The Jackie Persona

The Jackie Persona
Amadea Oberg
HIST208Z
11/13/2019
University of Maryland
The Jackie Persona, Amadea Oberg
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Pablo Larraín’s 2016 film Jackie tells two stories: one of Jackie Kennedy’s experiences
following her husband’s assassination and one of Jackie Kennedy trying to control a legacy.
Jackie also reveals two stories: one of a woman’s role within the political world of 1963 and one
of a complex political climate in 2016. The film connected 2016 audiences with 1963 conditions
by examining Kennedy’s careful curation of a public persona. Jackie examines how Americans
develop public personas through Jackie Kennedy’s strong use of her own persona following the
harrowing assassination of her husband.
Persona, literally meaning mask, is the outcome of intentionally presenting oneself in a
certain way. It is created by the actions one takes to be perceived in a way that is not naturally or
comfortably themselves. Public figures are expected to utilize personas. Politicians and
celebrities alike are expected to present themselves differently than they would in their personal
lives when they address the public. John F. Kennedy, Jackie Kennedy, Natalie Portman, and
Donald Trump are all expected to present personas.
In the twenty first century social media extended this curation of public personas from
public figures to ordinary people. Everyone has access to a platform to showcase how they want
to be perceived, or to showcase their personas. Everyone curates how they are represented so
regardless of intention, they are creating personas. Facebook and Instagram provide platforms for
communities based upon presenting one’s best self, not one’s authentic self. The power of
persona, and therefore the power of imagery, has seeped into the common public.
Political figures have long tended to their public images. The legacy that a political figure
or president leaves is dictated partly by the curation of this public image. The real Jackie
Kennedy knew this and used her understanding of persona to assert control over the legacy left
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by her husband after his assassination. Jackie shows her grasp for control quite literally through
its Jackie Kennedy’s aggressive dictation of an article about the assination of her husband. In
reality, Jackie Kennedy did work with LIFE to create an article that preserved her husband’s
legacy by tying his presidency to the heroism of Camelot. Kennedy insisted that the funeral
include a grand public procession to further guide the public’s response to her husband’s death.
The film portrays Kennedy’s fight for this public procession as one that caused her great worry,
heightening the perceived importance of the event to Kennedy. Both in life and film, Kennedy
worked to uphold her husband’s persona beyond his death through carefully guiding the
country’s response to his tragic assassination to emphasize his valor.
Jackie reveals three storylines concurrently, told among each other with the film
bouncing between times. These storylines are presented as the days directly after the
assassination, a White House tour, and the aforementioned interview. The White House tour
within the movie directly references a tour from 1962. These scenes are meant to convey
Kennedy’s paranoia and evoke claustrophobia through a combination of wide-angle lenses and
extreme close-ups.1 Kennedy careful presents herself, her life, and her home under extreme
pressure to perform perfectly as the ideal woman. The interviews are meant to showcase a calmer
side of Kennedy. “[M]ost of the movie is constantly on the move, so it felt right to have the
interview scenes static...When she invites this journalist over, she makes a conscious decision to
speak...You get to see a much stronger Jackie than you meet days before,” explained the film’s
1
Daron James, “Cameras Create Emotional Picture of 'Jackie' Following JFK Assassination,”
Variety (Variety, December 1, 2016),
https://variety.com/2016/artisans/production/jackie-cinematographer-kennedy-1201930442/)
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cinematographer, Stephane Fontaine. This Jackie from “days before” is one whose life has
changed rapidly in the face of tragedy. Tragedy thrusts Kennedy to the forefront of a nation as
her private life is embroiled in chaos, yet she is expected to present herself elegantly nonetheless.
The three storylines running through Jackie serve to highlight her different calculated uses of her
persona as she navigates a public affair privately while trying to preserve her late husband’s
legacy.
Kennedy’s resourceful use of her limited power to craft persona and imagery nevertheless
reveals her limited scope of power within politics. Though capable and intelligent, as a woman
