I recently came across a very interesting article on TheWrap.com discussing the new TLC reality show Sarah Palin’s Alaska. After reading the article it opened my eyes to the ways in which presidential campaigning is changing and how Sarah Palin’s at the forefront of this movement. As our country seems to be more and more concerned with the image of celebrity and entertainment and less about traditional news, there is ample opportunity for a politician like Sarah Palin to expand her demographic and target potential fans that are outside the Tea Party movement. The show centers on the Palin family as they explore all the beauty and adventure Alaska has to offer. They also highlight Sarah’s home life as a wife and mother and how she balances these duties with her appearances as a commentator on Fox News. After watching the pilot, Palin comes across as a woman who has a little too much time on her hands since leaving office. In an attempt to fill this time she drags her family across Alaska to create her own version of those wonderfully cheesy “visit (fill in your state)” commercials that have popped up everywhere on television.
In a very aggressive way, the Palins are finding ways of entering the world of pop culture and making their way onto television screens across America. Bristol Palin, fresh off her fame from teenage pregnancy, was a finalist on this season’s Dancing With the Stars. Sarah is frequently seen on Fox News as a correspondent, and she has a Barbara Walters interview that recently aired on 20/20. The whole family can be seen on the new TLC show as well. As much as American television makes fun of Palin, such as Tina Fey’s sketches on SNL, Palin has used the media to her advantage as well. In the opening credits of her new show, she says, “You can see Russia from here… almost”, a play on one of her more famous quotes during the 2008 campaign. Palin attempts to take on the media within the show’s narrative, as seen when a new neighbor moves in next door to spy on the family and write a tell-all book. Palin responds by having her husband build a 14-foot fence to block his view. However, she seems to fall short. For all the Tina Fey impersonations, Palin seems to live up to the media’s critique of her demeanor, values, and simplicity.
Palin is able to reach an audience who are fans of TLC, but may not have been fans of Palin herself. The show makes her seem very relatable as an average American and especially as a mother. This media exposure can only help garner new fans. Like Palin, the show seems to celebrate mediocrity. The show blends very well with other family focused documentary style reality programming on TLC such as Jon and Kate Plus 8, Little People Big World, 19 Kids and Counting, and Sister Wives. It is an attempt to watch normal people act normal and the drama that comes with being normal. However, is that what we are looking for in a presidential candidate? It would seem to me that the public would not be impressed by Palin’s relatability, rambling, and incoherent comments. Rather we seek out a presidential candidate who rises above mainstream America in regards to intelligence and tenacity.
1 comment:
I think it’s really interesting that you brought Sarah Palin's new show up as it seems that she and her family seem to be everywhere in the news, and have become celebrities. Over the Thanksgiving holiday I turned on CNN’s new show “the Joy Behar Show “and though they were discussing Bristol’s time on “Dancing With the Stars” they soon turned to discussing Sarah’s TLC reality show. What Joy and her commentators brought up about the show and Sarah’s persona now is very much like what you discussed and what the article talked about. Sarah is running a new type of political campaign in an age where the public no longer wants a politician who knows the issues but is a celebrity too. Though President Obama’s campaign was not solely based on his appeal as a celebrity, I don’t think it hurt him to be seen as one, and the way he has since taking office commented on current events proves this.
Sarah’s power to use the television speaks back to what we have recently been discussing in class with fan culture and television and the internet. She knows that a show like this one is a great marketing tool for her, and she gets free publicity, a salary and her name kept in the spot light. Joy and her commentators were critiquing this new campaign and as you questioned at the end of your blog, if it really will work. Joy stated that she didn’t think Obama and his staff were taking her as that big of a threat. While I can understand that this is very atypical and her appeal is certainly not wide spread, in this day of age she has nothing to lose by running a different campaign. I do certainly not share her views or politics but I can’t stop hearing about her on the T.V. and internet and that is certainly what she wants!
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