Invisible President: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|"''Well, who did you ''expect'' to see -- the ''President''?''|'''Droopy Dog''', in the theatrical cartoon ''Droopy's Good Deed''.}}
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It is, in some contexts, not legal to use the actual image of the President of the United States for commercial purposes (''[[Contact (film)|Contact]]'', a film starring [[Jodie Foster]], came under some fire for re contextualizing actual footage of [[Bill Clinton]] for their own purposes).
Most likely the lawyers have it wrong to some extent. As far as the President, he has just as much rights to exclusive use of his name and face as any other famous individual. However, as a political
There is, however, a law on the books which prohibits use of a president's name or likeness as a trademark for a product during his lifetime or the lifetime of his widow. This is the only actual legal prohibition other than the standard one that applies to all famous persons including politicians. Famous people can stop exploitation of their image based on a right to commercial exploitation (but the President himself has no greater right, and in fact, may have less because he is a politician), thus it is believed that an actual current or former President cannot be used in a film or TV show.
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* The 1967 film comedy ''[[The President's Analyst|The Presidents Analyst]]'' shows the title character entering and leaving the Oval Office, but never shows the president or mentions his name. Even the country's intelligence agencies are aliased to the FBR and the CEA (possibly under pressure to do so), but it's clearly [[Lyndon B. Johnson|LBJ]]; one character describes himself as liberal in the same tradition as the president ("you know...we're for civil rights!") In an exterior location shot, we see his beagles being walked on [[The White House]] lawn.
* Another obvious Invisible LBJ "appears" in the 1966 film ''[[Batman: The Movie]]''. A close-up from the "President's" perspective (thus faceless) shows him reclining in his seat, stroking his dog, and congratulating the Dynamic Duo on the phone, in a cartoonishly stereotypical Texan accent (he even says "Howdy!") provided by Fort Worth-born Van Williams of the ''[[Green Hornet]]''.
* ''[[Our Man Flint]]'' from 1966 has a scene where the president, addressing the world to announce capitulation to the bad guys, is told to
* The second movie of ''[[National Treasure]]'' both plays it straight and subverts it. In the reenactment of [[Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln's]] assassination by John Wilkes Booth, only Lincoln's back and a part of his head was shown ''even though it is very obvious'' that it's him and using his name and likeness is legal under the protection of the First Amendment.
** Fast forward to the present time, the current President is fictional. Yet he is still unnamed, only being referred to as "The President".
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== Literature ==
* The opening chapter of ''[[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince|Harry Potter]]'' book has a scene with a new Prime Minister that visibly strains to avoid naming him or his party. Entertainingly, it still manages to be specific enough to cause a [[Continuity Snarl]]
** Apparently some of the PM's mannerisms were based on those of [[Tony Blair]], who was PM at the time the book was written (but not at the time in which the book is supposedly set).
* [[Stephen King]]'s novel ''Dreamcatcher'' was finished in mid-November 2000, at which time the outcome of the US presidential election was still in doubt; as such, when the President gives a national address regarding the events of the novel, the book strains to avoid mentioning whether the president was meant to be [[George W. Bush]] or Al Gore.
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** Several Air Force officers showed up on the show, part of its being [[Backed by the Pentagon]].
* [[wikipedia:Spy Game (TV series)|Spy Game]]: we never see the president. All that is shown is his voice level analysis graph on the communications monitor.
* The President on ''[[The West Wing]]'' was originally intended to be almost entirely
* The Queen and Prime Minister both appeared as outstretched hands from behind doors in ''[[Are You Being Served?|Are You Being Served]]''.
* The ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial ''The Green Death'' also portrayed the Prime Minister as an outstretched hand and as the unheard half of a telephone conversation with [[The Brigadier]]. In the phone conversation, he was called "Jeremy", a reference to the then leader of the Liberal Party (who was never Prime Minister).
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* Often averted in comic books. Kennedy appeared more than once on page (Superman infamously revealed his identity to him in an issue published after his death, and Teen Titans featured an [[Elseworlds]] story wherein Kennedy became a space-traveling hero) and Obama was famously given a back-up story in an issue of Spider-Man (after reporting that Stephen Colbert won).
** We see the back of JFK's head in an early '60s Dennis the Menace(!) comic book, uttering his famous "Let me say this about that...", and he's talking off-panel in a [[Wonder Wart Hog]] comic of the era.
* In the comic book ''Black Summer'', the
* [[Richard Nixon]] appears in a relatively early issue of ''Daredevil'', specifically identified as Nixon.
* Then-president [[Bill Clinton]] actually delivered the eulogy at [[The Death of Superman|Superman's funeral]]. His face was clearly visible, and [[Hillary Rodham Clinton]] was there, too.
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== Literature ==
* The Queen is a major character in [[Roald Dahl]]'s ''[[The BFG]]''. Admittedly, she's never directly called Queen Elizabeth II... but in the animated version she is drawn to look exactly like her.
* Literary example: ''[[World War Z]]'': Howard Dean, Colin Powell, Paris Hilton, Bill Maher, [[Ann Coulter]], and Nelson Mandela are all described in such explicit detail as to leave no doubt who they mean, but characters go to great lengths to avoid naming them. Fidel Castro ''is'' mentioned by name, as the leader of Cuba who gives in to
* One of [[Robert Rankin]]'s rather insane stories (his most common thread involves Elvis with a time-traveling sprout lodged in his head) features Prince Charles as a love interest for one of the semi-protagonists, including some quite surprising scenes...
* There's a rather odd version of this in [[Tom Clancy]]'s novel ''Rainbow Six''. The president is never named, but is mentioned as a "good friend" of John Clark's at the beginning of the book. Most likely Jack Ryan is president, and considering that he was the main character of most of the previous books, I don't know why they can't say his name.
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