she was restricted to an entirely background role. She had no power within the White House
other than to decorate. The President’s wife was, above all, a wife. She had to be homely, not
informed or opinionated. Those surrounding her after the tragedy in Jackie never seem to listen
to her; they quiet her rather than comfort her. In 1963, the society placed the real Kennedyin the
same iconic yet exclusively aesthetic role that most politicians’ wives were. In the end, she is
little more than an image herself. Her true self is unknown and largely unimportant as she has
become an image bigger than herself. She represents people beyond herself.
Jackie ties together starkly different years, 1963 and 2016, into one story of public pain to
showcase how the personas present in the politics of 2016 had a history. While examining how
Jackie Kennedy fit into the renowned yet devastating life around her, Larraín shows the inherent
power in personas. He shows how they are an imperative tool in the world of politics and always
have been while highlighting their evolution over time.
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Kennedy was never the only politician carefully using a persona. Her husband ensured
that they intentionally rode in an open topped car when in Dallas to convey a feeling of welcome
and vulnerability to the crowds that had come to see them. As they rode under the sun, Jackie
Kennedy reached for her sunglasses. Kennedy barked at his wife, “Take off your glasses,
Jackie.”3 This small interaction between Kennedy and his wife that occurred in real life is
included in the film’s depiction of the assassination because of what it says about the power of
imagery. The car was open because Kennedy wanted to appear open to those watching from the
large Dallas crowd. He ordered his wife to remove her sunglasses because, while excusable
considering the hot sun, they made her appear more closed off to onlookers. Imagery controlled
their politics.
Jackie Kennedy was an elusive woman. She was charismatic yet closed off, aloof yet
compassionate. She was warm and cold. These contradictions stemmed from Kennedy’s creation
of a public persona. Naturally an introvert, she carefully curated her aesthetic, from her clothes to
her actions, to ensure popularity among the press, public, and peers. Her charisma was something
she seemed to have created. She had to draw upon it, working hard to maintain it.4 She curated
her look and attitude to convey a specific charm in order to win over the populus. It was more
tiring than her husband’s effortlessly natural charisma.
In Jackie, cuts recurrently return to Kennedy delivering a tour of the white house.
Kennedy’s persona appears most blatantly in this tour. Kennedy is being recorded. She speaks
about her passion project as the first lady, redesigning the White House. She shows her worth as
3
Nellie Connally and Mickey Herskowitz, From Love Field: Our Final Hours with President
John F. Kennedy (New York: Rugged Land, 2003))
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the first lady while staying in the realm of female domesticity. Political wives exerted influence
primarily, if not exclusively, over the aesthetic. While interior design seems niche, Governor
Connally’s wife also speaks extensively about her role in redesigning their house for the
Kennedys’ tragic trip to Dallas. 5 On camera, the film’s Kennedy’s demeanor is noticeably
changed. She appears small and non combative. Her voice is lighter and higher than her typical
speech, with an unsettling airy quality to it. She is poised and innocent, presenting as the ideal
woman.
This ideal woman gruffly contrasts the grieving Kennedy away from the news cameras.
Along with the White House tour, Jackie returns regularly to an interview between a journalist,
based loosely on Theodore H. White, and Kennedy herself. 6 These scenes show a more raw
Kennedy. She often holds herself back from tears. She is aggressive, perceptive, and intelligent.
The entire time we see Kennedy’s more authentic self, we are reminded of the importance of her
persona. Kennedy will recount heart wrenching lines on her grief while describing in awful detail
the assassination of her husband only to end by reminding the journalist that she will not allow
him to publish the vast majority of what she has said. After finishing her cigarette, she remarks
completely emotionless and devoid of irony that she does not smoke. Her persona remains her
top priority as she navigates this public tragedy. She is cementing not just her husband’s legacy,
but her own by proxy. She is confident, quite literally completely in control of her story.
By the time Kennedy is dictating to the journalist, she has had some time to digest what
