{"id":19411,"date":"2023-02-06T21:54:06","date_gmt":"2023-02-06T20:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/focus-14-what-if-obama-was-elected-thanks-to-the-series-24\/"},"modified":"2023-02-06T21:54:06","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T20:54:06","slug":"focus-14-what-if-obama-was-elected-thanks-to-the-series-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/en\/focus-14-what-if-obama-was-elected-thanks-to-the-series-24\/","title":{"rendered":"FOCUS #14 &#8211; What if Obama was elected thanks to the series &#8220;24&#8221; ?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='av_section_1'  class='avia-section av-ldsvq760-8507a5175be0d033528789d8facfd3b4 main_color avia-section-default avia-no-border-styling  avia-builder-el-0  avia-builder-el-no-sibling  focus-ensemble avia-bg-style-scroll av-minimum-height av-minimum-height-100 av-height-100  container_wrap fullsize'   data-av_minimum_height_pc='100' data-av_min_height_opt='100'><div class='container av-section-cont-open' ><main  role=\"main\" itemprop=\"mainContentOfPage\"  class='template-page content  av-content-full alpha units'><div class='post-entry post-entry-type-page post-entry-19411'><div class='entry-content-wrapper clearfix'>\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-ldt97fep-6aa5f901f0dc0e066590af5bcf55968a '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock retour-focus'  itemprop=\"text\" ><a href=\"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/nos-focus\/\">< Retour Focus<\/a>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-ldsvxm3d-c234baedffae08af6e86f7b6e24cea03\">\n#top .flex_column.av-ldsvxm3d-c234baedffae08af6e86f7b6e24cea03{\nmargin-top:0px;\nmargin-bottom:0px;\n}\n.flex_column.av-ldsvxm3d-c234baedffae08af6e86f7b6e24cea03{\nbackground-color:#03acfff;\n}\n.responsive #top #wrap_all .flex_column.av-ldsvxm3d-c234baedffae08af6e86f7b6e24cea03{\nmargin-top:0px;\nmargin-bottom:0px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='flex_column av-ldsvxm3d-c234baedffae08af6e86f7b6e24cea03 av_one_full  avia-builder-el-2  el_after_av_textblock  el_before_av_one_full  numero-ensemble first flex_column_div  column-top-margin'     ><style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-ldsvq00q-ecb13bdd98e5d87fa611527ce9b97b2b\">\n#top .av_textblock_section.av-ldsvq00q-ecb13bdd98e5d87fa611527ce9b97b2b .avia_textblock{\nfont-size:20px;\ncolor:#001919;\ntext-align:right;\n}\n<\/style>\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-ldsvq00q-ecb13bdd98e5d87fa611527ce9b97b2b '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock numero av_inherit_color'  itemprop=\"text\" ><p style=\"text-align: right;\">FOCUS<br \/>\n#14<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-85qqu-0f562da4b68f94f2195b5dc4bb8420e1\">\n.flex_column.av-85qqu-0f562da4b68f94f2195b5dc4bb8420e1{\nborder-width:4px;\nborder-color:#03acff;\nborder-style:solid;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='flex_column av-85qqu-0f562da4b68f94f2195b5dc4bb8420e1 av_one_full  avia-builder-el-4  el_after_av_one_full  avia-builder-el-last  contenu first flex_column_div  column-top-margin'     ><p>\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-ldsv3l8z-767d7e00b7c79b4d25063deb8861def3\">\n#top .av-special-heading.av-ldsv3l8z-767d7e00b7c79b4d25063deb8861def3{\npadding-bottom:10px;\ncolor:#cb6ce6;\n}\nbody .av-special-heading.av-ldsv3l8z-767d7e00b7c79b4d25063deb8861def3 .av-special-heading-tag .heading-char{\nfont-size:25px;\n}\n.av-special-heading.av-ldsv3l8z-767d7e00b7c79b4d25063deb8861def3 .special-heading-inner-border{\nborder-color:#cb6ce6;\n}\n.av-special-heading.av-ldsv3l8z-767d7e00b7c79b4d25063deb8861def3 .av-subheading{\nfont-size:15px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='av-special-heading av-ldsv3l8z-767d7e00b7c79b4d25063deb8861def3 av-special-heading-h1 custom-color-heading blockquote modern-quote modern-centered  avia-builder-el-5  el_before_av_textblock  avia-builder-el-first '><h1 class='av-special-heading-tag'  itemprop=\"headline\"  >WHAT IF BARACK OBAMA WAS ELECTED THANKS TO THE SERIES <span class='special_amp'>&#8220;<\/span>24<span class='special_amp'>&#8221;<\/span>?<\/h1><div class=\"special-heading-border\"><div class=\"special-heading-inner-border\"><\/div><\/div><\/div><br \/>\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-ldsv5zyh-4f33c147b4228344d19bab32c3ec4ff5 '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock chapeau'  itemprop=\"text\" ><div class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\">\n<div class=\"section\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\">\n<p><strong>In summary :<\/strong> Presidents who appear in American feature films and series generally look like the ones who were in office in the 20th century, namely white. However, since the 1990s, black presidents have increasingly been present in people&#8217;s imagination. For example, David Palmer in the series &#8220;24&#8221;, who reached a widespread audience, was brought into American homes and public life, contributing along with other popular black icons to the popularity of Barack Obama.