Episode 78: The Image of the Politician

State of the Theory

This is Episode 78 of the State of the Theory Podcast. Politics. Power. Popular Culture. And other stuff, probably. In this series, we’re like super nerdy philosophical DJs: mashing up Serious Academic Questions with the most topical news and trends in pop culture. Each week, we’ll tackle a new topic and collide it with ‘critical theory’ (we’re pretty loose with our definitions, though, so expect the unexpected). Our aim is to destroy the stuff we know, explore the stuff we don’t and unsettle everything we think we know about the world. We take the obvious, the commonsensical, the certain, and then we rip it all to shreds. We are your theory doctors and we are always on call. This week we look at famous images of famous politicians and try to understand how and why politicians use the power of the image. Who are they trying to convince, and of what? You can see the photograph of Narendra Modi and his mother here: https://twitter.com/FriedrichPieter/status/1189649532025528320 You can see the photograph of Narendra Modi praying here: https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/pm-modi-in-uttarakhand-to-offer-prayers-at-kedarnath-shrine/story-M52WZnEawYecbsLpRD4ZZO.html You can see Boris Johnson stuck on a zip wire here: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jul/16/stuck-zip-wire-boris-johnson-london-2012-olympics You can see the photograph of Barack Obama here: https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/24/us/politics/indelible-image-of-a-boys-pat-on-obamas-head-hangs-in-white-house.html Our theme music is "The Face of God" by The Agrarians (http://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Agrarians/The_Jovial_Shepherd/The_Face_of_God) State of the Theory is brought to you by Hannah Fitzpatrick (@drhfitz) and Anindya Raychaudhuri (@DrAnindyaR) Find us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/stateofthetheorypodcast) or Tweet us @TheoryDoctors