In A Novel Approach to Politics, Van Belle and Mash provide an account of the ideal and the real of politics through the connection of politics and pop culture. From Darth Vader to The Daily Show, the authors illustrate how political concepts like economics, social institutions, elections, culture and foreign affairs are intertwined with popular culture in a way that transforms the "real" of the political into the "ideal" of popular culture (Van Belle and Mash Ch. 1). A prime example of this is the television drama The West Wing, with its fictional president Josiah Bartlet, referred to as the "most popular Democratic president in recent memory" according to Van Belle and Mash (Ch. 1). This analysis will show how though Josiah Bartlet is not a "real" president, his popularity stems from his qualities that appear to make him an "ideal" president.
The portrayal of U.S. President Josiah "Jed" Bartlett on the TV series The West Wing amply demonstrates the contention of Van Belle and Mash that popular culture is often filled with political concepts underneath a fictional façade. However, this façade portrays the ideal values or qualities of the political rather than the real ones, which often fall far short of the ideal. For example, on The West Wing President Bartlett seems to be an idealized president. He is a very attractive and well-spoken individual. He is extremely intelligent and is tough when the situation calls for toughness. Yet when there is a need for helping the less fortunate, Bartlett is capable of showing compassion. In essence, this popular culture portrayal of politics and the role of president is an "edited" version, where the negative aspects of those phenomena are white-washed or cleaned-up so that we receive an ideal picture of them in President Bartlett and his interaction in the political.
While popular culture very often sanitizes or transform the re
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