Comments on: Dancing with Democracy http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2010/11/23/dancing-with-democracy/ Responses to Media and Culture Fri, 12 Feb 2016 19:35:04 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.5 By: Myles McNutt http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2010/11/23/dancing-with-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-44788 Wed, 24 Nov 2010 18:42:26 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=7488#comment-44788 Appropriately, Mary Hart was actually in the audience last night.

I think considering the elder Palin as a television character is apt, and her role here matches comfortably with SP’s Alaska – she is the Mother Hen, the support system for her family. This is particularly common in these settings: how often does American Idol cut to a contestant’s family as soon as their elimination fate is decided?

Dancing with the Stars, as with most of its situations, simply becomes the glitzy, commercialized equivalent. American Idol parents are wearing homemade t-shirts and hold poster board; Dancing with the Stars has, you know, Sarah Palin. It becomes an extension of celebrity, which really does essentialize certain (likely helpful) parts of Palin’s public persona.

]]> By: Nick Marx http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/2010/11/23/dancing-with-democracy/comment-page-1/#comment-44638 Wed, 24 Nov 2010 14:37:15 +0000 http://blog.commarts.wisc.edu/?p=7488#comment-44638 Thanks Myles. This season’s DWTS was the first that didn’t compel me to keep my laptop open the entire time just to slog through its 2 hours (has any primetime reality competition gotten more screen time out of so little actual stuff happening?). I became fascinated by ABC’s increasing proficiency at using the long interludes between dances or Brooke Burke’s stilted interviews to show us the crowd in very strategic ways. To be sure, this is hardly new, but shots of the DWTS crowd have become less a way to sway our opinions a la crying-Sanjaya-girl, and more a bizarre simulacrum of syndicated entertainment news shows like ET and Extra.

This is what makes Sarah Palin’s presence on the program so troubling. We’re used to “politicians” like her popping up in infotainment settings like The Daily Show, SNL, et. al., but her recurring role on a massively popular, primetime series portends many of the bigger things you’re alluding to, methinks. That is to say, it’s clear her 2012 Presidential campaign will be colored much, much more by Mary Hart, and much, much less by Katie Couric.

It kills me to say it, because I hate her with every fiber of my being, but Sarah Palin is a great television character.

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