Posted on 03/07/2017 5:16:26 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
This is fascinating. A professor of economics named Maria Guadalupe was watching the presidential debates last year and had a thought. What if Trump were a woman and Hillary were a man? How would that change people’s perceptions of the exchanges in the debates?
With the help of Joe Salvatore, a professor who specializes in something called ethnodrama, Guadalupe set up a recreation of sections of the original debates using actors to play the roles of Trump, Clinton and the moderator. All the words the actors spoke were taken from transcripts. The candidates’ body language and delivery were studied and the actors did their best to match it moment-to-moment to video feeds from the actual debates. The only difference was that Donald Trump was now a woman renamed Brenda King while Hillary was now a man dubbed Jonathan Gordon.
Initially, both Guadalupe and Salvatore had little doubt what the experiment would reveal, i.e. Trump’s behavior would never be tolerated coming from a woman while Clinton’s competence would be even more obvious coming from a man. But as rehearsals for the performance of the reimagined debates went on, Guadalupe and Salvatore were surprised by what they were feeling about the two candidates. It turned out the woman version of Trump seemed more likable than they had imagined. Salvatore told Guadalupe during rehearsals, “I kind of want to have a beer with her!”
When the debate was actually performed, for a crowd of mostly academics, the audience was somewhat bewildered. From NYU News:
The two sold-out performances of Her Opponent took place on the night of Saturday, January 28, just a week after President Trump’s inauguration and the ensuing Women’s March on Washington…
Many were shocked to find that they couldn’t seem to find in Jonathan Gordon what they had admired in Hillary Clinton—or that Brenda King’s clever tactics seemed to shine in moments where they’d remembered Donald Trump flailing or lashing out. For those Clinton voters trying to make sense of the loss, it was by turns bewildering and instructive, raising as many questions about gender performance and effects of sexism as it answered.
In an interview with NYU News, Joe Salvatore described some of the specific reactions he heard from the auidence:
We heard a lot of “now I understand how this happened”—meaning how Trump won the election. People got upset. There was a guy two rows in front of me who was literally holding his head in his hands, and the person with him was rubbing his back. The simplicity of Trump’s message became easier for people to hear when it was coming from a woman—that was a theme. One person said, “I’m just so struck by how precise Trump’s technique is.” Another—a musical theater composer, actually—said that Trump created “hummable lyrics,” while Clinton talked a lot, and everything she was was true and factual, but there was no “hook” to it. Another theme was about not liking either candidate—you know, “I wouldn’t vote for either one.” Someone said that Jonathan Gordon [the male Hillary Clinton] was “really punchable” because of all the smiling. And a lot of people were just very surprised by the way it upended their expectations about what they thought they would feel or experience. There was someone who described Brenda King [the female Donald Trump] as his Jewish aunt who would take care of him, even though he might not like his aunt. Someone else described her as the middle school principal who you don’t like, but you know is doing good things for you.
Salvatore says it was personally education for him as many members of his extended family had voted for Trump. “I developed empathy for people who voted for him by doing this project, which is not what I was expecting,” he told NYU News. He added, “I expected it to make me more angry at them, but it gave me an understanding of what they might have heard or experienced when he spoke.” You can watch a bit of the rehearsal here:
(VIDEO-AT-LINK)
All they did was take their hate for Trump away, and they saw how superior he was. It has nothing to do with gender.
Admitting it is the first step. Good on you; keep on keeping on!
Look give them credit for trying this and give them credit for being honest in the reaction to it..there hope
Look many libs are not bad people.. there just program with PC to the point of Pavlov’s dogs.. program to simple knee jerk reaction...in modern terms “triggered”
Si
Bene, allora! Ciao e buona serata!
Not sure I’d go so far as to say there’s hope, but it is interesting and I think you’re right to credit an honest effort. It may come down to the fact that people who don’t understand how other people could vote for Trump weren’t actually listening to what he had to say.
Enjoyed the vid. Thanx for posting.
They were listening to what the MSM said he said.
that i do not know
but i have witnessed her being awfully mean and insulting to staff (and volunteers, no less)
she impressed us as one sick woman
who will benefit herself greatly if she stops with all the get-rich sellouts or ‘fundraisings’ and just retires and takes better care of herself for a change
Google cabbage and urine.
Bigots always use the ‘it’s a joke’ meme. Best to always call them out.
(1) it is now clear that the main reason they liked Hillary and disliked Trump is because Hillary was a woman and Trump was a white man.
(2) Despite their claims that the performance helped people understand why Trump won they only did two performances of it
Since we are pretending, how about Hillary as a Victoria Secret model...Which means about 40 years younger....
I have mixed emotions about the reaction of the creators. I think we benefit more from having political opponents steeped in progressive delusions. I would worry that they might find a way to choose a more likable and ethical candidate. We won but it was not by such a margin as would convince me that we are safe yet. Better that they continue as they have been for a few more years.
If I ever have occasion to speak to my liberal neighbors again, I intend to dwell on the fact that the Russians help steal the election from Hillary. She should run again in 2020.
Let the liberal deprogramming begin. The problem with biases is that people never can see their own biases until they are forced to take a second look from another perspective. This is a great public service and should be applauded.
BARFing Video goes here
LOL
Actually racism and sexism have a huge part in this as progressives have been trained to be prejudiced against older white males. There is a reason why Obo won against both GOP candidates. Change the gender and Trump’s arguments blow Killarys away. The ugly truth is that Progs are both racist and sexist bigly.
There are over 30 million illegal aliens sporting Spanish names in the US now.
It is not bigoted—or racist—to think of that when confronted with a Spanish name. “Illegal alien” is not a race.
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