombie to make a point and I found it very interesting to learn about! People have become very creative with the idea of this poster and making so many funny or even very thoughtful Obama Hope posters! I overall believe that this poster and the remix by Shepard Fairey made a huge impact back then and are still impacting topics today. Overall, I learned a lot in this week's lecture!

[rileybrittain-blog]

Obama Hope

The Obama Hope phenomenon of 2008 was definitely a craze. I remember a lot of things being completely decked out in Obama hope merch, I even remember having an Obama doll. The funny thing, looking back, is that the majority of the public really didn't seem all that interested in Obama’s policies, in fact, I think the public was most stoked about the fact that America finally had a black president elected into office. The inherent need for this to happen probably provoked a lot of idealism surrounding Obama, with many claiming he would save the country or claiming (rather irrationally) that he was “magical”. In essence, supporting outlandish and irrational ideals for one man. While it's true he did everything he could for the country, some claims were simply impossible for a man to accomplish in 4-8 years. I will not get political because I truly don't think this is a political debate, I think that the Obama Hope era was actually more of a capitalist movement geared toward getting people excited for a new era in America. While reading Laurie Gries’s “Still Life with Rhetoric: A New Materialist Approach for Visual Rhetorics” one idea popped out to me. She explains a marketing strategy called attribution. This theory supports the idea that if a person, in this case, Obama, gets you to purchase an item with their slogan, face, etc., then you are more likely to support them in the future. In other words, if you make a financial commitment then you're committing to that campaign. This idea stuck with me because I was already considering the fact that this accidental work of art was an ingenious marketing scheme. While it seems to be completely accidental for Fairey to make such an impactful poster, in the end, this poster goes on to be globally recognized as not just art but as a symbol of hope and progress.

[createdbybreej]

Week 13 Rumination

This week we examined Gries still life with rhetoric. We examined the History of the 2008 Obama Hope campaign, as well as the four characteristics of visual ideographs. These characteristics are ordinary images, high-order abstractions, culture bound and warrant certain uses of power. Remixes and parodies are a major theme of this chapter. Shepard Fairey first remixed the original Obama photo by changing the word “progress” to “hope”. Above are two examples of the Obama Hope parody. A parody is referred to as an imitation of a particular style for comic effect. In the first image Obama was replaced with the fictional character the Joker and the word hope was changed to joke at the bottom of the campaign. You even see the political sticker originally on Obama changed to a smiley face which is Joker’s signature. In the second image, Obama was changed to a zombie. They remixed the image and turned the president into something else and added the word brains to support the image. Another thing I wanted to talk about within this chapter is Media Viruses. According to Douglas Rushkoff, there are three kinds of media viruses. These three kinds are Intentional, Co-opted or bandwagon and self-generated. I looked into Rushkoff and his popular book Media Virus: Hidden Agendas In Popular Culture. This book uses media activism as a way to empower others. He coined the term “media virus” to convey how ideas can spread and develop in a place with greater interactive communication. I was intrigued by the different ways he described and examined media viruses. Rushkoff believes popular media both manipulates and is manipulated by others. We experience this daily with social media. Individuals become influenced by the things they see or hear on various platforms. In this same sense, people bandwagon football teams and other popular media. This is what Douglas Rushkoff expresses within his book.

[mglandrey]

This week we discussed chapter 8- Still Life with Rhetoric by Gries. Specifically, we focused on the Obama Hope commodification and marketing. The iconic Obama Hope graphic was a remix to an original photo owned by AP. This quick edit blew up and soon had around 300 thousand printed and given away by the end of 2008 with a lawsuit that followed. There was no single cause for the rampant commodification, but some people really thought it was a smart campaign choice. The original picture said “progress” but was altered to “HOPE” per campaign. With this we discussed the attribution theory which is considered to be a smart campaign strategy. This was buying and donating money towards the campaign that then leads to you likely to vote. Some would say that this method was not economically motivated. There were also alternate hypothesis such as black bodies which were historical practices that started with slave trade which led to erasing human qualities. Then fetishization which was a circulation of reproduction such as people thinking that Obama would save the world and be some hero with magical qualities. My personal ah-ha moment during the lecture happened when we talked about “Obama zombie” which referred to the brainwashed people that actually believed he could save the world. Moving on from the hypothesis, we touched on the Obama construction that raised $25,000 for the Oregon food bank using the Hope campaign. Following, we discussed political art and satire and the common tropes such as the versions of Obama Hope with “failed policies” in place of HOPE on the graphic. Overall, I enjoyed this weeks lecture and getting to dive deeper into the Obama campaign that is so commonly known around America.

*image from google

[tynilvenus]

Week 13 Rumination

For week 13, we covered Obama Hope. Obama Hope was a poster made by Shepard Fairey to help campaign for Obama's 2008 presidency. There were three versions of the poster made, one with "Hope," one with "Progress," and one with "Change." The purpose of these posters was to showcase the promises that Obama was going to change the world. Americans idolized him and put huge expectations that he was later not able to uphold. Obama Hope became a widely publicized movement that didn't stop at posters. It turned into dresses, accessories, toys, stickers, tote bags, and more. People also started remixing these posters into other things such as a picture of Trump and putting "Grope" at the bottom.

I really enjoyed this chapter because it gave me a future understanding of what irony and remix mean. Also, I learned about a topic I was previously unaware of. I have seen many remixes of the Obama Hope campaign, but I did not realize that it originated from the campaign. It was fascinating to see the amount of publicity that got picked up from something that was initially not supposed to. This makes me wonder how things become popular. For example, what made this poster so special that it is now worth $5,000 but other posters during the campaign are unheard of today.

