Teil der Reihe: Erfolg in Serie 

The President of the United States is a potent symbolic figure in American culture, and so it is not surprising that American political dramas often revolve around it. Nor is entertainment just entertainment in this context. “[H]owever seemingly trivial films and television programs featuring fictional presidents in prominent roles appear to be, they play a vital and significant role in articulating what characteristics people look for in a commander in chief,” writes film and television scholar Gregory Frame (xi). Measured against the political reality of the United States, Tom Kirkman, the fictional president of Designated Survivor, is rather uncharacteristic: he is not a career politician, he is a president who did not run for the office, and as far as party affiliation goes, he is an independent. Having premiered on ABC in 2016, Designated Survivor creates a presidential scenario which is almost a complete opposite to the one developed in House of Cards, one of the most successful contemporary political dramas on television. Instead of presenting politics as a fundamentally ruthless and unscrupulous business, Designated Survivor shows a president whose primary aspiration is ethical politics guided by human decency. Portrayed by Kiefer Sutherland, whose characterization in his role as federal agent Jack Bauer in the hit series 24 creates a telling contrast to the ethos of Tom Kirkman (Frame xiv), the presidential character of Designated Survivor functions as a thought experiment. Over its three seasons, and in the final season in particular, the show poses the question whether and in how far it is possible to maintain idealistic values when placed in the simultaneously powerful and constrained position of an American President. These and other themes will be explored in this talk.

Referentin: Dr. Svetlana Seibel

Dr. Svetlana Seibel is a postdoctoral research associate in North American Literary and Cultural Studies at Saarland University and coordinator of the certificate study program “Applied Pop Studies.”