Reading into the Obama-as-Joker poster ... or not

There's nothing like a controversial political caricature to get people talking, blogging and tweeting.

But when it comes to understanding those same cartoons -- as opposed to rehashing, reblogging and retweeting them -- context is key. 

The New Yorker magazine's infamous cover illustration of Barack and Michelle Obama in radical drag, bumping fists in the Oval Office as an American flag burns in the fireplace, is understood to be a parody of conservative paranoia, not an attack on the first couple. But put that same image on the cover of the Weekly Standard and the illustration takes on a vastly different meaning.

In this respect, the image of President Obama in Heath Ledger Joker-face is especially disturbing because it is completely devoid of context -- literary, political or otherwise. The image seems to have emerged from nowhere and was created by no one. Deracinated from authorial intent, Obama-as-Joker becomes a free-floating cipher that can be appropriated and re-appropriated by everyone.

Clearly, the poster -- which has already mutated into countless variations on the Internet -- communicates a virulent hostility to Obama, but in a vague and flailing way. It can mean anything and it could mean nothing. (The latter seems more likely than the former.) In some versions of the image, the word "socialism" has been appended to the poster. But as media outlets like CNN have pointed out, the Joker (as portrayed by Ledger in "The Dark Knight") was a rabid anarchist, which doesn't jibe well with the accusation of socialism.

Like Shepard Fairey's "Hope" poster, the mystery "artist" behind the Joker prank has borrowed and altered an existing media image of the president for his or her own creative ends. (It's from a cover shot of Obama featured on Time magazine.) In many ways, the Obama-as-Joker picture can be viewed as the evil twin of Fairey's "Hope" -- one is laudatory and arguably hagiographic while the other is mean-spirited and demonic. Maybe one day, a publicity-savvy museum will mount the two of them side-by-side in an exhibition on the malleability of the digital image.

Understandably, some people have latched on to the poster's white-face significance. Is the creator saying that the president is pretending to be someone he's not? Again, it's impossible to know for sure. The Joker was a garish parody of a clown, and a clown can be any race -- the white makeup doesn't necessarily have an ethnic subtext.

At one extreme, the poster suggests that Obama is a psychopath who is completely out of control and running afoul of the law -- which he clearly is not. For a cartoon or parody to work, it must have at least one toe placed firmly in the realm of reality -- a credible starting point from which to launch into the free-for-all ether of comedy.

The most that can be said about Obama-as-Joker is that it's a prank that the Joker himself would have been proud of. It has exploded like a cultural grenade -- an act of cultural terrorism? -- and has left meaningless chaos in its wake.

-- David Ng

Related:

Obama "Joker" Poster Causing a Stir in L.A. - KTLA

Image credit: Unknown

Comments

[Joyce]

Now I really understand why other country's hate us, we are a bunch of self righteous, self centered, non thinking, inconsiderate bunch of Ignorant, non read, non traveled, foreign language challenged, non analytical thinking, cognitively challenged, arrogant, greddy people.

I know that God is regretting the day He got lonely and decided to create MAN.

[Bahjoy]

To those idiots who think Obama is Socialist, why don't you stop lying to yourself and just say exactly what you deeply think of the president. I wonder what schools you attended or what books have you been reading that define someone like Obama as a socialist. This president is way too far from being a socialist, and besides what you think our social security system is, or what was the New Deal about?

First, we were told Obama was a secret Islamic terrorist. Second, we were told he was actually not born in the US, and that he wasn't a genuine US citizen. Now, you're telling us Obama is a Socialist. What else haven't we heard from you? That Obama is actually not a real human being, but an Alien planning to eat all of us?

Please go get yourself educated if you don't know what socialism is - otherwise, stop lying to us.

If you don't like the president for whatever reasons, just say that - but stop fabricating things about the guy.

[EDDIE CAPP]

LIKE SINATRA SAID ,WHOS GONA CARE 100YEARS FROM TODAY.

AND WHO IS THE REAL BENNIE THE BUM./////

[Mark]

I agree with the commentary posted by: lark | August 05, 2009 at 07:02 PM.

The racial slurs of past generations have been transmogrified by the subconsciousness of the contemporary fearful bigot into slanderous cries of "socialism". The joker semblance is more of an anchor to the zeitgeist.

[matt mcginty]

Interesting. What do you think the meaning was when George W. Bush was depicted in the same manner in a national magazine?

[Richard]

More than an anarchist, the Joker is a mass murderer.

