Scandals
Scandals intrigue everyone. Whether it’s a politician who admits to be being gay, or a billion dollar corporation that files for bankruptcy, scandals have the potential to change the course of history. For my theme, I decided to focus on four particular scandals, all of which grabbed headlines during their revelation.
The background and structure of the collage are both symbolic. I chose to include a red, silk sheet as my background as it creates a scandalous mood. The structure of the collage is disoriented because usually the events leading up the revelation of the scandal are very distorted and are not clear. I wanted to create the illusion of random clippings of newspaper articles on a bed. Everything else in the collage was included to add some sort of humor to the scandals. All of the headlines included were taken from actual New York Times articles.
The oldest scandal on the collage is that of former President Richard Nixon. I chose to include an image of Nixon waving to the American people on the day of his resignation, a picture that is certainly famous since Nixon is the only president to ever resign on his own accord.
The Enron Scandal is the only non-political scandal included. The headline accompanying Enron’s logo tells the whole story as this was a company that went from being an enormous success to a complete failure. And their downfall didn’t just affect the crooks that orchestrated Enron’s illegal activity, but also the millions of investors who lost a significant portion of their savings. I remember once mentioning Enron to my American Government teacher in high school and he informed me that all teachers in NYC public schools had a significant amount of their pension funds invested into Enron and thus the scandal and eventual crash of their stock left many with barely any savings in comparison to what they had.
Jim McGreevey. What more can be said. It was a startling revelation to many, that the popular New Jersey governor had a gay extramarital affair. Furthermore, he announced that he would be resigning from his position as governor. Shocking. I personally remember watching the press conference on TV and thinking, “In 20 years, this will be taught in American history classes all across the country.”
Of course, I saved the best for last. Who can forget Bill Clinton’s impeachment? He was a president unlike any other. There were those that hated him, and there were those that loved him, but barely anyone in between. His affair with Monica Lewinsky sprung an endless supply of jokes that continues to this day. The scandal itself was shocking on a number of levels. First, we became aware that our president was engaging in oral sex in the Oval Office. Second, our president did not feel that oral sex was included into the description of, “sexual relations.” Third, Monica Lewinsky became a nationwide celebrity. And if there is one thing we can take out of that entire ordeal, it’s President Clinton’s famous quote; “I did not have sexual relations with that woman.”
Scandals are a part of life. There is certainly an event happening right now that will one day be a scandal. I can’t predict what that could be as it would libelous, but maybe it might have something to do those WMD’s? Who knows…but in time, the truth will eventually come out as it has in the past.
December 15th, 2007 at 1:34 am
I really liked your idea to base your collage on scandals. It is a fun topic, but also one that has been the root of many conflicts. Your execution of the concept is very good, and I like the symbolism you used. It was a creative, well designed, and very interesting piece done on an equally facinating subject.