Press Gets the Obama - Joker Thing Wrong

I’m starting to think I should number the series of reports I’ve had to file about the media making a mess whenever comic books subject matter becomes involved in a story. Do they ever think to talk to anybody in the field? Of course not, it’s only the funny books! The realm of politics intersected comics lately when a poster campaign turned into viral pictures and were spread via e-mail and websites, pictures of President Obama, with his face covered by Joker face-paint. This was the version of face make-up used for Heath Ledger’s role in the recent blockbuster Batman movie, The Dark Knight, for which the late Ledge earned a posthumous Oscar. The word ‘socialism’ was scrawled under the picture, blatantly delivering its message.

Well, that’s not enough for some in the press. I tend to avoid politics for the most part when talking about comics, because it’s so easy to read what you want into a particular character. For instance, is Batman a conservative because he likes law and order, and specializes in punishing the guilty, or a liberal because he refuses to use a gun? Is Superman a liberal because he tries to help the little guy and often goes up against Luthor in the form of big business, or is he one of those right-wing boring Christian boy scouts who never does anything colorful, and acts as a stooge for the government? There are many aspects to each character, and it’s a useless exercise to pigeonhole any of them, as each conclusion tells us more about you than about the character.

This is also the case for Phillip Kennicott, who reveals his leanings right away. He refers to Joker’s face paint as a transition from an “urbane mocker” became “a deformed product of urban violence.” This is part of his attempt to call racism. It doesn’t fit, because the Joker is insane. He has been insane from day one, and the Joker could care less if his violence is committed in an urban setting or a corn field. But for some reason, Kennicott feels there has to be some “urban” connection as code for “black.”

Let me state for the record that the poster is mildly disturbing. I’m pretty sure the president and his administration are trying to implement policies that they think will help the country. Their political opposition disagrees, and tends to impute evil intentions upon them besides. I have no interest in the political argument either way, I just thought it was a relevant point that a comic–related topic was introduced into this conversation, and apparently has had a bigger impact than an entire year of talk radio. I think this speaks to how powerful visual art can be, and how big an impact a comic reference can make, even when people aren’t 100% sure of its meaning. They understand the inference of dread that the image is supposed to evoke, and that is enough.

Kennicott digresses to talk about an older Obama poster, “boldly contrasted” and other flowery language that hints at this man’s love for the president, when that photo was red white and blue not for the bold contrast, but to provide linkage with the colors of our nation. Talk about an un-needed digression! It wasn’t so original either, as it is very reminiscent of iconic pictures for Che Guevara. But it was successfully used as a message of hope and was displayed prominently throughout the campaign. It was a cool picture, and it did the trick, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that, but it is convenient to avoid bringing up any negative connotations associated with the ever-popular Che Guevara icon. (Article continues after our visual comparison below)

Back to the subject at hand, Kennicott tries to claim that the poster puts out a confusing, contradictory message. I mean, how can Obama possibly be both dangerous and a socialist? He tries to question if the Joker can be considered a socialist as his entry point. The Joker is certifiably insane, and more of an anarchist than anything else, but the linkage intended for the viewer is President Obama. The message is Obama is dangerous like the Joker, and Obama is a socialist, and just being a socialist is dangerous. That is the political message. It’s not that hard. Setting aside whether people agree or disagree with the intent, the intent itself is not a big puzzle. Kennicott decides it has to mean something else.

He settles on racism. Kennicott helpfully points out that President Obama is a black man, and the “urban” paint of the Joker brings out the fact that he is “identified with the inner city.” But in this stretch, he still manages to admit that the Joker is white, Heath Ledger was white, the face-paint itself is white… pretty much everything else involved is white, so where’s the racism? Kennicott leaps to this amazing theory: violence follows black people around like a virus! That’s what the poster means! Isn’t this bad?

I have no idea if Kennicott invented this theory, if he believes in it, or what strange whim would encourage him to put such a repulsive idea in print. He gives no sources, no corroborating evidence, no literature or famous philosopher or college curriculum that speaks of this disgusting theory. But he attempts to plaster it onto the Joker paint and make a racist charge, but the only way he can make it work is by this weird association of Joker=urban, and then claiming the paint superimposes this idea onto Obama himself.

Let’s dial it back, shall we? The reality is that the key word is the only word: socialism. Somebody took the most recent disturbing visual of pop culture and superimposed it onto the president’s face to convey a sense of something disturbing, and possibly dangerous. This is not a big leap into racism, this is the coverage jumping into a visual (and arguably artistic) format from a talk radio format. Rush Limbaugh and the talk radio crowd have been chanting non-stop for months, accusing President Obama and his entire administration of being socialists, and stridently denouncing their every policy move as dangerous and harmful to Americans, and destructive towards everything that we should hold dear. I know people who agree with these ideas, and people who roll their eyes at them. But the socialism charge started before the man was even elected to the presidency, and this is merely a continuation of the campaign to attack his political position. It’s easy to see how supporters of the president might find it distasteful, while opponents might find it accurate.

I tend to think it was clever, if nothing else. It has ignited debate, and brought out the conversation about whether Obama’s policies equal socialism into the forefront again of political discourse, and I imagine that was the intent of the original poster campaign. Like it or not, just as the electoral poster of Obama worked for what it was intended, this poster has also served its purpose well.

I am not sure what this portends for any future intersection of comics and politics, or comics and real life. Sometimes art imitates life, sometimes it’s the other way around. Cartoons and fictional characters have been used before for propaganda, and super-heroes were used to promote buying war bonds during World War II. Heck, the first issue of Captain America Comics shows Cap punching Adolf Hitler in the face! We’ve seen pop culture references used quite popularly in universal causes, aiming at encouraging people to become involved or advocate a cause in which everyone can agree is towards a positive goal. This use of a pop culture reference is a different animal. It is aimed squarely from one domestic political camp against another. I can’t say I really like the idea of “our” comic characters being used to make political points.

But speaking as a 30-year comic book reader who has followed the industry a long time, I’m pretty sure I can state the idea was not racism. Oh, and the media got it wrong again. What else is new?

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Tpull is Travis Pullen. He started reading comics at 5 years old, and he can't seem to stop.

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