After learning about how people iodized President Obama because of the promises he made, it made me think of Trump. Compared to Obama, the number of people who iodized Trump is incomparable. Trump created a source of minions that worshiped him and everything he stood for. So much so that when he lost the second election, they wanted to take charge of the situation by breaking into the capital building.

[cperkins40]

Rumination #6

This week we are discussing Gries topic of still life with rhetoric. Since the topic of the Obama Hope poster and campaign is prominent this week, the idea of the remixed poster stood out to me. I didn’t know much about what happened with the whole Obama Hope remix situation but learning about it was interesting. I learned that Shepard Fairey is the one who remixed it and that he was accused of violating copyright by AP. I personally believe that Shepard Fairey should not have had the lawsuit against him because the photo was open to the public and Fairey made it his own version. When comparing the original photo of Obama and the remixed one by Fairy, there is a difference in Obamas gaze, facial expression, and the overall coloring of the photograph. When comparing the two photos below, the original photograph of Obama there is more of an intimidating stare. In the remix Obama has more of an optimistic and hopeful gaze into the future. Other than the facial expressions and gaze, the coloring is clearly, visibly different. In the remix by Fairey, there are contrasts of the colors red, white, and blue. These colors represent freedom and independence and more clearly, the American flag. It is clear that Shepard Fairey used certain characteristics of the original photograph of Obama, but he made it his own in a remix. I believe that the real reason why AP decided to copyright Shepard Fairey was due to the amount of publicity that the Obama Hope poster was getting. It was used on many different platforms and received a lot more views than the original photograph by AP was. The more that the remix was being circulated through media, the more AP wanted to sue. I overall believe that Shepard Fairey should not have been sued by AP because he made the image his own remix.  

[qairjanuly]

«Obama Hope» жанры және үзілмеген үміт. АҚШ суретшісі Фейри Шепардтың 2008 жылы Барака Обаманың сайлауалды науқанына арнап жасаған HOPE (ҮМІТ) деп аталатын постері үздік деп танылып, бүкіл әлемде бостандық талап ету мен оппозициялық саясаткерлердің сайлауалды шерулерінде қолданылатын протестік жанрға айналған. Осы еңбегі үшін Бостон заманауи өнер институты Фейриді ең ықпалды суретші деп атаған. Мен әрине Фейри сияқты мықты суретші емеспін. Бірақ сол жанрға еліктеп бірдеңе істеп көрдім. Егер елімізде дені сау, әділ сайлау өткенде, бәлкім дәл қазір Жанболат Мамайдың сайлау науқанына арнап постер жасап отырар ме едім. Бірақ авторитарлы билік бәсеклестіктен қорқып, саясаткерді жалған айыппен қамауда ұстап отыр. Сол себепті ел болып, Жанболат Мамайдың бостандығын талап етіп, сайлау науқанынан еш кем түспейтін #FreeMamay науқанын бастауымыз керек деп есептейм. Өзгерістен үміт үзбей, саясат үшін біріксек қана, үмітімізді ақтайтын тәуелсіз саясаткерлер билікке келеді. #ЖанболатқаБостандық #ObamaHope #Poster (at Hope) https://www.instagram.com/p/CiTwAXjqG5w/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[mkantor1-blog]

Rumination #4

This rumination is on Chapter 8 of Laurie Gries’ “Still Life with Rhetoric: A New Materialist Approach for Visual Rhetorics” entitled “Obama Hope, Parody, and Satire.” This chapter details the “Obama Hope” artwork and its rise in both fame and commercialism. The chapter also goes on to describe memes in general, as in what constitutes a meme, how memes spread, different types of memes and their varying effects, as well as remixes, parodies, and satires of the “Obama Hope” meme itself. It is a long chapter, but it covers a lot of information and was very informative when it comes to the backstory of “Obama Hope” and meme culture in general.

I never knew just how popular the “Obama Hope” artwork got in Africa. I knew that it was a worldwide image, sure, but I was totally unaware of the commercialism magnitude it was having on the continent. After reading about it, though, I think it makes sense. Like the article describes, Africans (especially Kenyans) were embracing the election of Obama as almost a messianic figure, one that could save them from world problems. So they celebrated by having his image available for purchase. As I read and saw examples of the things Obama’s face was put on (t-shirts, packages of biscuits, etc.) it reminded me of the commodification of the image of Jesus. This helped me fully understand the magnitude of “Obama Hope,” especially when it comes to its popularity in Africa.

I think the chapter does a great job explaining meme history and culture. Sure, memes are a way to spread information (and misinformation as well). They are interesting because while memes can be side-splittingly hilarious, they can also be educational and informative as well. Today, a small viral image about how to wash your hands is not only a meme, but it could be lifesaving as well.

I think something the chapter missed out on talking about that could be mentioned here with the rise of meme culture is hashtags. Hashtags are only a relatively recent invention and help us and the internet categorize all the content out there. Hashtags can be used to sort through memes to find the ones we are really looking for or, on the flip side, can help memes stand out from the crowd. The topic of hashtags may not fit into this chapter exactly, but I think it can go together. I might have to ruminate on it further!

Finally, a quick comment on parody and satire. I think parody and satire are so important. They are outlets where artists can express their opinion in a safe and protected way. The “Obama Hope” artwork was remixed in both satirical and parodical ways.

Sources:

Gries, L. E. (2015). Still life with rhetoric: a new materialist approach for visual rhetorics. Logan, UT: Utah State University Press.

“Obama Hope,” Artwork by Shepard Fairey, 2008.