has happened around her. She is still traumatized and she is still grieving, but she is stronger. In
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6
Matt Zoller Seitz, Jackie (Roger Ebert, 2016) https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/jackie-2016
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her everyday life we see a Kennedy that is lost. We see a Kennedy that is prone to violent crying
spells and inappropriate fits of quiet numbness. We see a first lady kept in the dark regarding
information imperative not only to her husband’s murder, but known to most of the country.
When Kennedy speaks to the journalist, she is in control. She is in control, not only of her
situation and the article being written, but also of what will come out of this tragedy for her
family. In linking her husband’s 1,000 days in office to the “shiny” Camelot, she created an
image of goodness in Kennedy that has long persisted.7 She is in control of her husband’s legacy.
It is notable that the only time Kennedy is alone in the film is when she is shown as her
most free. The scenes of Kennedy’s unexpectedly happy dance break include wide open shots to
emphasize her isolation is the large White House.8 She listens to the song from the musical
“Camelot” that inspired the last lines in the LIFE article she facilitated. In her isolation, Kennedy
seems considerably more relaxed. Not only is she dancing, but her facial expression seems more
free. She does not appear calculating or hidden as she does in the rest of the film. She is calm,
happy, and herself as she dances about her house for what will likely be the last time, listening to
the one vinyl that makes her think most of her late husband.
Kennedy’s persona did not falter in the face of tragedy. Aware that the country was
looking to her, she knew she had to calculate her grief. This is where the central dilemma
regarding President Kennedy’s funeral comes into the film. Decisions regarding the President’s
funeral were not based solely on what the family of the deceased man wanted, but instead largely
7
Lily Rothman, “This Is the Real Jackie Interview With LIFE Magazine,” Time Magazine,
December 2, 2016, https://time.com/4581380/jackie-movie-life-magazine/)
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based on the public. Kennedy wished to create a legacy for her husband and hoped to achieve
this through a large and regal funeral. The real John F Kennedy’s funeral reused President
Lincoln’s coffin to heighten the sense of nobility surrounding Kennedy.9 The film focuses so
heavily on Jackie Kennedy as the main force behind the funeral planning to emphasize her
attention to what the country wanted and her wish to control her narrative. The film intensifies
Kennedy’s decision to walk behind the casket of the funeral procession, something that in reality
worried the secret service, by focusing on the turmoil Kennedy herself felt regarding this
decision.10 This focus highlights the importance of small details to Kennedy, especially in
relation to the perception of her husband. By organizing a beautiful funeral proceeding that
highlighted the honor of the deceased, Kennedy cemented in the minds of the public watching
her family’s actions closely that her husband was a great man who should be remembered fondly.
Imagery holds the most power in Jackie. President Kennedy’s funeral provides a
backbone to the plot following the period right after the assassination. Jackie Kennedy wishes to
have an extravagant, public funeral but grapples with the danger this could put her and her
family in given the violent nature of her husband’s death. The importance of said funeral lies in
its imagery; it works to support the image of goodness created by LIFE article by White. A
public funeral is an opportunity for Kennedy to influence how Americans remember her
husband. If done correctly, it could cement in America’s memory that John F. Kennedy was a
man to be respected and admired. Jackie Kennedy wanted to solidify this legacy with the same
9
David M. Lubin, “How Jackie Kennedy Orchestrated The Perfect Funeral,” Business Insider,
November 25, 2013, https://www.businessinsider.com/jfk-funeral-arrangement-2013-11)
10
David M. Lubin, “How Jackie Kennedy Orchestrated The Perfect Funeral,” Business Insider,
November 25, 2013, https://www.businessinsider.com/jfk-funeral-arrangement-2013-11)
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aesthetic means she used to create her own persona. Her late husband’s legacy being established
the way she wanted only solidified the public’s perception of her and her family.
While such a weighty responsibility loomed over her her following her husband’s death,
Jackie Kennedy’s role in politics was minimal. Kennedy worked on details, usually aesthetic, in
the background of her husband’s work. As mentioned, Jackie consistently comes back to
