Michelle's Contemp Blog

Several political topics are addressed throughout the Politician. The specific topic of running mates arises in episode 2 of the show when Payton has to choose someone to join him on the ballot. Instead of choosing someone that is just as qualified as himself, Payton must choose a vice president that will make him look better and attract votes. In the larger scope of things, this episode suggests a lot about the actual world of politics. From what viewers can see, running mates are there to make the president look better but can be a huge liability to the president's image.  Payton states that Infinity can garner him the sympathy votes but James insists that she is a huge liability, especially if it is true that she does not have cancer. Infinity does not have any qualifications and is only useful to Payton because she can gain him more votes.  Truth is an in-depth perception of reality while illusion is a superficial perception of reality.  In  the P...

The characters in the show play-act versions of themselves on so many levels for different reasons. Two prime examples of characters play-acting versions of themselves are River and Payton.   For starters, in the pilot episode, the viewers discover that Payton and River have a thing for each other and seem to like each other but Payton and River both have girlfriends that they do not seem all too interested in. They seem to hide the fact that they were ever together romantically and River runs against Payton for student body president.   During the debate, River is asked a question about the diet of students at Saint Sebastian and he answers by saying "I mean ... yeah? no?" (10:27). Even though he is running to be student body president, River is still a charismatic jock and he has to act like one by seeming carefree about the entire debate. River play-acts the version of the cool guy who everybody likes. River plays a version of himself but he isn't really being h...