Political Mashups

“The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera” ~ Dorothea Lang.

Upon, seeing this quote the first thing that came to mind was mash-up. When the original version of anything is first introduced, we only tend to see it from one viewpoint. However, a mash-up illustrates a different idea and viewpoints that have never been introduced in the original version. For instance, you would see a mash-up that contains two polar opposite genres being brought together. It also has different response compared to the original version. One might anticipate a certain response in the original version because of the reputation that the genre holds. Conversely, in order to understand the mash-up, one must have a good understanding of the original version to understand the mash-up response. If this is not understood the mashup would not successfully meet its fulfillment. The first mash-up I will be analyzing is the mash-up on Trump’s al-Baghdadi speech and Obama’s Bin Laden speech on the late-night Jimmy Kimmel show. In recent year’s politics and comedy has started to really emerge together more than before. In this particular mash-up, two different genres interconnect which are politics and comedy. The context of this video is highly political because it is comparing a former president to a sitting president. The comparison becomes extremely Horatian because this level of satire is more humourizing than its biting. In this video, the satirist target is Donald Trump and the informality within his speech. To further mock the informality of the president, the video juxtaposition with Obamas eloquent and formal speech. Thus, the satirical side is the immediate response of the audience. Another mashup that falls under the same genres as Jimmy Kimmel mash-up would be the ABC hit show called Scandal. This show is categorized to be highly political because of the genre it falls under. However, this mashup is completely different from the Kimmel mash-up. The reason being is because the original version was a show and then the mash-up was made into a music video. Even though scandal is a political show, the mash-up completely changed the genre and turned it into a music video and then started to romanticize the two main characters in the show. The song that this mash-up selected was “Helium” by Sia. Conversely, Jimmy Kimmel used a different technique to produce the mash-up. There were no significant changes because the content was political, and the response was satirical which made the audience laugh. Also, they coordinated both speeches in a clear way so the audience may see the difference. Whereas Scandal the song and certain scenes that were selected from the show was coordinated together so the narrative of the music video could become a love story. Nevertheless, the mash-up narrowed there focus down in order for the audience to see the love that is presented in front of them.  The song that was selected for the two main characters fit perfectly because it describes their love effortlessly. “Helium” is a song that describes an intense feeling towards the one whom you love. In the show, Scandal demonstrates Oliva and Fitz's relationship as an intense love becomes of the trials they go through. Even though these characters have other romantic relationship the mashups yet was selective with the narrative that they wanted to showcase. These two mashups show that two similar genres could have multiple ways of creating a different response or a different idea. Mashups are supposed to take an idea that was already existing and corporate a new idea that has different responses from the original version. These two mashups are important because they are from the same genre. This is significant because it illustrates that one genre could have multiple ideas and responses. To sum it all, both mashups have more in common than differences.

                         YouTube, YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vpLA1yUjKA&t=148s.

                       YouTube, YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsBOWSjOLsE.