American Studies Week
7 Blog
Find and embed any video
advertisement for a candidate in an American election – local or state. The
advertisement does not have to be current. Analyse the message given in the
advertisement and relate it to the ideals and recurrent themes of political
life in the American republic
Chosen Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEyZZz5LXw4
The video
advertisement selected, was made for Democratic candidate Nate Shinagawa, who was
running for Congress in 2012. The candidate’s target audience is the country’s
mainstream citizens and the message is very clear: he will help to rebuild the
middle class and thus improve the economy. The video very cleverly portrays the
plight of people since the recent financial crisis, using black and white shots
and focusing on their lives and somewhat poignant expressions. It concludes
with a colour shot of the candidate who endorses the message and states that “I
choose the middle class” representing himself as someone who can deliver on
their hope to escape their current situation.
But for this to happen the
candidate has to be elected, so the video also appeals to audience by
emphasizing the importance of their choice. For example the first 10-15 seconds
of the video focuses purely on the importance of the choices of their votes by
claiming that the “future of our country depends on a series of choices” and
that “the next representative will help choose if we are going to rebuild a
middle class”. It then asks those watching if they are going to choose to allow
“Tom Reed cut taxes for the wealthiest” and “reward companies that ship American
jobs overseas”, re-emphasizing the importance of their choice and in the
process also attacking his opponent, the Republican candidate Tom Reed.
In general the video highlights
the importance of the people/community, a view representative of the Democrats.
However we can also see that by focusing on the topic of “choices” the video is
also indirectly referring to, and emphasizing the nature and importance of
individual rights. This is interesting because the Republicans value such
rights as much as the Democrats, though they interpret them differently. The
right of the people to choose its representatives was a key feature of the
struggle for American Independence and has been a recurrent theme in U.S.
history, as in Lincoln’s definition of democracy in his Gettysburg Address as
‘Government of the people, by the people, for the people’.
The problem of taxes is also mentioned
in the video, and this is another recurrent theme in American politics from the
time of the American Revolution. By exploring this topic, the video links the
candidate to his country’s past. The statement “Tom Reed cut taxes for the
wealthiest” clearly implies that the rich will have it easy whilst the
working/middle class people will be forced to take upon another unfair burden,
that is eerily similar to situation of those poor Americans before 1776 who
were forced to pay exorbitant taxes to the crown in comparison to those who
lived in Britain. So the video actually manages to portray his Republican
opponent in the same light as the Revolutionists viewed King George III and
England. Finally, by focusing on the American flag, the video appeals to the country’s
patriotism, seen most strongly in time of war, against enemies like the British
or Japanese. It accuses Tom Reed of rewarding companies that ship American jobs
overseas, which is a kind of treason, helping America’s economic enemies, just
like Benedict Arnold helped the British during the War of Independence.
http://www.diffen.com/difference/Democrat_vs_Republican
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