Women and the White House: Gender, Popular Culture, and Presidential Politics

by Justin S. Vaughn, Lilly J. Goren

Overview

The president of the United States traditionally serves as a symbol of power, virtue, ability, dominance, popularity, and patriarchy. In recent years, however, the high-profile candidacies of Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and Michelle Bachmann have provoked new interest in gendered popular culture and how it influences Americans' perceptions of the country's highest political office. In this timely volume, editors Justin S. Vaughn and Lilly J. Goren lead a team of scholars in examining how the

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780813141015
Publisher:	University Press of Kentucky
Publication date:	11/30/2012
Pages:	330
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Justin S. Vaughn is assistant professor of political science at Boise State University. Lilly J. Goren is professor of politics and global studies at Carroll University and the editor of You've Come a Long Way, Baby: Women, Politics, and Popular Culture.

Table of Contents

1 The Mechanized Gaze: Gender, Popular Culture, and the Presidency Justin S. Vaughn Lilly J. Goren 1

Part I Framing Candidates, Understanding Voters

2 Puritan or Pit Bull: The Framing of Female Candidates at the National Level Linda Beail Rhonda Kinney Longworth 25

3 Colbert Nation: Gender, Late-Night Television, and Candidate Humanization Mary McHugh 49

4 Soccer Moms, Hockey Moms, National Security Moms: Reality versus Fiction and the Female Voter Chapman Rackaway 75

Part II Hollywood's Influence on Presidential Politics

5 Fact or Fiction: The Reality of Race and Gender in Reaching the White House Lilly J. Goren 97

6 Gendering the Presidency without Gender in the Presidency Joseph E. Uscinski 121

7 It's a Man's World: Masculinity in Pop Culture Portrayals of the President Justin S. Vaughn Stacy Michaelson 135

Part III "All the News That's Fit to Print"? Alternative Avenues for Political Information

8 Sitting with Oprah, Dancing with Ellen: Presidents, Daytime Television, and Soft News José D. Villalobos 163

9 The Checkout Line Perspective: Presidential Politics as Celebrity Popular Culture in People Elizabeth Fish Hatfield 181

10 Viral Videos: Reinforcing Stereotypes of Female Candidates for President Todd L. Belt 205

Part IV Women in the White House: First Ladies, First Couples, First Families

11 High Culture, Popular Culture, and the Modern First Ladies Mary Anne Borrelli 229

12 The First Family: Transforming the American Ideal Melissa Buis Michaux 249

13 The Presidential Partnership: A Gender Seesaw Karen S. Hoffman 269

Acknowledgments 287

Selected Bibliography 291

Contributors 305

Index 311

Editorial Reviews

In this well-documented scholarly work, 13 essays explore the role gender plays in presidential politics, with topics including "Colbert Nation: Gender, Late-Night Television, and Candidate Humanization" and "Fact or Fiction: The Reality of Race and Gender in Reaching the White House." The book investigates how citizens observe and engage with female political leaders, how concepts of presidential leadership are gendered across different forms of media, and how popular culture influences women in politics. The authors find the campaigns of polarizing figures including Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, and Michele Bachmann to both defy and embody gender stereotypes, and analyze how pop culture like the 1964 film Kisses for My President and ABC's short-lived 2005 drama Commander in Chief imagine female presidents. A provocative thread throughout is the potential for late night television to either humanize or demonize a candidate, notably Palin. This thought-provoking lineup makes for compelling reading, no matter what side of the political spectrum one is on. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Dear Appalachia breathes new life into literary reception studies....A dream text for courses in regionalism or southern or Appalachian literature, this work is also a model for American literary and cultural studies methods courses.

The Southern Literary Journal

"At a time when college students seem more likely to get their political news from 'The Daily Show' than newspapers or even television network news, this lively collection of essays will help them decode many of the political messages they receive from popular culture."—Bruce Altschuler, author of Acting Presidents: 100 Years of Plays about the Presidency

From the Publisher

Featuring twelve articles from a variety of accomplished scholars, this book considers the intersection of gender, popular culture, and the presidency from a multitude of angles. Covering such wide-ranging topics as SNL, the White House garden, Oprah, the West Wing, viral videos, Sarah Palin, history, and tabloids, this book sheds a lot of light on America's lack of a female Commander-in-Chief. With such an array of subjects, this book is sure to have something for anyone even vaguely interested in the gendered politics of the American system. I know I was both fascinated and enlightened. — San Francisco Book Review

San Francisco Book Review - Audrey Curtis