In search of the real Kamala

Beyoncé, 'Brat' and... 'My Cousin Vinny'? It can be easy to leap to conclusions about a politician's personal taste, writes Louis Chilton. But the picture it paints is a complicated one

-  Louis Chilton

Tony Blair was a fan of Casablanca. Bill Clinton loved Grey’s Anatomy. Donald Trump’s favourite film? Problematic antebellum schmaltzer Gone with the Wind. Even UK PM Keir Starmer, who cagily refused to disclose his favourite novel or poem in a recent pre-election interview, has admitted a fondness for Channel 4’s Friday Night Dinner. But can you judge a politician by their taste in the arts?

This week, as Kamala Harris steps in after Joe Biden’s long-anticipated withdrawal from the US presidential election race, many will be scrutinising her artistic predilections in search of what they might tell us about a future Harris presidency. For her campaign song, she has selected Beyoncé’s “Freedom”. It’s easy to see why Harris would have chosen this track, an uplifting and sincere anthem drawing on the history of civil rights activism – but it doesn’t end there.

Harris has spoken about her cultural tastes at various points down the years. In 2020, she listed her favourite books as the following: Native Son by Richard Wright, The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis. You’ve got classics, more contemporary picks, and something for the children.

There’s a whiff of focus-grouping to the collection, sure, but it’s nonetheless a positive and diverse list – smart, human, and accessible. It ought to be essential for a politician to have a wide-ranging compassion for all parts of society; if you wanted to engender this type of empathy, you could do a lot worse than start with these books.