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A Critical Analysis of the Black President in Film and Television

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A Critical Analysis of the Black President in Film and Television “WELL, IT IS BECAUSE HE’S BLACK”: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE BLACK PRESIDENT IN FILM AND TELEVISION Phillip Lamarr Cunningham A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2011 Committee: Dr. Angela M. Nelson, Advisor Dr. Ashutosh Sohoni Graduate Faculty Representative Dr. Michael Butterworth Dr. Susana Peña Dr. Maisha Wester © 2011 Phillip Lamarr Cunningham All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Angela Nelson, Ph.D., Advisor With the election of the United States’ first black president Barack Obama, scholars have begun to examine the myriad of ways Obama has been represented in popular culture. However, before Obama’s election, a black American president had already appeared in popular culture, especially in comedic and sci-fi/disaster films and television series. Thus far, scholars have tread lightly on fictional black presidents in popular culture; however, those who have tend to suggest that these presidents—and the apparent unimportance of their race in these films—are evidence of the post-racial nature of these texts. However, this dissertation argues the contrary. This study’s contention is that, though the black president appears in films and televisions series in which his presidency is presented as evidence of a post-racial America, he actually fails to transcend race. Instead, these black cinematic presidents reaffirm race’s primacy in American culture through consistent portrayals and continued involvement in comedies and disasters. In order to support these assertions, this study first constructs a critical history of the fears of a black presidency, tracing those fears from this nation’s formative years to the present. This history is followed by textual analyses of those films and television series featuring a black president, with an emphasis on showing how the narratives and codes within these films reflect those historic fears. iv In Memory of Carol Lombard (Watson) Cunningham (February 22, 1944—May 2, 2007) Greatest. Mom. Ever. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Four years ago, I dragged my wife Aliza away from a relatively secure job, South Florida beaches, and loads of sunshine on a fanciful whim to pursue a Ph.D. at Bowling Green. The trooper she is, she came along with nary a complaint (only the occasional side-eye when the Northwestern Ohio winters kicked in) and offering love, encouragement, ideas, and the willingness to make my favorite meal of fettuccine alfredo and spinach whenever I asked. For that, I am forever in her debt, as I am quite certain that I could not have completed this project (or much of anything else, for that matter) without her. Many thanks to my wonderful dissertation advisor, Dr. Angela Nelson, for all of her consideration, guidance, and kindness. Special thanks to Dr. Michael Butterworth, Dr. Susana Peña, and Dr. Maisha Wester, all of whom have vastly expanded my horizons and challenged me in ways few others have before. Thanks also to Dr. Ashutosh Sohoni for his participation on my dissertation committee. I am forever indebted to my newfound brother and sister, Adrian Bautista and Aisha McGriff (also known as The Brown Mafia!) for advice, encouragement, and copious amounts of coffee at Grounds for Thought. I especially thank Aisha, as she has had to point me in the right direction more than a few times. Thanks also to fellow American Culture Studies scholars Mark Bernard, Cheryl Cash, Angie Fitzpatrick, Dr. Colin Helb, Kelly MacDonald, Rachel Dean Ruzicka, Eric Weeks, and Martin Zimmann for being all-around great pals. I also wish to thank former ACS Director Dr. Donald McQuarie and current ACS Director Dr. Radhika Gajjala for all of their support along the way. vi Lastly, I wish to thank the legions of family and friends who always have believed that I was capable of doing this—even when I had my doubts. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................1 Filling the Void: Situating the Black President in Film Studies...............................................................3 CHAPTER I: THE THING SO GREATLY FEARED: HISTORICIZING FEARS OF A BLACK PRESIDENCY............................................................................................................................................12 Harding, Jefferson, and Lincoln: White Presidents as the First “Black” Presidents...............................14 Fear of a Black Republic.........................................................................................................................30 From Impossible to Improbable..............................................................................................................38 Jesse Jackson and the Changing Face of Politics....................................................................................48 Powell for President................................................................................................................................51 Return of the Black Cinematic President................................................................................................55 CHAPTER II: BEING BLACK MATTERS: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF THE MAN ........................58 The Man and the Apparently Declining Significance of Whiteness and Racism ...................................60 Black Militancy as Barrier to Racial Harmony.......................................................................................70 Douglas Dilman: “A Well-Dressed Rebuttal to the Militants”...............................................................74 CHAPTER III: THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT: BLACK CINEMATIC PRESIDENTS IN CRISIS...................................................................................................................................................81 Fear of a Black President: The Birth of a Nation as Precursor ...............................................................83 From Deep Impact to 2012: The Black President in Crisis ....................................................................88 Modern Day Ben Camerons: White Heroes in Black Presidential Films ...............................................97 CHAPTER IV: THIS COUNTRY IS UPSIDE DOWN! THE ABSURD BLACK CINEMATIC PRESIDENT.............................................................................................................................................107 Not Exactly Ideal Presidents: Rufus Jones for President and Idiocracy...............................................109 “That Ain’t Right”: Black Cinematic Presidents and the Act of “Laughing Mad” ..............................121 EPILOGUE: POLITICS AS USUAL: BLACK CINEMATIC PRESIDENTS IN THE OBAMA AGE.134 WORKS CITED .......................................................................................................................................150 1 INTRODUCTION In a Los Angeles Times story that appeared shortly after Barack Obama became the likely Democratic nominee for president of the United States, actor Dennis Haysbert, who played President David Palmer in the hit television series 24, stated, “Frankly and honestly, what my role did and the way I was able to play it and the way the writers wrote it opened the eyes of the American public that a black president was viable and could happen” (Braxton, “Black Like Them”). Legendary actor and comedian Bill Cosby, in his role as family man Cliff Huxtable, has also been implicated in Obama’s success (Braxton, “Talking Obamas, Huxtables”). Cosby himself seems to agree, noting, “I would not be surprised with the comfort level of people looking at a family and not being afraid of them, and not holding them to some strange old thoughts of a nation… It’s what people have done with themselves by watching that show and believing in it” (Arango). In either event, representations of black presidents (and, if Cosby is any indication, of upper middle class black professionals) in popular culture are thought to have had some influence on Obama’s electability. Of course, this effect is not without coincidence, for as Gary Harmon suggests, popular culture consists of “the arts, rituals and events, myths and beliefs, and artifacts widely shared by a significant portion of a group of people at a specific time” (63). Prior to Obama’s assuming the presidency in 2009, popular culture—particularly film and television—was the only realm in which a black United States presidency had been realized. True to Harmon’s definition of popular culture, these depictions largely reflect beliefs about black leadership. Surprisingly, despite the American presidency’s high visibility and importance and the saliency of race in American culture, cinema’s rendering of a black president has received scant treatment in scholarship. Thus far, the origins, meanings, and implications of the black cinematic 2 president outside of their contributing to Obama’s election have yet to be seriously considered. Granted, outside of the context of a realized black presidency and given the relative infrequency of a black president in film, scholars have had little impetus to seriously consider these matters. However, outside of the relatively infrequent appearance of the black president in film and television, another reason scholars have tread lightly on the subject is that they seem to envision the cinematic black president as a positive. For instance, of Morgan Freeman as
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