Click HERE to see the cover on Barry Blitt’s site
Author : Barry Blitt is an illustrator who has often worked for the New Yorker.
Title : Fist Bump : The Politics of Fear. Date : July 21, 2008. Context : election campaign, 2008, Barack Obama was running for president for the first time. The question : what did the artist enact with this cover ?
Listen to what Barry Blitt said about this cover : NPR radio
Description : Michelle Obama’s hair, her outfit, the weapon on her back. Barack Obama’s outfit. The portrait of Ben Laden on the wall, the flag of the USA burning in the fireplace.
The setting : the oval office in the White House
The gesture : a fist bump
Analysis : what all these elements symbolise : the relationship to the Muslim religion and to foreign politics
The title : what does the expression “The Politics of Fear ” mean ? Who spread this fear ? Why ? Was it facts or propaganda ?
Conclusion : what did the artist do ? Did he use caricature or propaganda ? who used caricature before he drew the cover ? What for ?
So, what did he actually do ? What was the reception of this cover ?