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><br \/>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-ldsy3oaj-0b2cb3548b5aa7021ed07d9354de69ce\">\n#top .av_textblock_section.av-ldsy3oaj-0b2cb3548b5aa7021ed07d9354de69ce .avia_textblock{\ncolumn-count:2;\ncolumn-gap:5%;\n}\n\n@media only screen and (max-width: 989px){ \n#top .av_textblock_section.av-ldsy3oaj-0b2cb3548b5aa7021ed07d9354de69ce .avia_textblock{\ncolumn-count:1;\n}\n.av_textblock_section.av-ldsy3oaj-0b2cb3548b5aa7021ed07d9354de69ce .avia_textblock.av_multi_colums > p:first-child{\nmargin-top:0.85em;\n}\n}\n<\/style>\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-ldsy3oaj-0b2cb3548b5aa7021ed07d9354de69ce '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock av_multi_colums'  itemprop=\"text\" ><div class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\">\n<div class=\"section\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\">\n<p>Ethno-racial minorities in the United States are grossly underrepresented in the political class. Only one black president has been elected in the American history and the current U.S. Congress count only 57 black representatives out of 535.1 However, the film industry, and in particular Hollywood, has been developing an imaginary world that is more diverse than the institutional reality. Indeed, the first black president in a film was James Earl Jones in &#8220;the Man&#8221; (1972) in the aftermath of the American civil rights movement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_1163\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1163\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1163\" title=\"photo focus 14\" src=\"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-14--300x133.png\" alt=\"photo focus 14\" width=\"300\" height=\"133\" srcset=\"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-14--300x133.png 300w, https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-14--400x177.png 400w, https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-14-.png 496w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1163\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Dilman in the Man (1972)<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\">\n<div class=\"section\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\">\n<p>However, it was not until the late 1990s that American television featured such a character, namely David Palmer in the series &#8220;24&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\">\n<div class=\"section\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\">\n<h2>THE U.S. PRESIDENTS, BETWEEN FICTION AND REALITY<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\">\n<div class=\"section\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\">\n<p>In Hollywood, most presidents are portrayed in realistic feature films and series. This genre deals with its characters in an empirical way, blurring the line with reality. The settings are authentic and not extraordinary, for instance a business office.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\">\n<div class=\"section\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\">\n<p>According to U.S history specialist Ka\u0301roly Pinte\u0301r, these fictions work as self-fulfilling prophecies. Indeed, the only people who actually conform to the ethno-racial, social, or physical norm of the presidents that appear on screen are effectively elected in the real world.3 Thus, almost all presidents are white, middle-aged men with English-speaking surnames, an imposing presence and an idealized morality, such as President Marshall (Harrison Ford) in &#8220;Air Force One&#8221; (1997) or President Whitmore (Bill Pullman) in &#8220;Independence Day&#8221; (1996). According to Pinte\u0301r, this closeness between fiction and reality is even more significant considering that the political sphere and Hollywood are closely interconnected. Indeed, some scriptwriters sometimes become advisors to candidates, and vice versa. For instance, Eli Attie is a former speechwriter for President Clinton who later became a screenwriter. As a matter of fact, one of Barack Obama&#8217;s speech inspired him to create the character of Matt Santos, a young senator who later was elected president in the series &#8220;The West Wing&#8221; (2005).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\">\n<div class=\"section\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\">\n<h2>DAVID PALMER, A CULTURAL ICON THAT BURSTED INTO THE SCREEN<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"page\" title=\"Page 1\">\n<div class=\"section\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\">\n<p>&#8220;24&#8221; was launched in 2001 and is considered as ultra-realistic since it has been filmed in real time. For example, a car ride in an episode takes as long as an actual car r across the city. President Palmer&#8217;s in the series appears from 2001 to 2006, several years before Obama&#8217;s election.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"page\" title=\"Page 2\">\n<div class=\"section\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\">\n<p>Although President Palmer (played by Dennis Haysbert) is black, his character never completely subverts the normative fictional image of what an American president is supposed to be, namely a courageous and honest man. Just like Obama, he speaks with a so-called &#8220;neutral&#8221; accent and is not a former civil rights activist. They both are not so different from how the conventional American president should, meaning &#8220;affable and neat, overly polite, a gifted speaker with a smooth baryton voice to top it off&#8221; according to Joshua Alston, historian at Leeds University. Moreover, according to communications specialist Erika Molloseau (Denison University), both men are each &#8220;educated, poised, almost too good to be true,&#8221; and embody an &#8220;alternative&#8221; image of &#8220;African-American masculinity.