All the Election's a Stage

In the upcoming presidential election, lots of attention is focused on what the candidates are saying. Not what their campaign officially says, but on that the candidates themselves are saying day-to-day, from stadiums to small diners. Both sides of the aisle watch intently candidates' moves, looking for something to laud or critique.

This scrutiny is a good example of Erving Goffman's dramaturgical theory. In this theory, the saying "all the world's a stage" is taken quite literally. Social life is just a theatrical performance for an audience. All of the candidates are acting to win over voters and make a favorable impression. Hillary Clinton said that she always keeps hot sauce in her bag, which many people thought was pandering to black voters. It turns out that consuming foods high on the Scoville scale is something Hillary has been all over for years, but with the recent release of Beyonce's "Formation" still in the public's mind, it seemed like she said that to appear more in touch with black culture.


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In Goffman's theory, gaffes are balled "breaches", and any actor is going to make them. They're akin to forgetting your line on stage, or tripping over a curtain. A very recent examples of this is when Trump mistakenly referred to September 11th as "7/11" (and not in keeping with this post's apparent theme, he was not referencing the Beyonce song). Some viewers jokingly say he was referring to the horror that is 7/11's roller hot dogs. However, if his misspeaking about 9/11 was a minor line miss compared to his earlier comments on abortion. Those were more like falling off the stage. After initially saying women should receive "some form of punishment" for receiving an abortion if they are outlawed, he then changed his view twice within the next hours. This is the equivalent to missing a line, then trying a couple more lines until the audience stops booing.

However, most people do not want to admit that the campaign is an exercising in acting to win over voters. Recently, Trump's chief strategist said that The Donald was just "playing a part," one that could easily be changed if needed to win. This drew the ire of many, but fits into the dramaturgical theory. But the audience does not want to think their candidate is so easily changeable, as that doesn't exactly inspire confidence in character, so they boo from their opera boxes.
While the audience may be booing, they are actors as well. This is especially clear in the high amount of activism happening in this election. In the cases of both Clinton and Trump, the popular opinion and interpretations regarding these actions got more attention than the actions themselves. Someone has to be throwing the tomatoes that have been hurled at the stage. Trump's supporters have been violent at rallies in the past few months, themselves participating in the course of the election. They receive judgement from outside sources, which can bolster their support for Trump, who claims to understand their struggle. On the other (left) hand, there are the "Bernie bros" who are very vocal about their support for Sanders, often at the expense of Clinton and anyone who dare to disagree with them.

Both ends of the spectrum are tapping a deeply seeded anger voters possess, and through that, they are allowing the audience to become political actors and take on new roles. Many people who did not agree with either major party viewpoint found that the costumes the fringe candidates offered fit them much better. The candidate may be the one standing on the literal stage, but the audience is definitely participating in the play as well.