Kennedy’s huge and passionate role in renovating the White House. This renovation project,
though a significant motif throughout the film, held no real weight when it was conducted. It was
not a political act, nor a particularly important one. Kennedy organized the renovations primarily
as a way to win support and love from the public. Nellie Connally, the political wife sitting in
front of Kennedy when her husband was murdered, mentioned this renovation in her retelling of
the assassination, From Love Field, speaking openly about how politics were the men’s business
and aesthetics were for women. “[P]olitical wives were judged first on their appearance, second
by their demeanor, and third for what-if anything-they had to say.”11 While showcasing the White
House, Kennedy knew of the intense attention to her appearance and demeanor and of what the
people do and do not look upon favorably. Kennedy constructed her detailed public persona
partially in response to this immense pressure from the public to appear perfect.
Jackie’s focus on Kennedy’s strict adherence to her public persona emphasizes the power
of imagery while illuminating the minimal role women played in politics. Kennedy was an icon,
someone people looked towards as a role model representative of something beyond herself. She
was representative of women all around the country and how people wanted to view them. She
represented how trapped women felt in their everyday lives as feminism surged. She was
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polished, quiet, intelligent, obedient, caring, and beautiful. Nothing was placed above her
appearance. In homes smaller than the White House, society placed women in the same
subservient roles. They stood reliably behind their husbands, looking beautiful. Society sold
women the idea that femininity in and of itself would provide them full satisfaction in life. The
purpose of a woman was to be a good wife and mother, and that purpose alone was supposed to
fulfill them. When women felt unfulfilled living the lives they were told would satisfy them, they
found themselves unable to locate the source of their unhappiness. Betty Friedman, a leading
figure in the US Women’s movement, referred to this phenomenon as, “the problem that has no
name.”12 Even a woman submerged in a powerful political world, even a Kennedy, was restricted
by her womanhood to nothing more than interior decoration.
Natalie Portman is an icon. As a woman in entertainment, she is often sexualized and
objectified. She attended Harvard yet people are more interested in her relationships and
appearance. A child actor, she has spoken about how the media sexualized her body as she grew
up, commenting on its changes.13 Like Jackie Kenendy, Natalie Portman can be representative of
how trapped modern women feel in their everyday lives. An incredibly talented and intelligent
woman, she comes off as poised and elegant despite being subjected to the rampant sexism in
Hollywood. Consistently vocal about her own experiences with sexism, Portman is a founding
member of the MeToo movement and has spoken at the Women’s March in Washington, DC. 14
12
Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013))
13
Michelle Garcia, “Natalie Portman Shares Harrowing ‘Sexual Terrorism’ Experience at Age
13,” Vox, January 21, 2018,
https://www.vox.com/2018/1/21/16917130/natalie-portman-womens-march)
14
Eliana Docktermam, “Natalie Portman Called Out the Hollywood Boys' Club at the Golden
Globes. A New Study Backs Her Up,” Time, January 10, 2018,
https://time.com/5096809/natalie-portman-golden-globes-hollywood-sexism/)
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Women outside of Hollywood are all too familiar with this fetishistic and dismissive sexism
much like how women outside of the White House were all too aware of Jackie Kennedy’s
subservience. Portman’s experience as a woman and as a public figure was instrumental in the
creation of Jackie. Larraín insisted Portman play Kennedy because, according to him, “she has
the air of mystery that Jackie had...nobody really knew who she was. Looking at Natalie, you
also don’t know. It’s like, ‘Where are you?’”15 Larraín would not operate on the movie, despite
loving the script, if the leading actor behind the project was not someone he trusted to convey a
very specific part of Kennedy.16
Kennedy was, as evidenced by her carefully tending to her public persona, aware of the
power of imagery. Larraín pushes this power to the forefront of his storytelling in Jackie. When
Larraín was making Jackie, public personas had become normalized and disseminated to the
common public through social media. Nearly everyone was presenting a curated version of
themselves online. The deeply divided politics of this time picked up on this and began to focus
