Playing Politics: Psychology, Performance, Strategy and the Elections in Real Time

With the U.S. presidential election season as backdrop, we will delve into the use and construction of political power—how it leverages cultural trends and reflects the geography of the electorate. We will examine how methods of performance are employed to create images that have purchase on the political stage; including an exploration of the use of satire, rhetoric, “spin,” appeals to values, the invocation of class struggle, portrayals of the Constitution, bi-partisanship, race relations, and gender rights. We will explore what the role of a citizen is and should be as we observe how campaigns attempt to shape public opinion. We will critique action and events as they unfold in real time through political ads, talking points, debates and damage control. We will explore how plays, narrative and documentary films, and other forms of media and entertainment have historically mirrored, shaped, and helped to inform political action and thought. After the election, we will continue to investigate how the victors and defeated interpret and act on the results.

 

Students will do independent research on the elections, study political rhetoric and events, analyze polls and election results, and work to gain a strong sense of the present state of affairs at the local, state, and national levels. Your faculty will be Mark Harrison (performance studies and film), and Stephen Buxbaum (political economy and former mayor of Olympia). Our goal is to end the program as better-informed citizens, ready to exercise our rights from a position of increased knowledge and experience.