Visually Assessing the First Lady in a Digital Age: A Study of Michelle Obama as Portrayed by Journalists and the White House

Abstract

In a digital age in which the First Lady's image is captured and disseminated by many different outlets, this article proposes the development of a coding instrument using Goffman's (1979) gender displays as a new method for exploring the visual frames of the First Lady. Given the manner in which photographs are disseminated via the Internet by both official and journalistic sources, this new coding instrument takes into consideration the different vantage points that these image capturers have. Until recently, visual gender display frames of the First Lady from differing outlets have not been easily studied separately, given the fact that images disseminated by the White House had to go through the journalistic gate prior to dispersion. Ultimately, the study of photos of the First Lady as she appears in the "media" was mixed and confounded journalistic and official framing. The Internet has changed all of this and opens opportunities to study these framing sources separately. As a test of a new coding instrument to study these different framing sources, this article assesses Michelle Obama in her gender portrayal from two different framing sources: journalists and the White House. This visual content analysis demonstrates and supports the use of a new context-independent coding instrument, borrowing from Goffman's gender displays as a method for visually studying the First Lady.

Introduction to the Special Issue on the Barack Hussein Obama Presidency

“…Meyers examines YouTube videos designed to redefine the First Lady, following earlier media framing of her as an unpatriotic and angry Black woman. Meyers' study deviates from her previous work (2013) and Mortensen (2015) that examined online representation of the First Lady. The current article explores meanings within narratives provided by the White House and the first lady via YouTube videos.…”

The Cult of First Ladyhood: Controlling Images of White Womanhood in the Role of the First Lady

“…While scholarship on Michelle Obama is still developing, one productive line of inquiry has emerged for those studying visual imagery and public relations. Marian Meyers and Carmen Gorman (2017) focus on the ways in which mainstream news and entertainment outlets have portrayed Michelle Obama with the goal of creating a more acceptable public persona, including communication strategies employed by the White House to undermine conservative efforts to label her an unpatriotic, stereotypical “Angry Black Woman” (Brown 2013; Mortenson 2015; Persuit and Brunson 2015). The varied reactions of conservative news pundits to Obama's public statements regarding patriotism, and the New Yorker and Vogue magazine covers, signal the extent to which white racial attitudes have shaped American public opinion toward Michelle Obama, as scholars have observed a pattern of coverage that contrasts with traditional expectations of first ladies (Brown 2013; Harris-Perry 2011; Hayden 2017; Knuckey and Kim 2016; McAlister 2009; Tate 2012; Williams 2009).…”

The first lady of social media: The visual rhetoric of Michelle Obama’s Twitter images

“…Although first ladies do not have a clearly defined role (Caroli, 2003), they occupy an important position in American politics. Studies examining the first ladies' print/textual media coverage (Burns, 2004;Shoop, 2010) as well as those examining the visual representation of first ladies in the media (Beasley, 2005;Colbert, 1995;Mortensen, 2015) have found that the press uses a few popular frames to cover the first lady. From the beginnings of the American presidency through the first half of the 20th century, the print media covered the first lady primarily as a hostess.…”

“…Burns (2004) found that historically the media tend to photograph first ladies with their children and as fashion icons. In a recent study comparing the images disseminated by the White House and mainstream media, Mortensen (2015) found that the White House displayed Michelle Obama more traditionally than did journalists but that both used the same traditional ideals of femininity. For example, both portray her in a nurturing, motherly role, surrounded by children, and both were likely to portray her in positions of subordination.…”

“…We believe this study is timely and important for several reasons. Although previous studies of first ladies have examined the visual frames in media coverage of the White House's press materials (Burns, 2004;Colbert, 1995;Mortensen, 2015;Scharrer & Bissell, 2000), none have examined the visuals in a first lady's social media accounts. Given that around seven in 10 Americans use social networking sites (Pew Research Center, 2017) and 21% use Twitter, it is important to examine how the first lady presents herself visually on social media.…”