on the flashy as opposed to the complex. Presidential candidates appeared caricatures as political
campaigns were designed to gain mass attention, looking to social media as a means of
connecting to larger audiences. Politics prefered the interesting to the intelligent, the image to
reality. Jackie Kennedy calculated her every move by keeping in mind this power held by
imagery. In the film she is forceful, more forceful than the real Kennedy is usually described,
15
Malina Saval, “'Jackie' Director Pablo Larraín on the Kennedy's Story: 'Rage, Curiosity, and
Love',” Variety (Variety, October 14, 2016),
https://variety.com/2016/film/spotlight/chilean-director-pablo-Larraín-drawing-raves-jackie-neru
da-1201884295/)
16
Tim Gray, “'Jackie': Global Crew Helped Bring Former American First Lady to Life,” Variety
(Variety, December 14, 2016),
https://variety.com/2016/artisans/production/first-lady-jackie-kennedy-1201941461/)
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when ordering a journalist to describe things exactly as she wishes. She does not wish to portray
the truth but instead strives to create a legacy for her husband through the power of imagery.
Politics in 2016 were much the same. The 2016 election was one shrouded in conspiracy,
something Larraín undoubtedly disliked as he heavily avoided conspiracy in Jackie despite the
film centering on one of the most widely conspired about events.17 Larraín was living through a
time in politics where the flashy and scandalous garnered more attention and newstime than the
truly important or pressing. Donald Trump’s competition criticized him as being a caricature of
an anti-liberal whereas Hillary Clinton received hate for appearing too calculated, as if she was
presenting an obvious persona. In both cases, the scandals surrounding the candidates received
more attention than the policies or ideologies of the candidates.
Opposition painted Hillary Clinton as a crook, criminalizing her with her private email
server and the Benghazi hearings. Chants of “lock her up” and “crooked Hillary” were common.
The media saw her as sneaky and treasonous.18 Donald Trump was heralded as the anti-liberal.
People liked how he spoke his mind, unafraid of any contradictions or perceived social rules.19
He was the White House outsider who was tough enough to “drain the swamp.” Many criticized
him as a literal strongman, charging forward on threats and violence. He became an image, either
of someone finally going against a new wave of threats to our country or as a caricature of a loud
17
Francesco Zucconi, Jacqueline Kennedy, or "Faciality": Media Icons and Political
Iconography in Jackie (2016) by Pablo Larraín, accessed November 11, 2019,
https://www.academia.edu/39786830/Jacqueline_Kennedy_or_Faciality_Media_Icons_and_Polit
ical_Iconography_in_Jackie_2016_by_Pablo_Larraín)
18
Joshua Zeitz, “Why Do They Hate Her?,” Politico, June 3, 2017,
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/06/03/why-do-they-hate-her-215220)
19
Elizabeth Dias, Haley Sweetland, and Karl Vick, “Voices from Democratic Counties Where
Trump Won Big,” Time, accessed December 2, 2019,
https://time.com/voices-from-democratic-counties-where-trump-won-big/)
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and idiotic conservative. With both Trump and Clinton, their image, curated by either themselves
or the press, had significant power over how the general public saw the politicians.
The personas in the 2016 election occuring the year that Jackie was released misplaced
Jackie Kennedy’s persona among her current day political counterparts. Kennedy was
performing under extreme distress. She had to keep herself, her family, and her country in mind
as she constructed her response to a tragedy that touched her life in a devastating way. A review
of the film that was published amid this controversy soaked presidential election said of Jackie’s
Kennedy, “here was someone in D.C. who was classy, private, and exhibited model behavior.
After the past year, this all seems like science fiction.”20 While Larraín was illuminating the
power and commonplace nature of the personas of key players in the 2016 election, he was also
critiquing them. Jackie Kennedy held a shocked, grieving country together while navigating the
tumultuous emotions of herself and those around her all while operating under a modicum of
professionalism and warmth. It is hard to imagine a modern politician handling a similarly
sensitive situation in as graceful a manner.
The misplacement of a Kennedy persona among a modern day political persona is
emphasized by the way politicians have begun interacting with each other. Democrats and
Republicans had never been more divisive than in 2016 and the presidential candidates reflected
