YouTube on Masculinity and the Founding Fathers: Constitutionalism 2.0

• DOI: 10.1177/1065912909343580
• Author: Susan Burgess
• Published date: 01 March 2011
• Date: 01 March 2011
• Subject Matter: Articles

Political Research Quarterly
64(1) 120 –131
YouTube on Masculinity and the Founding © 2011 University of Utah
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Fathers: Constitutionalism 2.0
DOI: 10.1177/1065912909343580
http://prq.sagepub.com
Susan Burgess1
Abstract
While it may be tempting to dismiss the broad humor and downright inaccuracies of politically oriented YouTube
videos such as Brad Neely’s animated short on George Washington, this article argues it would be a mistake. The
campy exaggerations and absurd claims contained therein may offer new sources of populist resistance to dominant
understandings of masculinity as played out in the relation between the founding fathers and contemporary constitutional
politics. This article explores two parodies of masculinity and paternity, suggesting ways in which YouTube may be used
to integrate or converge scholarly and popular understandings into a new discourse, called Constitutionalism 2.0.
Keywords
founding fathers, masculinity, constitutionalism, YouTube, Internet
In the wake of the 2008 U.S. presidential election no one
In this regard, I build on Michael Kammen’s 1986
can seriously doubt that there is a significant relationship
tour de force, A Machine That Would Go of Itself: The
between humor, politics, and YouTube. Record numbers
Constitution in American Culture. Rather than focusing
viewed skits parodying the trials and tribulations of the
simply on elite constitutional understanding, Kammen’s
candidates offered by the likes of Tina Fey and Amy
work analyzed the role of the Constitution in public
Poehler, which were rerun for millions more on the
consciousness. Accordingly, he examined popular sources
Internet, having a weekly impact on the tenor of the
of constitutional understanding that had been long ignored
campaign. Since the election, The New York Times has
by academics, such as paintings, cartoons, Constitution
referred to Barack Obama’s administration as “The
Day celebrations, history texts, and children’s books.
YouTube Presidency” (Heffernan 2009). This article
YouTube videos are a logical extension of this list.
aims to explore the import of the rise of YouTube for
However, Kammen’s work was more concerned with
popular and academic understandings of the American
gauging public knowledge about the founding fathers
founding through an analysis of two recent videos
and the Constitution. He assumed a straightforward rela-
that address paternity and masculinity, Shining and
tionship between textual meaning and popular knowledge
Washington, eventuating in a new kind of constitutional
of it (or lack thereof). Even though he was savvy enough
theory, which I call Constitutionalism 2.0 because it
to understand that any test of public constitutional
brings together or converges old and new ways of think-
knowledge could be composed in a manner that virtually
ing about the founding fathers and the Constitution.
guaranteed a failing result, he nevertheless adopted a
As Austin Sarat (2000, 8) noted, fatherhood serves as
positivist approach to constitutional meaning that
“one of the key terms through which law is mythologized
allowed him to sit in judgment. I am less interested in
and through which fantasies and anxieties about law are
whether pop culture “gets it right” than I am in how it
expressed.” Given this, it is perhaps not surprising that
may influence the construction of popular as well as elite
the founding fathers play a central role in legitimizing
political knowledge. Writing recently in the pages of this
contemporary judicial review. While an enormous
journal about the relationship between reality television
amount of scholarly work has been done on the founding
and its relationship to constitutional understanding,1 this
1Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA
article employs a fresh approach that takes account of a
significant cultural change, the rise of YouTube, which is
Corresponding Author:
Susan Burgess, 225 Bentley Annex, Department of Political Science,
likely to significantly alter popular and scholarly under-
Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701, USA
standings of these matters.
E-mail: burgess@ohio.edu

