First Name:
Ariel
Last Name:
Leath
Major Department:
Communication Studies
Thesis Director:
Monica Pombo
Date of Thesis:
May 2010
Images from the campaign of Barack Obama in 2008 are compared to images from the rise to power of Caesar Augustus in the Roman Empire. These images are paired and analyzed for the purpose of gaining perspective on image formation. Five criteria are applied to the analysis: philosophical context, formative context, historical context, relational context, and structural context (Detmer, 1980). Political imagery and symbols are analyzed to describe how visual signs are grounded in long embedded visual sign systems. Barthes' (1975) philosophy on the creation of myth in images is used to determine the continuance of myth through these political image creations in times of political change and unrest. The results of the research found that both Augustus and Obama succeeded in creating a myth through creating images with similar function and form.