that. Republicans antagonized Democrats, and vice versa. Donald Trump helped normalize this
antagonization during his presidential campaign.21 Trump was openly accusatory towards other
20
Tim Gray, “'Jackie': Pablo Larraín Brings First Lady Story to Screen at Right Time,” Variety
(Variety, January 6, 2017),
https://variety.com/2017/film/spotlight/jackie-pablo-Larraín-natalie-portman-1201954078/)
21
Sam Sanders, “Social Media's Increasing Role In The 2016 Presidential Election,” NPR (NPR,
November 7, 2016),
13
candidates and often brash and rude during conversations and debates. He was not afraid of
insults. Other politicians emulated this in their interactions, especially online. They would often
respond to each other snarkily, a widely referenced example of this being an interaction between
Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton that culminated in Bush posting a photo of Clinton’s campaign
arrow pointed up with the word taxes repeated underneath and the caption “fixed your logo for
you.”22 The nature of social media encourages the informality between the two but the blatant
immaturity and unprofessionalism is new to the personas of politicians. The focus on Kennedy’s
elegant and poised persona in Jackie is one that appears more fictional than historical biopic
when comparing it to the time when it was released. Jackie is highlighting what politics have
strayed away from. It is showcasing how the standards that political personas are held to today
have deviated greatly from that of what was expected of them in the past.
Part of the focus on the flashy instead of the factual in the 2016 election was a result of
social media. The more outlandish and stand out comments had a higher chance of being spread
around the internet on social media sites. Campaigning had been changed by the virality of social
media. On one week in 2016, 44% of adults received their information about the forthcoming
election from a social media website. Adults learned about the 2016 election more often through
social media than local or national newspapers. 24% of adults turned specifically to the twitter
accounts of Trump or Clinton for news over their websites or emails.23 People were especially
https://www.npr.org/2016/11/07/500977344/social-media-s-role-increases-in-2016-presidential-e
lection)
22
Sam Sanders, “Did Social Media Ruin Election 2016?,” NPR (NPR, November 8, 2016),
https://www.npr.org/2016/11/08/500686320/did-social-media-ruin-election-2016)
23
“2016 Presidential Candidates Differ in Their Use of Social Media to Connect with the
Public,” Pew Research Center's Journalism Project, July 18, 2016,
https://www.journalism.org/2016/07/18/candidates-differ-in-their-use-of-social-media-to-connect
-with-the-public/)
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drawn to Trump’s twitter as his was the most outlandish. He was less professional than
candidates like Clinton and Bernie Sanders, referencing the media more often than his own
website. He was also more likely to tweet controversial or attacking posts to the site.24 It was
sometimes more beneficial for a politician to say something outlandish to increase his
shareability online than it was for a politician to be the typical representation of what we expect.
In a race with an inordinate amount of politicians running, there was an importance placed on
standing out. It was irrefutably more beneficial for a candidate to say something unique than
something meaningful. The two leading candidates ended up being two of the most strongly
disliked. Their use of more overt personas led to both their successes and their downfalls as
citizens grew to dislike the phoniness of the politicians before them.
Jackie being made and released in 2016 allowed it to easily comment on the time period
around it through juxtaposition. This same juxtaposition allowed it to criticize the treatment of
women across many time periods. The film placing Jackie Kennedy amidst the 2016 election via
release date allowed her persona to unearth the way modern politicians have differed from their
predecessors while exposing how the treatment of women had not improved greatly from 1963.
Then and now, society expected women to put forth a buoyant and satisfied persona despite the
clear inequalities pushing down on them. The portrayal of Kennedy’s use of persona in the film
revealed downsides of persona present in 2016.
Larraín included a more timeless, and slightly less political, message stemming from
Kennedy’s persona. This message is not one driven by contemporary contrast but instead by the
24
Public,” Pew Research Center's Journalism Project, July 18, 2016,
https://www.journalism.org/2016/07/18/candidates-differ-in-their-use-of-social-media-to-connect
-with-the-public/)
