Jul 14 2008
The Michelle-Barak Cover in the New Yorker
Just got the news that Barak Obama didn’t like the cover in the upcoming New Yorker magazine.
When I first saw the cartoon, I didn’t get it either. For example, I didn’t understand why Michelle carries an AK-47 over her shoulder? I thought it was a reference to BO’s recent comment after the DC hand gun ruling.
Then I read it was supposed to be a satire. Oh, now I get it … Apparently, this is an instance of “acquired enlightenment”. Now think of it, this is also a good example of how a subject (me) is part of message construction.
By insider’s standard, this cover has all the NYKr trademark elements: cryptic, edgy and funny. But to call it a satire, it’s supposed to be ridiculously off-base. The fact that so many people are so upset–not least the Senator himself–about this cover suggests what it depicts is not that ridiculous to a sufficiently large audience after all.
I was equally confused until I read the accompanying text explaining (a la Elaine in Seinfeld) what it supposed to mean. The fact that I think it is funny and is a satire tells more about me than about the cartoon, however. In other words, it is funny only because I am ready to accept the message (i.e. it is a satire, depicting something irrelevantly funny).
Overall, I love the New Yorker’s covers. If there is a case of too many good thing, this is it. I like so many of them that it is hard to name just a few that is peerless. For example this Halloween lantern in Dick Cheney’s image. There is NO contraversy in this one at all.