McCain...is Voldemort?

Photo courtesy of Cracked.com.

     The photo above is obviously promoting Barack Obama. It was displayed during his 2008 presidential campaign against John McCain. The campaign was extremely exaggerated and so this photo displays the exaggeration. It also could have dissuaded voters from voting for McCain in the process. As we know now, Obama went on to win the 2008 presidential election.

     In this picture, John McCain is being satirized. His head has been photoshopped onto a fictional villain’s body, Lord Voldemort of the famous Harry Potter series. By doing this, John McCain is seen as a villain, casting spells on everyone. He is portrayed as a “Dark Lord.” “Barack Obama and the Senator from Delaware” is even a play on the Harry Potter series. Every installation has titles beginning with “Harry Potter and the…” such as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone or Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. It can be said that Obama is in the position of the hero of the story because Harry Potter is the hero in the series. Replacing Harry’s name with Obama’s gives people the impression that Obama is the hero to vanquish “the Dark Lord” or John McCain. It offers a form of juxtaposition by displaying "good" and "evil" and allowing audiences to compare the two candidates. Also, "the senator from Delaware" refers to Joe Biden, Barack Obama's running mate for vice president. The absurd conclusion is that John McCain is Lord Voldemort. Voters know that this is not physically possible, but the poster gets its point across either way.

Sources

 Grrlscientist. http://scientopia.org/blogs/thisscientificlife/2008/09/page/3/. 25 Sept. 2008. Web. 3 Dec. 2011.