McCain's Disembodied Head Talks About War
Sen. John McCain's newest campaign ad debuted on YouTube this morning. According to the campaign, "this is the first ad in a major new ad campaign targeting battleground states."
The 30-second TV spot, titled "Safe," is just that. It discusses the horrors of war, without mentioning Iraq, the 800-lb gorilla in the room. In the ad, McCain recounts the history of his family's military service and highlights the most well-known item on his resume: he served in Vietnam and spent more than five years there as a prisoner of war. Here is the script:
Only a fool or a fraud talks tough or romantically about war.
When I was five years old, my father left for war.
My grandfather came home from war and died the next day.
I was shot down over Vietnam and spent five years as a POW. Some of the friends I served with never came home.
I hate war.
And I know how terrible its costs are.
I'm running for president to keep the country I love safe.
I'm John McCain and I approve this message.
Production notes: McCain is moodily side-lit from the right and appears to be wearing a black suit against a solid black background. You only see half his face, everything else is bathed in shadow -- which makes you feel as if you are watching a floating, disembodied head. This could be to to take focus away from the left side of his face, which is scarred from a bout with melanoma. Still, it's a little eerie.
Comments:
Posted 06/07/2008 08:43pm with
Did John McCain know about the Bush push for war and why did he vote for an unneeded, unjustified and seemingly endless war of preemption that saps our military strength and puts our National Security at risk?
McCain has criticized the conduct of the war but embraces the concept of preemptive war. A concept that has no moral understanding and has been condemned by every leading religious authority in the world. Not withstanding the crack-pot religious right wing nut jobs in America and else where who masquerade as Christians.
Posted 06/08/2008 05:45pm with
Let’s forget the Content, if it even can be called such, of this ad and talk about the Form.
As DeLong notes, it’s eerie-looking.
For a candidate who has to cope with the always already there issue of Age to present himself looking like nothing less than an apparition is astonishing. He appears flat-out ghostly; half his face just not there, the black suit against the black background effectively makes his body disappear as well, leaving only the haunting half-moon of his pale white face and the vertical streak of brightness emanating from his shirt peeking through the darkness.
Perhaps his campaign was shooting for the serious/somber look; and given the subject matter, such a look would be appropriate.
But they’ve leaped right over serious/somber and managed to produce a video that can only be described as macabre.
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