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Critical DMs are lightly edited Slack conversations by members of the MPR News arts team about Minnesota art and culture. 

This week, arts editor Max Sparber and senior arts reporter and critic Alex V. Cipolle discuss the presidential campaign in terms of aesthetic and generational coding, highlighting how Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, though close in age, symbolize different generations — Gen X and Boomer, respectively — through their public personas and stylistic choices.

 (To the tune of Macarena) Hey, semiotics!

 Hold on while I pause my VHS of “Reality Bites.”

Done. Gotta remember to rewind it before returning to Mr. Movies. [That was my Gen X impression. Worried it was TOO SUBTLE.] 

 So we’re going to talk about the presidential campaign — but, get this! We’re going to discuss it aesthetically!

Specifically, we’re going to talk about the fact that vice president and possible presidential candidate Kamala Harris and governor and possible vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz are the same age, but the former seems like a Gen-X aunt and the latter seems like a Boomer grandad. 

 So here’s what’s interesting, Max: I looked up their ages. Walz IS a boomer. Age 60. And Harris IS Gen X. At age 59. They’re cusp years!

 Depends on where you place the start of Generation X. The Brookings Institution places it at 1965, making Harris a year too old.

But Generations don’t work that neatly.

feel like a cheerful Boomer granddad and the other 

 feel like a cool Gen X aunt. Which is fascinating.

 Like, in “Reality Bites,” Janeane Garofalo is an iconic Gen-X character: ironic, blase, ignored, damaged. Which was also true of her comedy persona at the time. But Garofalo herself insists that she’s a Boomer.

And here is where we come to semiotics and the idea of codes. Which sounds like a super-spy concept, but is actually just cultural theory.

 Garafolo claims Boomer? Wow. As If. [Millennial parlance, from an elder Millennial]

Have you ever seen “The Celluloid Closet?”

 It’s one of my favorite documentaries. It’s about how homosexuality couldn’t be shown onscreen after the Hays Code, and so filmmakers would put it in by dropping hints that weren’t explicit but would be recognized by people who got the references.

Filmmakers were adding in LGBTQ+ content as code, to be decoded by audiences who knew the code.

That’s why we say characters can be coded as gay, or anything else. Like everyone in “Seinfeld” was coded Jewish, even if their characters were not explicitly Jewish.

 It’s great, as is the book it was based on by Vito Russo.

 So we’re saying Harris is coded Gen-X and Walz is coded Boomer. Let’s figure out the signifiers.

: Exactly. Or, as we realized yesterday, Harris is coded Brat, as in the 

 Brat as well, but different pronunciation. The Minnesota grilling variation.

 This could be the Brat and Brat ticket, which sells itself.

 I think we need to put an umlaut or something over the Walz brat to clarify pronunciation.

: I would also say the fashion choices of Harris and Walz are part of this. She is wearing a Gen-X version of a power suit. It’s professional, but it’s not full-on corporate patriotism.

It’s a lot of colors, often pastels, and also black. Not as much red and navy.

Whereas Walz is a bit more grandpa-teacher chic. 

 Walz wears a classic politician suit with a lapel pin, although sometimes he softens it with a mock turtle sweater, which is very Minnesota grandfather.

 And the suit is often rumpled, maybe a little big.

 Also, Walz is grey and balding, which he credits to his years as a teacher and lunchroom supervisor, but if we are going to discuss this as aesthetics, it’s also performative. A lot of politicians dye their hair to look younger. He’s embracing his Santa-ness.

 Not to mention his time in the military. Also noteworthy that his ties are not all red and blue, which is the uniform for a lot of American politicians. I’m looking at photo of him wearing a BROWN tie. And a yellow-striped one. I’m here for it.

 Harris also favors midnight blue and ivory, which are quite formal colors. But she wears them like a guest artist on a Bowie album from the 90s. I can imagine her dancing next to him on the Young Americans album.

the ‘80s photo of Harris with shorter hair?

 That’s probably the most Gen X photo of her. She looks like she’s in a British electropop band.

 It’s a stunning portrait. Definitely captures that era.

 I’m going to share a photo of Walz in the ‘80s:

 Because of the nature of military uniforms, it could be from 1948. He just feels like he’s from an earlier time.

In an interview, he said the Republicans were trying to be leaders of the He-Man Woman Haters Club. That’s a “The Little Rascals” Reference!

Harris is using Beyonce’s “Freedom” on the campaign trail.

 And Harris’ comms team seems like they are wildly silly Millennials. Speaking as a Gen X-er, that’s who I would hire.

 The social game from the campaign has felt very Millennial and Gen Z. A total shift from Biden.

 Yesterday the Harris campaign put out a press release that said “Trump is old and quite weird?”

I suppose we’ll know soon enough if it’s a Brat & Brät ticket.

 I think we might have given them their campaign slogan, which I don’t think we’re supposed to do. 

Well, it’s been nice being the arts editor.

Alex V. Cipolle

Author

Max Sparber

MPR News’ Max Sparber and Alex V. Cipolle discuss the presidential campaign in terms of aesthetic and generational coding, highlighting how Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, though close in age, symbolize different generations — Gen X and Boomer, respectively — through their public personas and stylistic choices.

Critical DMs: The brat and the brät, or the semiotics of Kamala Harris and Tim Walz

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