PICTURING CULTURE IN POLITICAL SPOTS - 1992 CAMPAIGNS IN ISRAEL AND THE UNITED-STATES

This article attempts to expand the conventional notion of political ' 'image making'' from the control and projection of a candidate's perso nal attributes and appearance to the specifically visual representatio n of the cultural milieu or ''cultural vision'' that the campaign crea tes. It draws from several trends in political communication research- the evolving interest in the symbolic nature of politics, the increasi ng attention to the ''mediated realities'' of political advertising, a nd the growing awareness of the technical forces of visual representat ion and manipulation. By comparing and analyzing the use of visual ima gery in TV spots from the 1992 U.S. presidential election and the 1992 Israeli national elections, the study identifies a varying reliance o n ethnic, religious, national, or subcultural imagery between the two countries and among the political parties and candidates. The analysis of the 1992 spots, and a comparison with studies of previous campaign practices, reaffirms that elaborate cultural images support unifying mythic themes better than issue-specific rhetoric. In the United State s, the Republican ads, more often than Democratic ones, skillfully emp loy the capacities of modern visual media to establish enduring mythic themes. The findings of this exploratory study suggest that research on cultural imagery in political campaigns is sorely needed to better understand the formation of candidate images, the shaping of campaign rhetoric, and the nature of political myth making.