For my remix, I chose to make a comment on the way President Trump runs our country, and I modified a widely published image from Trump’s state of the union address a few weeks ago. Trump’s state of the union speech this year carried heavy significance not only because he delivered it on the eve of the final vote in his impeachment trial but also because he sought to demonstrate to Americans—a majority of whom do not approve of the job he has done—the progress his administration has made. The image I chose (from PBS NewsHour) as well as other images of Trump’s speech dominated every front page of the major newspapers and news websites the next morning.
In my Photoshop remake, I replaced Speaker Nancy Pelosi who sits next to VP Mike Pence during these speeches with President Putin of Russia. By carefully selecting an image of Putin and using various features of Photoshop, I wanted it to look as realistic as possible. Using the tutorials on the Annenberg digital lounge website, I found the process of putting Putin into the image quite easy.
Although, some would classify my image as simply partisan banter, I would like to think it actually makes a legitimate argument. By depicting Putin in that specific seat, I get at the nature of how Trump really has no interest in bipartisanship. The man has run this country like a supreme leader. Especially in the instance depicted where he tried to appeal to voters ahead of November, it became increasingly clear that Trump has and will continue to sell our democracy to the highest bidder. Replace Putin with whichever autocratic third world leader you like and the message stays same: integrity matters.
Aidan's Blog 