The City Personified: The Geopolitical Narratives of Rudy Giuliani
2012; Routledge; Volume: 9; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/14791420.2012.699683
ISSN1479-4233
Autores Tópico(s)Media Studies and Communication
ResumoAbstract The article examines the growing interest in political celebrity and urban branding within media and cultural studies. It stresses the significance of narrative strategies in political statecraft, with specific reference to the intimate relationship between mayors and cities. It focuses on the figure of Rudy Giuliani, both in his period as mayor of New York between 1993 and 2001, and in his subsequent political and private lives, paying close attention to how the event of 9/11 acted as a pivot in his political career. After conceptualizing the relationship between mayors and cities through a discussion of public discourse, celebrity, and political scale, the paper then identifies three processes by which Giuliani has personified New York: first, through narrative control and self-projection within the New York political sphere, by considering his use of selected city sites as a form of synecdoche in his media strategies, and his marginalization of those who challenged him politically; second, through his elevated celebrity status and visual representation by the media in the aftermath of 9/11; and third, through the genre of autobiography and branding, via his book Leadership and related commercial activities, whereby he shifted the scale of his narrative beyond New York. Keywords: New YorkMayorsBrandingCelebrityPolitical Discourse Notes 1. John Corner and Dick Pels, eds., Media and the Restyling of Politics: Consumerism, Celebrity and Cynicism (London: Sage, 2003); John Street, Mass Media, Politics and Democracy (New York: Palgrave, 2001); "The Celebrity Politician: Political Style and Popular Culture," in Corner and Pels, Media and the Restyling of Politics, 85–98; and Miriam Greenberg, "The Limits of Branding: The World Trade Center, Fiscal Crisis, and the Marketing of Recovery," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 27, no. 2 (2003): 386–416. 2. Nick Couldry and Tim Markham, "Celebrity Culture and Public Connection: Bridge or Chasm?" International Journal of Cultural Studies 10, no. 4 (2007): 403–21. 3. Kurt Iveson, Publics and the City (Oxford: Blackwell, 2007). 4. See Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, 2nd ed. (London: Verso, 2006). 5. 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Leo Braudy, The Frenzy of Renown: Fame and Its History (New York: Oxford University Press, 1986). 14. On local dependence, see Kevin R. Cox, "Spaces of Dependence, Spaces of Engagement and the Politics of Scale, Or: Looking for Local Politics," Political Geography 17, no. 1 (1998): 1–23. On jumping scales, see Donald McNeill, "Embodying a Europe of the Cities: Geographies of Mayoral Leadership," Area 33, no. 4 (2001): 353–9. 15. Donald McNeill, "Barcelona as Imagined Community: Pasqual Maragall's Spaces of Engagement," Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 26, no. 3 (2001): 340–52. 16. Richard Dagger, "Metropolis, Memory and Citizenship," in Democracy, Citizenship and the Global City, ed. Engen F. Isin (London: Routledge, 2000), 37. 17. Richard Dagger, "Metropolis, Memory and Citizenship," in Democracy, Citizenship and the Global City, ed. Engen F. Isin (London: Routledge, 2000), 37 18. Richard Dagger, "Metropolis, Memory and Citizenship," in Democracy, Citizenship and the Global City, ed. Engen F. Isin (London: Routledge, 2000), 37 19. James Sanders, Celluloid Skyline: New York and the Movies (London: Bloomsbury, 2001), 10. 20. For biographies of Giuliani, see Wayne Barrett with Adam Fifield, Rudy! An Investigative Biography of Rudolph Giuliani (New York: Basic Books, 2000); and Andrew Kirtzman, Rudy Giuliani: Emperor of the City (New York: William Morrow and Co., 2000). 21. Edwin Diamond and Piera Paine, "The Media in the Game of Politics," in Urban Politics: New York Style, ed. Jewell Bellush and Dick Netzer. (Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, 1990), 341. 22. David R. Eichenthal, "Changing Styles and Strategies of the Mayor," in Bellush and Netzer, Urban Politics, 75. 23. Corner, "Mediated Persona and Political Culture," 69. 24. For example, see "Mayor Ed Koch," Time, June 15, 1981, http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,1101810615,00.html; and "Rudy Giuliani, Person of the Year," Time, December 31, 2001, http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,1101011231,00.html. 25. This was an allusion to "Pothole" Al Amato, a Republican senator associated with a similarly "can-do" style of politics. Kirtzmann, Rudy Giuliani, 195. 26. Edelman, Constructing the Political Spectacle, 49. 