By Sarah Beck
Throughout its rhetorical life, the Obama Hope image, originally designed by Shepard Fairey, has become embroiled in many diverse social issues and campaigns since 2008. From advocating for the environment to protesting against the escalation of war to fighting against oppressive regimes, Obama Hope has appeared in many political and social battles across the world. In the United States, one of the important social issues in which the Obama Hope image became articulated was the battle for the legalization of same-sex marriage. In 2008, Proposition 8 (a piece of California legislation that strictly defined marriage as a union between one man and one woman) was on the ballot and passed the same year Barack Obama was elected. Although he disagreed with the bill, Obama remained steadfast in his support of civil unions over same-sex marriage throughout his first term as president. Later, Obama’s stance on same-sex marriage “evolved,” and he eventually came out publicly supporting the legalization of same-sex marriage. This public move, combined with the overturning of Don't Ask Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act during his tenure as president, made Obama a hero in many eyes of mainstream gay rights activists. The Obama Hope image, which was initially employed to pressure Obama to support gay rights in the early days of Obama’s campaign and presidency, was later used to celebrate such evolution in Obama’s stance on the issue.
This chapter traces and analyzes the discourses associated with same-sex marriage throughout Obama’s campaign and presidency as well as the “evolution” of the image in relation to Obama’s changing stance. To not only facilitate such tracing and analysis but also document this important history, I curated a queer digital archive titled “The Evolution of Obama Pride,” using the popular image saving software, Pinterest. Regarding methodology, this chapter draws on queer theory and rhetorical theory to explore archival methods and positive potentials of carrying out such queer, digital, archival work for digital visual studies. I argue that Pinterest can be a valuable tool for queer individuals and communities to not only access historical archival materials but also curate and circulate visual artifacts and aid queer communities in achieving a sense of belonging. For scholars, archives constructed as Pinterest boards can also help identify patterns in sets of data that lead to productive rhetorical insights about the function of visual icons in social movements such as fight for same sex marriage. However, through a rhetorical critique of the archive as a whole, I also identify how queer archival practices can often perpetuate normative ideologies that academics often wish to work against. As we continue to play with digital visual archival studies, then, I ultimately argue that researchers must pay close attention to rhetorical undercuts-- the ways that, in this case, our own archives function as impure platforms that often undermine emancipatory ambitions even as they simultaneously harness transformative potential.
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