Reading the Iconic V-J Day Kiss Alfred Eisenstaedt took a photo in Times Square after the declaration that Japan had surrendered in World War II. This photo was not taken to show the dominance of men onto women but instead was intended to show emotions and reaction of a time of happiness. However, this photo portrays the time and ideas of the society within the general bodies of its spontaneous capture. The bodies of the two main characters show the dominance of men over women. Within their bodies we can read and understand a moment in time that describes a societal norm that has been present to this day. While the general meaning behind this photo was meant to be celebration and happiness in a time of manufactured peace, we see a glimpse into the harsh realities of the lives of the suppressed or dominated souls through these bodies. (War and Peace) The importance of this photo is on the story of a sailor getting news of the war being over and expressing his joy of not having to return to war. The two subjects of the picture have an interesting look upon them. At the time this photo was taken, the Japanese had surrendered and this photo in its most general terms exemplifies the happiness of the military, the medical staff and of all the civilians. The men and women serving our country no longer had to risk their lives in this war. A male sailor and a female nurse are the most prominent and embracing aspects of the war coming to an end and thus those who served in the war celebrating in its completion. This kiss is seen as an act of love, celebration and happiness; the people in the background show joy and relief, the sailors are happy to not go back to war and the civilians are reveling in the return and joy of their victorious m... ... middle of paper ... ...ack and locking her head between his arm. This action is more of a forceful nature to entice a kiss, where lovers would not have to force the kiss knowing their significant other would be freely willing to give affection. It is important to see the dominance that this man’s body is pushing onto this woman and what has come from this action. This photo has become an icon to our country and has been recreated many times throughout history to show celebration and love. This photo also shows the strength and control that men have over women, especially at that time. Our society has been working on reversing such stigmas but still hasn’t made definite change in the dominance held by men in many aspects. This photo holds much history and foresight into what happens between the genders and their roles but must be seen through the bodies of those who are expressing dominant
Farewell to Manzanar is sociologist and writer Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston's first hand account of her interment in the Japanese camps during World War II. Growing up in southern California, she was the youngest of ten children living in a middle-to lower class, but comfortable life style with her large family. In the beginning of her story, she told about how her family was close, but how they drifted apart during and after their internment in the camp. The ironic part of it is that her family spent their entire time together in the same camp. So why did her family drift apart so? What was once the center of the family scene; dinner became concealed with the harsh realities of the camp. This reflects the loss of many of today's family values, and may have even set the bar for southern California's style of living today. Also, in a broader United State's historical theme, their internment reflected the still pungent racism and distrust of foreign identities, even though most of them were native-born US citizens and had never been to Japan.
Often, we find ourselves facing dramatic events in our lives that force us to re-evaluate and redefine ourselves. Such extraordinary circumstances try to crush the heart of the human nature in us. It is at that time, like a carbon under pressure, the humanity in us either shatters apart exposing our primal nature, or transforms into a strong, crystal-clear brilliant of compassion and self sacrifice. The books Night written by Elie Wiesel and Hiroshima written by John Hersey illustrate how the usual lifestyle might un-expectantly change, and how these changes could affect the human within us. Both books display how lives of civilians were interrupted by the World War II, what devastations these people had to undergo, and how the horrific circumstances of war were sometimes able to bring out the best in ordinary people.
According to the book entitled Ways of Seeing written by John Berger, the power of an image is extraordinary given that it can speak a thousand words. This has also been enhanced by the rapidly evolving technology that elicits more subconscious views about an image by anyone who sees them online or in real life. Some professional writers like Susan Bordo have emphasized that pictures of men often receive a wide range of negative tones or opinions due to the physiological effects that are fashionable to society or any other individual who approves or disapproves the beauty in a portrait of two men or women (Berger 38). This essay offers my opinion concerning the pictures of the Doloce and Gabbana, the gay Italian designers, as well as that of
The Yellow Wallpaper and The Awakening were two works written during the Age of Expression. The entire country was going through an era of Reconstruction; politically, socially, culturally and econmically . The Yellow Wallpaper and The Awakening are feminist works aimed at the psychological, social, and cultural injustices during the era. According to Mizruchi, “ Cosmopolitanism aroused dis-ease: depression and disaection were prevalent in a society whose pace and variety seemed relentless. Yet the same circumstances also instilled hope. For it was widely recognized that the burgeoning heterogeneity of a newly global America would be a source of enduring vitality.”(Mizruchi, 2008) The wives portrayed in these works defeated the attitudes of their husbands during this patriarchal culture.
