Description
Pharrell Williams performed his hit song ‘Happy’ during his appearance at a 2016 campaign rally for Hillary Clinton. Lady Gaga sang the national anthem at the 2021 United States Presidential Inauguration. William Shatner joined tech executives and a former NASA engineer and became the oldest person in space. Barbie has partnered with the European Space Agency to promote the education of girls in STEM fields. This paper argues that iconology provides area within which we can examine popular icons and images of our time to critically explore the concept of survival in both our present and future worlds.
Using this methodological approach to images traditionally used in art and media studies alongside intersectional theory, we present an iconological analysis of the icons and imagery that are employed in electoral and exploration politics. Based on data gathered during the 2016 and 2020 US general elections and social and news media coverage of the SpaceX and Blue Origin launches in 2021, we contend that the influence of fame and celebrity not only continues to impact political outcomes in the present, but now extends into an intergalactic future, requiring us to ask, “can the world – both present and future – survive?”
