The selfie is the political message

The point of the social-media age, marketers told the world at its inception two decades ago, was to give voice to the voiceless, a platform to those who couldn’t get past the traditional gatekeepers of TV, radio and the humble newspaper. The smartphone, its camera and the internet were going to usher in a new wave of creative endeavours. As it turns out, the smartphone mostly takes selfies. Take the newly minted Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, C Joseph Vijay. The matinée idol-turned-politician’s spectacular victory ensured that every media outlet in the country was broadcasting his oath-taking ceremony. Yet, in the sea of cameras, Vijay brought his own, taking a series of selfies with party leaders, allies like Rahul Gandhi, and the massive crowd.

Long before Marshall McLuhan became the most-quoted by too-clever-by-half MBAs and PR types in PowerPoint presentations, politicians have been made and unmade by the fact that, all too often, the “medium is the message”. In a democracy, a politician must be of the people, as well as rule over them, both everyman and larger-than-life. Hence the curated candid photos of world leaders at official events, the guffaws at each other’s jokes for a tweet or a reel. And the public often consumes an image of a politician capturing an image.

The selfie, in this context, becomes not just an image but also a way to control the message. After all, the frame leaves out as much as it admits in. The one who wields the camera determines what the public can see. And then there is the simpler explanation: Perhaps politicians just want a photo where they can tag their friends on an Instagram story.