27. Corner, "Mediated Persona and Political Culture," 69. 28. Bruce Weber, "A Press Secretary under Fire: Giuliani's Spokeswoman Draws Criticism from Reporters," New York Times, March 24, 1995, http://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/24/nyregion/press-secretary-under-fire-giuliani-s-spokeswoman-draws-criticism-reporters.html; and David Firestone, "Giuliani Gives Press Secretary a Promotion," New York Times, April 1, 1995, http://www.nytimes.com/1995/04/01/nyregion/giuliani-gives-press-secretary-a-promotion.html. 29. Michael Powell and Russ Buettner, "In Matters Big and Small, Crossing Giuliani Had Price," New York Times, January 22, 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/22/us/politics/22giuliani.html?pagewanted=all. 30. Rudolph W. Giuliani, Leadership (New York: Hyperion, 2002), 271. 31. It should be noted that the success of the overall policy in reducing crime is hotly debated, given the falling national crime figures, the decline in the crack cocaine industry, and the lack of reliability of the statistical categorizations used. For example, see Bernard E. Harcourt, Illusion of Order: The False Promise of Broken Windows Policing (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005). 32. "William Bratton, New York City's Top Cop," Time, January 15, 1996, http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19960115,00.html. 33. Barrett, Rudy!, 343–7. 34. William Bratton with Peter Knobler, The Turnaround: How America's Top Cop Reversed the Crime Epidemic (New York: Random House, 2000), 296. 35. James Traub, "Giuliani Internalized," New York Times, February 11, 2001, http://partners.nytimes.com/library/magazine/home/20010211mag-giuliani.html. 36. Fairclough, Analysing Discourse. 37. Edelman, Constructing the Political Spectacle, 80–2. 38. Neil Smith, The New Urban Frontier: Gentrification and the Revanchist City (London: Routledge, 1996). 39. Barrett, Rudy!, 9. 40. Eric Pooley, "Mayor of the World," Time, December 31, 2001, http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2020227_2020306_2022358,00.html. 41. Jason Dittmer, "Captain America's Empire: Reflections on Identity, Popular Culture, and Post-9/11 Geopolitics," Annals of the Association of American Geographers 95, no. 3 (2005): 630. See also Klaus Dodds, "Licensed to Stereotype: Popular Geopolitics, James Bond and the Spectre of Balkanism," Geopolitics 8, no. 2 (2003): 125–56. 42. John B. Thompson, "The New Visibility," Theory, Culture & Society 22, no. 6 (2005): 38. 43. Pete Hamill, "Give Giuliani His Due: The Best Mayor Ever," New York Daily News, January 1, 2002, http://www.petehamill.com/nydnews110102.html (accessed June 15, 2005). 44. Lynn Spigel, "Entertainment Wars: Television Culture after 9/11," American Quarterly 56, no. 2 (2004): 235–70. 45. Barbie Zelizer, "Photography, Journalism, and Trauma," in Journalism after September 11, ed. Barbie Zelizer and Stuart Allan (London: Routledge, 2002), 62. 46. Barbie Zelizer, "Photography, Journalism, and Trauma," in Journalism after September 11, ed. Barbie Zelizer and Stuart Allan (London: Routledge, 2002), 64. 47. Barbie Zelizer, "Photography, Journalism, and Trauma," in Journalism after September 11, ed. Barbie Zelizer and Stuart Allan (London: Routledge, 2002), 65. 48. P. David Marshall, Celebrity and Power: Fame and Contemporary Culture (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997). 49. Hamill, "Give Giuliani His Due." 50. "Andrew Kirtzman: New York City after Rudy Giuliani," interview on CNN.com, November 8, 2001, http://articles.cnn.com/2001-11-08/us/kirtzman_1_giuliani-endorsement-andrew-kirtzman-rudy-giuliani?_s=PM:COMMUNITY. 51. For a complete transcript of Bush's visit to Ground Zero see "President Bush Salutes Heros in New York," September 14, 2001, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010914-9.html (accessed May 21, 2012). 52. Joan Walsh, "Giuliani's Moment," Salon, September 12, 2001, http://www.salon.com/2001/09/12/giuliani_58/. 53. Corner, "Mediated Persona and Political Culture"; and Michael Powell, "In 9/11 Chaos, Giuliani Forged a Lasting Image," New York Times, September 21, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/21/us/politics/21giuliani.html?pagewanted=1 (and see associated video). 54. Spigel, "Entertainment Wars." 55. Bill Keveney, "'Rudy' Profiles Mayor Made in Manhattan," USA Today, March 26, 2003, http://www.usatoday.com/life/television/news/2003-03-26-rudy_x.htm. 56. Jamie Malanowski, "Giuliani, Meet Your TV Match," New York Times, March, 16, 2003, http://www.nytimes.com/2003/03/16/arts/giuliani-meet-your-tv-match.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm. 57. Hamill, "Give Giuliani His Due." 58. Craig Tomashoff, "Playing the Mayor," US Weekly, March 31, 2003, 72. 59. Elizabeth Kolbert, "In Charge: The Best of Rudy Giuliani," New Yorker, September 24, 2001, 40. 