&#8221;However, Palmer&#8217;s character has gradually outgrew the show and stepped into the public sphere. Thus, when the actor Dennis Haysbert bumps into his fans, they usually call him &#8220;President&#8221; and ask him to run for the elections. At a dinner hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation in 2006, the actor took part in a Q&amp;A session as if he were a state representative and adressed prison reform and drug rehabilitation. At some point, many bloggers even promoted the slogan &#8220;Palmer for President&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_1165\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1165\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1165\" title=\"photo focus 14\" src=\"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-14-300x216.png\" alt=\"photo focus 14\" width=\"300\" height=\"216\" srcset=\"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-14-300x216.png 300w, https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-14-400x288.png 400w, https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/photo-focus-14.png 501w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-1165\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Palmer in &#8220;24&#8221; (2001-2006)<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"page\" title=\"Page 2\">\n<div class=\"section\">\n<div class=\"layoutArea\">\n<div class=\"column\">\n<p>In 2015, 89% of the people who watch the series even stated that Palmer&#8217;s character seemed reliable and that they would be happy about him being in charge of the country. The enthousiasm regarding a black president goes beyond David Palmer: for instance Morgan Freeman in &#8220;Deep Impact&#8221; (1998) is often described as an example of how presidents should be in real life.10According to researcher Maurice Ronai, these fictional presidents have a far-reaching impact, not only because of their skin color, but also because of their personal integrity, composure, restraint.<\/p>\n<p>However, since the late 1990s, a wide range of African-American icons, including David Palmer, have not only normalized, but even made desirable, the idea that a black man could be elected president of the United States. Historian and author of &#8220;L&#8217;Ame\u0301rique de Barack Obama&#8221; (Demopolis, 2008) Franc\u0327ois Durpaire, considers that images and representations play a significant part, stating that &#8220;there would probably be no President Obama without these fictional heroes&#8221;.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/section><br \/>\n<section  class='av_textblock_section av-ldsxuh8c-858b037e08e6b72f2b7c09b788570803 '   itemscope=\"itemscope\" itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/BlogPosting\" itemprop=\"blogPost\" ><div class='avia_textblock pied-de-page'  itemprop=\"text\" ><p><strong>L\u2019Observatoire des images<\/strong>, cr\u00e9\u00e9 en 2021, est le premier organe associatif regroupant celles et ceux qui s\u2019int\u00e9ressent au r\u00f4le des images au cin\u00e9ma, \u00e0 la t\u00e9l\u00e9vision, dans les jeux vid\u00e9os et dans les publicit\u00e9s, notamment sur Internet. Convaincu.e.s que les images peuvent figer les repr\u00e9sentations et enfermer dans des st\u00e9r\u00e9otypes, ou au contraire permettre l&#8217;\u00e9mancipation et ouvrir le champ des possibles, les partenaires de l&#8217;observatoire se sont r\u00e9unis pour r\u00e9fl\u00e9chir et agir ensemble, que ses membres travaillent dans la production, la distribution, le financement, la communication, la recherche, les institutions&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Les objectifs de la coalition sont notamment de : sensibiliser les pouvoirs publics, les professionnels et le public ; d\u00e9velopper la recherche sur la r\u00e9ception des images et mettre en lumi\u00e8re les travaux existants ; agr\u00e9ger et soutenir les pratiques professionnelles ; valoriser les projets et les \u00e9quipes soucieux de lutter contre les clich\u00e9s.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Rejoignez-nous : observatoiredesimages.org!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><br \/>\n\n<style type=\"text\/css\" data-created_by=\"avia_inline_auto\" id=\"style-css-av-76qpq-abb2a81d44e8f55023a6beca1a704ac4\">\n#top .hr.hr-invisible.av-76qpq-abb2a81d44e8f55023a6beca1a704ac4{\nheight:50px;\n}\n<\/style>\n<div  class='hr av-76qpq-abb2a81d44e8f55023a6beca1a704ac4 hr-invisible  avia-builder-el-9  el_after_av_textblock  el_before_av_button '><span class='hr-inner '><span class=\"hr-inner-style\"><\/span><\/span><\/div><br \/>\n<div  class='avia-button-wrap av-ldt1wov9-96f1400f8cb9c607bd5a491c388fc4a3-wrap avia-button-center  avia-builder-el-10  el_after_av_hr  avia-builder-el-last '><a href='https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/focus\/14\/?tmstv=1678875091'  class='avia-button av-ldt1wov9-96f1400f8cb9c607bd5a491c388fc4a3 avia-icon_select-no avia-size-small avia-position-center avia-color-theme-color'  ><span class='avia_iconbox_title' >Download the Focus (PDF)<\/span><\/a><\/div><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":987,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19411"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19411"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19412,"href":"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19411\/revisions\/19412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/observatoiredesimages.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}