We need to build totems and shrines and icons, but nobody's sure in honor of what.---Robyn Hitchcock, Musician

2.1

Certain symbols or images in pop culture have the ability to make us immediately have the same collective recognition.  These icons convey a time and place, or a feeling to which we can all relate—though not always in the same way, and some more polarizing than others.

Andy Griffith died the other day and I was reminded of his enduring popularity, and the symbolism of the Andy Griffith Show, the endearing sitcom that went off the air in 1968 but has run in syndication ever since.  Andy’s sensibility, Aunt Bee’s fidgety voice, Opie’s innocence and Barney’s bumbling have charmed generation after generation of the TV age.  By solving the problems of everyone in Mayberry with good old-fashioned humor and common sense, Sheriff Andy Taylor became the dad and protector the viewers all believed in.  Andy’s ear-to-ear grin brings us all back to the uncomplicated world of the early sixties in rural North Carolina.

In contrast, the current version of TV’s family values is embodied in Family Guy.  Dad Peter Griffin offers an inept role model for his outcast daughter, ne’er do well older son, and Stewie, a diabolical super villain baby aided by his martini-sipping sidekick dog, Brian.  The conservative watchdog group, The Parents Television Council, has listed the show on its “Worst Prime-Time Shows for Family Viewing”, and the FCC has received numerous complaints about the show’s vulgarity.   Will Family Guy have the same longevity as Andy Griffith?  Only time will tell.

As we approach a new presidential election I am reminded of an image that was everywhere four years ago.  Shepard Fairey’s Obama “Hope” poster became the defacto symbol of Barack Obama’s campaign, with interchangeable tag lines—Hope, Change, and Progress.  The simple, pop art design was appealing to the young voter market that Obama wanted to reach.  The image was highly visible in poster form or in online form—and the online venue is where Obama changed the format of the political campaign forever by earning more in online contributions and using social media networks to effectively campaign to technology users, while his aging opponent, John McCain, had little comprehension of the connected world.

To further solidify the iconic status of Fairey’s image, it has been parodied and turned in to a common online meme format, both in negative commentary toward the president and for other, less serious purposes.