The process by which different US Democrats and Republicans vie for the right to be their party’s candidate for presidency has always fascinated me (admittedly, from afar, safe in the knowledge I don’t need to vote for any of these people). The race for 2004 bought out some impressive efforts in participatory culture (remember Jib Jab’s ‘This Land’?), and this years’ Hillary 1984 video promised more in the race for 2008. While the creativity is definitely out there, one trend which has been a little unexpected is the “I’ve got a crush on…” videos attached to the Democrat candidates.
First there was the self-styled ‘Obama Girl’ with her “I’ve Got a Crush on Obama” video:
The clip and the Obama Girl herself have gained a fair amount of attention in US media, most of which is linked to from Obama Girl’s website. The girl in the clip – Amber Lee Ettinger – didn’t create the concept (or sing the song; she’s lip-synching) but has become one of the key faces in Obama’s campaign. The story behind Obama Girl is found at the Barely Political website. Now, along similar lines but a little more disturbingly, Chuck Tryon has drawn my attention to the “Hott4Hill featuring Taryn Southern” clip, which runs a fine line between representing Hillary Clinton as a politician or a sexual icon(!):
And, of course, there’s a Hott4Hill blog to emphasise Taryn Southern’s efforts.While I’m still thinking about how all of this works (and wonder if these clips have the potential to damage campaigns as much as make them appealing for younger proto-voters) you might want to have a read of ‘The Power and Playfulness of Parody: Obama, Hip Hop and Misunderstanding’ by Bernie Heidkamp in Pop Politics which gives some context and perspective to the Obama Girl clip.
Awesome – I hadn’t seen these, thanks for the entertaining AND thought-provoking presentation and linkage.
I didn’t write about this last night because I threw that entry together as I was going to bed, but the Hot4Hill video is definitely playing with the right-wing rumors that Hillary’s a lesbian, which makes it even more interesting.
Re-watching the Hott4Hill video, it seems like an even stranger mishmash; it’s using the children-as-the-future imagery at the beginning, but has only-just-restrained sexual comments which seem completely out of place given the children as the ‘audience’ and future voters inside the clip.
I like that the kids are both behind and deconstructing the ‘sexiness’ on display – having the little girl holding the fan which is blowing Taryn Southern’s hair was a pretty amusing take on juvenile tactics in politics (and perhaps an explict jab at the Obama Girl), but having the red-haired girl singing seemed out of place for some reason (even though it fits with the idea of the children becoming politically aware …).
I wonder when we’re going to see a clip of the Giuliani Girls dancing to the sounds of ‘America … F**K Yeah!’ from Team America? 😉
The use of children was certainly strange, especially given the video’s sexual imagery. I’ve been wondering when someone would make a similar Guiliani, McCain, or Romney video. In fact, in the political mashup article I’ve been co-writing, I’ve found it difficult to find any interesting voter-generated ads supporting Republican candidates, which probably means something (at the very least, I’m hoping it’s a good sign for 2008).