The Chronotopic Clinton: Rhetorics of (a) Political Character in Popular Culture

摘要

Like many presidents before him, Bill Clinton is a complex and varied repository of meaning. Operating alongside conventional historical treatments, popular culture presents visions of presidents, and Clinton in particular, that are in many ways more intimate and more multifaceted than those found in traditional biography. This analysis considers three such popular culture texts that all feature Clinton as a main character—the 1996 novel Primary Colors, the 2003 novel The X President, and the 2010 HBO film The Special Relationship. Specifically, I explore how each of these texts enliven an understanding of Clinton through their constructions of him as a chronotope—a character firmly defined by his placement within a particular temporal-spatial nexus. Ultimately, this analysis considers how the chronotopic Clinton offers ideological visions of Clinton's political character, of Clinton as president of the United States, and of the American presidency as an institution.View full textDownload full textRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15405702.2012.682937