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Burgess
121
and voting behavior, Juliet Williams (2005, 640) com-
popular knowledge contributes to this growing literature.
mented about the tension between fact and fiction, as
YouTube’s location on the Internet makes it all the more
well as reality and unreality, that characterizes contem-
intriguing in this regard, as the Internet is often thought to
porary politics: “Ours is an era in which reality is
be one of the most democratic sites of pop culture, rela-
conceived and constructed not as an absolute—as
tively accessible and free of regulation (S. Johnson 2005).
implied by the notion of a fact/fiction binary—but rather
Second, by integrating a new platform into an older
as a matter of degree.” Thus, my focus is not whether
academic discussion, I seek to open up a constitutional
any particular representation is real or true, but rather
debate that leading political scientists and legal scholars
how YouTube influences the way that the public mean-
have characterized as being lodged at an impasse for the
ing is constructed. What are sometimes classified as
past twenty-five years, caught in the tension between
distortions, or a lack of understanding, may also be seen
judicial and democratic authority (e.g., Gillman 2001;
as a mocking of elite practices, informed by a fairly
Brest 1981). Elsewhere I have argued that this is in large
sophisticated understanding of the reality of power.
part owing to the failure of contemporary constitutional
These so-called distortions may help us to view a politi-
discourse to provide adequate attention to dissenting
cal issue in a new way, perhaps by allowing us to see
voices that challenge, rather than seek, legitimacy
something that is ordinarily overlooked in elite discus-
(Burgess 2007). YouTube is nothing if not a source of
sions. In this sense, a distortion of reality as we have
plural and often dissenting views. It is laden with paro-
come to know it, particularly when it is a comment on
dies of just about everything, including parodies of
traditional elite knowledge, can become a new reality in
masculinity, paternal authority, and the founding fathers.
and of itself, based on a convergence of popular and elite
They range from rough, homemade, hand-held video, to
knowledge. Thus, I will diverge from Kammen and con-
sophisticated mash-ups of pirated preexisting films, to
sider the role that YouTube may have on constructing
originally created professional video animation. Rather
political meaning, even, or perhaps especially, when it is
than issuing from a single text such as the nightly news or
seen by experts as inaccurate.
a specific piece of scholarship, YouTube treatments alter
This article also builds on my recent work, The
and circulate mainstream texts, parodying their claims to
Founding Fathers, Pop Culture, and Constitutional Law:
speak in a unified, authoritative fashion, thereby offering
Who’s Your Daddy?, which explores the representation of
a new platform from which to think about such authority.
fatherhood in law and various sites of popular culture
In this manner, previously passive consumers disrupt
such as soap operas, romance novels, science fiction,
dominant narratives, becoming active creators of paro-
reality television, and coming out narratives (Burgess
dies of mainstream representations of power.
2008). Rather than focusing on elite decision making by
Third, just as the old and new media collide in the
courts, legislatures, or executives, this book explores
emerging “convergence culture” (Jenkins 2006), this arti-
alternative ways to understand the relationship between
cle seeks to create a connection between an older
paternal power and law from the bottom-up, through pop
academic manner of thinking about political authority
culture. Here I seek to extend this work by integrating an
with a newer way drawn from popular culture. By inte-
important new site into the analysis: YouTube. In doing
grating populist takes on masculinity, paternity, and the
so, I hope to continue this reconfiguration of scholarly
founding fathers into the scholarly constitutional debate,
discourse about the relationship between the founding
this article seeks to transform the familiar academic dis-
and constitutional meaning in three ways.
cussion by compelling it to encounter unpedigreed and
First, I seek to identify and analyze new sources of
dissenting parodies that are readily available on YouTube.
constitutional understanding, to further democratize the
Because parody typically serves to complicate and con-
debate about the founders and judicial review. While
found a familiar narrative, the long-standing nature of the
jurists and constitutional theorists of various political
debate about the founding fathers provides a remarkably
stripes have long called for a more democratic constitu-
rich basis for such an interpretive move. Exploring the
tional discourse, most have concentrated on legislative
link between fathers and masculinity on YouTube prom-
and executive interpretation as an alternative to judicial
ises to provide a better understanding of the construction
decision making, thus retaining an elite focus (e.g.,
of elite knowledge about the founding and its...