60. Greenberg "The Limits of Branding," 171–6. 61. David Friend, Watching the World Change: The Stories behind the Images of 9/11 (New York: Picador, 2007). 62. Graeme Turner, Frances Bonner, and P. David Marshall, Fame Games: The Production of Celebrity in Australia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 3–4. 63. Graeme Turner, Frances Bonner, and P. David Marshall, Fame Games: The Production of Celebrity in Australia (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 4. 64. Daniel J. Boorstin, The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America (1961; repr., New York: Vintage, 1987), 57. 65. Daniel J. Boorstin, The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America (1961; repr., New York: Vintage, 1987), 66. 66. Spigel, "Entertainment Wars," 246; and Jayne Rodgers, "Icons and Invisibility: Gender, Myth, and 9/11," in War and the Media: Reporting Conflict 24/7, ed. Daya K. Thussu and Des Freedman (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2003), 206–7. 67. "Face Value: The Branding of Saint Rudy," The Economist, November 21, 2002, http://www.economist.com/node/1454467?story_id=1454467. 68. Clyde Haberman, "Star Power Isn't Fleeting for Giuliani," New York Times, June 1, 2002, http://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/01/nyregion/nyc-star-power-isn-t-fleeting-for-giuliani.html. 69. Andy Beckett, "How to Be Like Me," The Guardian, January 11, 2003, http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2003/jan/11/highereducation.biography. 70. Paul D. Colford, "Giuliani Has the Write Stuff," New York Daily News, March 5, 2003, http://articles.nydailynews.com/2003-03-05/news/18220197_1_dads-and-grads-miramax-books-copies. 71. McNeill, "Barcelona as Imagined Community." 72. Kirtzman, Rudy Giuliani; and Barrett, Rudy! (this was the template for the USA Network's television movie). 73. Nigel Thrift, Knowing Capitalism (London: Sage, 2005), 91. 74. Nigel Thrift, Knowing Capitalism (London: Sage, 2005), 91, 85. 75. Giuliani, Leadership, x. 76. Eric Lipton, "Rudy Inc.: A Politician's Empire," New York Times, February 22, 2004, http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/22/nyregion/rudy-politician-s-empire-giuliani-selling-his-public-image-branches-for-private.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm. 77. Celia Lury, Brands: The Logos of the Global Economy (London: Routledge, 2004), 92. 78. Lipton, "Rudy Inc." 79. "Face Value." 80. Erica Schoenberger, "Corporate Autobiographies: The Narrative Strategies of Corporate strategists," Journal of Economic Geography 1, no. 3 (2001): 281, original emphasis. 81. Hermann Hertzberg, "Rudy's Rules," New Yorker, October 8, 2001, http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2001/10/08/011008ta_talk_comment. 82. Corner, "Mediated Persona and Political Culture"; and Kolbert, "In Charge." 83. Barrett, Rudy!, 6. 84. Matt Bai, "America's Mayor Goes to America," New York Times, September 9, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/09/magazine/09Giuliani-t.html?pagewanted=all. 85. Wayne Barrett and Dan Collins, Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11 (New York: HarperCollins, 2006). This was an important issue, given the claims that rescue workers who suffered illnesses related to the clean-up had been inadequately protected by the Council, with reported sufferers logging a median of 962 hours. Studies showed that Giuliani had only spent 29 hours on site during the period of September 17 to December 16, usually accompanying visiting dignitaries and politicians, by contrast to the 12-hour daily shifts carried out by rescue workers. See Ross Buettner, "For Giuliani, Ground Zero as Lynchpin and Thorn," New York Times, August 17, 2007, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/us/politics/17giuliani.html?pagewanted=all. 86. Kevin McAuliffe, ed., Sayings of Generalissimo Giuliani (New York: Welcome Rain Publishers, 2000); and Robert Polner, ed., America's Mayor: The Hidden History of Rudy Giuliani's New York (Brooklyn, NY: Soft Skull Press, 2005). 87. Fairclough, Analysing Discourse. 88. Fairclough, Analysing Discourse Additional informationNotes on contributorsDonald McNeill Kim McNamara is an independent media researcher based in Sydney, who works on the production and embedding of celebrity within contemporary media and socio-spatial practices. She is the author of Paparazzi: Media Practices and Celebrity Culture (Polity, forthcoming 2013). Donald McNeill is Professor of Urban and Cultural Geography at the Institute for Culture and Society, University of Western Sydney. He has written on urban politics and the cultural geography of cities, with a particular focus on mayors
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