ABSTRACT
The documentary offers snippets of original speeches by politicians and celebrities of all sorts, whose words were considered interesting for historical perspective. With few exceptions, the verbal excerpts of past speeches occur in combination with the presentation of icons. Providing these historically dynamic symbols with what can be termed an “iconic lectern,” the documentary’s compilation most often underlines the signifi cance of their words by presenting them among the typical insignia of the broadcast spectacle. One exception to this standard of presentation is a speech by the actor James Stewart, whose icon is given a different, less spectacular (re)introduction to the documentary’s audience. Apparently, the symbol’s ongoing popularity, rooted in the fi ctional world of Hollywood narratives, was enough reason to support the icon with an iconic lectern from which to make a political statement against McCarthy’s witch-hunt. Unlike in most other cases, the footage was fi lmed in a studio, and so presumably it was the camera that invited the icon and not the other way around (i.e., the icon attracting the camera). Apart from that difference, however, it is nevertheless the unceasing potential of a well-known icon to attract public interest that motivates the selection of this clip. In general, such iconic potential refl ects an additional symbolic plane in the narration of the broadcast spectacle. This additional symbolic plane is not grammatically constructed by a complete pictorial narrative, but is tied to the history of one pictorial term.
