‘Superman Comes to the Supermarket’
While the recently departed Norman Mailer is best known as a novelist, back in the day he was a preeminent political commentator. (And a career misogynist, which most obit writers failed to note, but that’s another matter.)
Anyhow, in a lengthy article for Esquire magazine titled “The Superman Comes to the Supermarket,” Mailer riffs on celebrity marketing in postwar American politics not as a so-called objective journalist but with an edgy point of view that occasionally resembles that of a pugilist, which he was in his youth.
The celebrity in this case was John F. Kennedy, whom Mailer saw as being short on policy but long on image. He noted that JFK’s glamor and marketability made his nomination at the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles an all-but-foregone conclusion.
Get beyond Mailer’s dense prose and appreciate the excerpts posted at Kiko’s House for their prescience. Better still, read the entire article.
One Response to “‘Superman Comes to the Supermarket’”
A nice walk down memory lane with Mailer and Kennedy.both supwrstars of their day.
I notice that authors are no longer superstars and politicians are only for spewimg venom on.
You can criticize Mailer or praise him, but you can never say he was boring.
The Kennedy phenomenon was a strange thing to witness. I never fell in love with him, like most of America did, and in some kennedy fan circles, my sanity was questioned because of this failure in hero worship.
Blase as I was about Kennedy, I admit to finding great pleasure in listening to him and watching him.
His charm just oozed out of the TV screen.
Small wonder he was marketable.