My presumption is that this image plays into the insane Palin baloney that socialized medicine will mean children like hers will be be killed by "Death panels", amongst other right-wing lunacy.

[Brian]

Can we state what we like about Obama?
I’ll tell you what we love. We love his lies, it makes us feel like we have a president, for which president hasn't lied, Obama is just been more good at it. We all love his Spending, this way we get stuff now (or not get such as with ObamaCare) and have our grandchildren pay for it when we're dead, after all we'll be dead, plus we don't care about our children anyway since we love to have them murdered. What about racism, Racism is only good if it is against white, and what do you know, Obama has that going for him too, but if Obama was white we wouldn't like him that much, but thank someone he's Black. Another thing we love about Obama is his ability to redefine words such as transparency and Capitalism; it makes feel like we have Clinton in office.
The truth is we don't got a good president, and we haven't had a real good President for a while, but we need to start playing our cards for what they really are worth, in this case we have a joker. I am not saying McCain was a good Candidate either, but we had others we could have voted for in the primaries that would have been better. If you are on the side the loves Liars and thieves, then you will love the Joker Card, but if you want a genuinely good card you will go for the Ace.

[Colin]

Perhaps the artist is making reference to the Joker's tendency to hide behind make-up while creating chaos? While I respect the difficulty and stress of the job that he currently holds, I also believe that our President continues to make rash decisions, many of which will (physically and economically) put the public at risk for years. The artist may not be concerned over whether socialism or anarchism is at play (at least in this work), but he may be indicating that Obama is pitting us against one another rather than uniting us as he had promised.

[Mattmon1]

I read some interesting points on this blog. I for one do not think this has any racial relevance. They did this same characterization of Bush and John Kerry (not Heath ledger but the previous Joker), maybe others. I agree there is a divide between the image and the "socialism" text. However, you can read into that in several ways and although the Joker was an anarchist one could make the point that to institute socialism in the United States which has always been the antithesis to socialism is as radical a concept in many people's eyes and may equate to a state of anarchy in this context. The Obama socialism in a way is a radical rethink of America as we know it and in this context involves throwing out the Constitution and in turn the rule of law = anarchy...the difference between this and true anarchy being Obama will have an ever-growing Government in place as opposed to a lack there of. What I am saying is to some an America that embraces socialism is no longer America it is something entirely different that none of us will recognize as before.

[i_am_a_render]

I think it should say "CAPITALISM" instead of socialism, particularly in light of the banker bailouts. Charges of "racism" will be thrown about without discernment for the next 4 years anytime anyone anywhere shall dare to criticize our Dear Leader.

[Michael]

If you think Obama is a socialist you have never seen a real socialist.. It's simply a ridiculous thing to say!

[Mikkel]

I'm honestly wondering why so many americans still see socialism as a horrible concept. Especially after the major financial crisis that have shown that sometimes it might not be wise to let greedy wall street persons influence the economy in such a way they have done so far. Consider social-liberalism a political direction that have dominated scandinavia for decades now.

As I see it combines the best of two worlds. It allows people to pursue their own dreams and be entreprenurial. At the same it insures that no matter how unlucky you are in life (moneywise, healthwise etc.) you always have free healthcare, free education (also at university level) and last but not least my fellowcitizens are never ever forced to live on the street. I love paying some of the highest taxes in the world. Im living out the "Scandinavian dream" knowing that when I retire one day - there will still be taken care of me, no matter how I lucky or unlucky I've been during my life.

[Eli]

Art school 101. Take two popular images and force them in to each other. Sit back for response.

No rhyme or reason, the only thing that student did, really, was post their "musing" on the net.

Seriously folks, take a look at first year art school work, Obama as the Joker is nothing, if not a twisted homage to their two favorite people.

[SpeaK no E.]

Hello all. I´d like to start by saying that i think that when you look at certain kinds of pictures (like this one), you get out of it a reflection of what opinions you have already arrived at about whatever issue or person the picture was about. As i read through all the posts, that thought makes more sense to me. When i look at this poster, since i read in the article that the ¨Socialism¨ at the bottom was added later, all i see is a chuckle, and someone who disagrees with Obamaś direction and wants to warn other people about him. Thats it. My first impression didnt see the white paint as a racial thing or anything violent even though we all knew Joker was really violent. I see someone trying to warn others about where they think Obama is leading the country. And you know what? i dislike Obama as a president and i disagree with the direction he is leading us. Thats my thought.