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motifs running Jackie. It is also a message that remains more concretely within the narrative of
Jackie. It has real life application and a historical background but it is not critiquing currentday
society the way Larraín’s other messages in the film are. The motif of Camelot, present in the
interview and Kennedy’s vinyl, and that of the funeral work together to show how a legacy is
created, a mere extension of one’s persona. The nation did not come to view John F. Kennedy
and his presidency as a shining moment in American history that was ended much too soon
chiefly because of the President’s inherent goodness. During his presidency, Kennedy struggled
with foreign affairs with crises in Berlin, Communist China, and Southeast Asia all on the brink.
He was also humiliated during the disaster that was the Bay of Pigs only two months into his
term.25 Despite this, the country still remembers Kennedy as one of the better, more pure hearted
presidents. This is largely because of the work his wife put into maintaining their family’s
personas following his death. This is showcased in Jackie primarily through Jackie Kennedy’s
attitude during the interview and through the actions she takes to plan her husband’s funeral, as
well as her overall careful attention to her own persona throughout the film.
As Larraín moves through Jackie, he presents a myriad of arguments surrounding the use
of personas. As a public figure, Jackie Kennedy was expected to present in a certain way. This
expectation was never dropped, regardless of how dark the circumstances. Kennedy needed to
maintain her composure and aesthetic in the literal face of her husband's gruesome death. This
speaks to the grave importance of persona. Once created, they often cannot be dropped. In order
to soothe a shocked and terrified country, Kennedy could not suddenly abandon her well known
25
Marc J. Selverstone, “John F. Kennedy: Foreign Affairs,” Miller Center, accessed December 4,
2019, https://millercenter.org/president/kennedy/foreign-affairs)
16
persona. She could not have an air of insincerity attached to the Kennedy name at a time where
the legacy of herself, her husband, and her family hung so delicately.
17
Works Cited
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.
Connally, Nellie, and Mickey Herskowitz. From Love Field: Our Final Hours with President
John F. Kennedy. New York: Rugged Land, 2003.
Dias, Elizabeth, Haley Sweetland, and Karl Vick. “Voices from Democratic Counties Where
Trump Won Big.” Time. Accessed December 2, 2019.
https://time.com/voices-from-democratic-counties-where-trump-won-big/.
Docktermam, Eliana. “Natalie Portman Called Out the Hollywood Boys' Club at the Golden
Globes. A New Study Backs Her Up.” Time, January 10, 2018.
https://time.com/5096809/natalie-portman-golden-globes-hollywood-sexism/.
Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013.
Garcia, Michelle. “Natalie Portman Shares Harrowing ‘Sexual Terrorism’ Experience at Age
13.” Vox, January 21, 2018.
https://www.vox.com/2018/1/21/16917130/natalie-portman-womens-march.
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https://variety.com/2016/artisans/production/first-lady-jackie-kennedy-1201941461/.
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/.
18
“Lady Bird Johnson: At the Epicenter.” PBS. Public Broadcasting Service. Accessed
November 14, 2019. https://www.pbs.org/ladybird/epicenter/epicenter_index.html.
Lubin, David M. “How Jackie Kennedy Orchestrated The Perfect Funeral.” Business Insider,
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The Jackie Persona

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The Jackie Persona

harrowing assassination of her husband.

Persona, literally meaning mask, is the outcome of intentionally presenting oneself in a

Donald Trump are all expected to present personas.

country’s response to his tragic assassination to emphasize his valor.

have been while highlighting their evolution over time.

tiring than her husband’s effortlessly natural charisma.

by her womanhood to nothing more than interior decoration.

Natalie Portman is an icon. As a woman in entertainment, she is often sexualized and

very specific part of Kennedy.16

more attention than the policies or ideologies of the candidates.

professionalism and warmth. It is hard to imagine a modern politician handling a similarly

sensitive situation in as graceful a manner.

The misplacement of a Kennedy persona among a modern day political persona is

citizens grew to dislike the phoniness of the politicians before them.

revealed downsides of persona present in 2016.

Zeitz, Joshua. “Why Do They Hate Her?” Politico, June 3, 2017.

Zucconi, Francesco. “Jacqueline Kennedy, or ‘Faciality’: Media Icons and Political

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