{"id":61286,"date":"2021-08-18T23:27:55","date_gmt":"2021-08-18T23:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mixedracestudies.org\/?p=61286"},"modified":"2021-08-19T02:24:16","modified_gmt":"2021-08-19T02:24:16","slug":"61286","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mixedracestudies.org\/wp\/?p=61286","title":{"rendered":"How the Myth of Barack Obama Overtook the Man (and the Politician)"},"content":{"rendered":"

How the Myth of Barack Obama Overtook the Man (and the Politician)<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Hyperallergic<\/a>
\n2021-08-15<\/p>\n

Justine Smith<\/strong><\/a>
\nMontreal, Quebec<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>
\nFrom Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union<\/em><\/a> (2021), dir. Peter Kunhardt<\/a> (image courtesy HBO<\/a>)<\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

A new HBO<\/a> film introduces a level of nuance to its depiction of the president that\u2019s been sorely lacking in most portrayals.<\/em><\/p>\n

What is \u201chome\u201d in the American imagination? Politicians often cite this ideal. Will our \u201cdoors\u201d be open or closed? What do our \u201cneighbors\u201d look like? In the introduction to The Age of Surveillance Capitalism<\/em><\/a>, Shoshana Zuboff<\/a> describes the home as \u201cwhere we know and where we are known, where we love and are loved. Home is mastery, voice, relationship, and sanctuary: part freedom, part flourishing \u2026 part refuge, part prospect.\u201d Barack Obama<\/a> promised this image of home, preaching that the United States<\/a> could pursue unity and love for all. His very presence as a Black man on the world stage signaled a cultural shift that made it seem, if only briefly, that a tide was turning and the US was ready to grapple with its racism. For many, he was a symbol of progress. To others, he was a conniving invader, a covert socialist\/communist\/terrorist, or even the antichrist. Both images leave his actual humanity behind. What happens when a person becomes a symbol?<\/p>\n

The new HBO film Obama: In Pursuit of a More Perfect Union<\/em><\/a> looks at his life and work with a level of nuance that\u2019s rare for a mainstream documentary. Still, like most Obama movies, the focus remains firmly on his social and cultural impact rather than his policy. \u201cPeople underestimate the value of symbols,\u201d Ta-Nehisi Coates<\/a> argues at one point. Undeniably, Obama himself catered to and was well aware of his symbolic importance. And most films about him, made by a sympathetic media \u2014 By the People<\/em><\/a>, The Final Year<\/em><\/a>, The Way I See It<\/em><\/a>, etc. \u2014 cater to his image as a historic groundbreaker. Even the Michelle Obama<\/a> biography Becoming<\/em><\/a> portrays the former first family as beacons of hope in a dark time…<\/p>\n