Research Proposal

We’ve spent this semester reading, and reading, and reading, and reading… and my brain feels like this. Yet, through it all we have persevered and have gained a better knowledge of how language shapes our conceptions of the world.

As Americans, we share a unique perspective in comparison to the rest of the world. We are taught to believe in the power of the capitalistic system and the ideals in democracy. However, we live within the false pretense of a free-market society under the rule of a republic. Yet, ask the average American what they value about this country - what makes America the best country - and their answers will all echo of similar symbols. Conversely, ask potential immigrants what is their motivation for moving to America and they will speak in similar imagery.

Are these mere symbols and imagery of what is great about America, or is this something more sinister? I would suggest that symbols and imagery, taken by themselves, harmless. However, when they are used as propaganda they are nothing more than advertising.

And as we saw in film The Persuaders, the latest trend in advertising is emotional branding. So goes advertising, so goes politics. Therefore metaphors can be easily be drawn between Republican and Democrat confrontations. So, now when we vote it is less about the issues and more about the images we believe represent our illusion of what is American.

In Newark, New Jersey, the rules of campaigning are slightly different than the rest of the nation. In New Jersey, political parties are not as big of a factor because the elections are non-partisan. The 2002 Newark Mayoral Campaign pitted the incumbent Sharpe James against a young city councilman named Cory Booker.

Both men are African-American and both men are also Democrats. In the documentary StreetFight, filmmaker Marshall Curry chronicled the campaign tactics of both candidates. James is a career politician who gained popularity as being a civil rights activist; he is a life-long resident of the city and claims to relate to them as one of their own. Booker is a Stanford graduate, Rhode Scholar, and has a law degree from Yale.

My paper will document the specific use of symbolism, imagery, language and arguments that both campaigns use during the election. I will try and link Donald Lazere’s concepts about polemics to the campaign. I hope to show how polemics is a broader concept that can relate to any argument irregardless of political polarizations. The non-partisan atmosphere engenders a more raw argument aspect to politics. The film illustrates why StreetFight is an accurate title for the documentary. My goal is to apply the knowledge that I have gained through all of the reading we have done for class to explain why the situations in the film occur.