The above photo is entitled to V-J Day in Times Square and was taken by Alfred Eisenstaedt in 1945. This photograph portrays sailor kissing a young nurse in the middle of Times Square in New York. The main focus of the photographer is on the couple kissing.This photograph has been popularetely interpreted as being a romantic picture, but just few see it as an iconic image of war.In order to analyze in depth this picture a go beyond the typical interpretation of it, I selected an interesting article by Wendy Christensen a sociologist who evaluates this photograph as a symbol of male dominance and sexuality.
There were many events that happened in the past which people were fighting for their rights and freedoms. In the novel “When The Emperor Was Divine” by Julie Otsuka, she uses this novel to tell the readers about the importance of freedom and human right. In the story, she did not mention the name of the main characters, but the characters that involve in this novel is a Japanese family who get arrest by the American because of their ethnicities. First, their father got arrested by the American because the American doubted that this man was a spy from Japan. Then their whole family got arrested into the Japanese Concentration Camp in the desert. They were ordered not to go through the fence of the camp or else they will get kill by the soldiers who guarding the camp. This means that their freedoms were taken away by the camp. In the story, the girl’s personality was changed because of this camp. She starts to realize that this “camp” was nothing but a jail. So she started to give on her life and not to care about anything. She used to eat with her family, but now she never did; also she started to smoke cigarette in her ages of 14 to15. Also their human rights were being taken while their were in the camp. They were being force to admit to America for their loyalty. It makes all the Japanese people to feel low self-esteem for their identity. Therefore, the author uses this novel to show the changing of this family by the lack of freedom and human right.
The poem “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” written by T.S. Eliot is a depiction of sadness and a disillusioned narrator. While reading this poem, one senses that the narrator is disturbed and has maybe given up hope, and that he feels he is just an actor in a tedious drama At the very beginning of the poem, Eliot uses a quote from Dante’s “Inferno”, preparing the poem’s reader to expect a vision of hell. This device seems to ask the reader to accept that what they are about to be told by the poem’s narrator was not supposed to be revealed to the living world, as Dante was exposed to horrors in the Inferno that were not supposed to be revealed to the world of the living. This comparison is frightening and intriguing, and casts a shadow on the poem and its narrator before it has even begun. J. Alfred Prufrock is anxious, self-concsious, and depressed.
...e, women are the weaker of the two sexes. Women are slaves and spoils of war, if they are valued for sex they are used for sex. The universal portrayal of women causes a reevaluation of modern day gender balances by the reader.
...ture. Morimura has generated his own creations that literally represent in the wide range of photographs that can be seen in western art history, 20th century media, and movies. Morimura’s work such as Self-Portrait-After Marilyn Monroe (Figure 3) deal with self-portraits created applying appropriation and photography. He appropriates iconic scene or images from history, art and media, and then putting himself into the roles portrayed in the numerous scenes. In his works, he interchanges between acting female characters such as Marilyn Monroe (Figure 4). His unique photographs have received various reactions, from provocation and unfamiliarity to fascination. The obscurity of Morimura’s gender role in his works, bring together with the engaging techniques of his appropriation art, makes him a prominent postmodern artist in the diverse perspective of other critics.
A small glimmer of hope in an imperialistic world is only taken away in order to ensure equivalence in an imperfect society. Harrison Bergeron is a classic sociological tale written by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. that is based on the sociological aspect of everyone being equal - not one individual could be above another. This short story focuses on the idea of symbolism by using masks and handicaps to force the social norm of being the same while foreshadowing the courage of being unique in a seemingly perfect world, all while displaying irony through the way in which our society runs today. This story relates to today’s society in that both are alike in that individuals want to break free from societies constraints of social norms.
The picture is a scale in which the female side is higher than the male side. Women have always been since as less than a man, an outlook that can be traced all the way back to the bible. According to the bible, Eve was created from Adams rib, which was supposed to be construed as his loving her because she was made of his flesh has been corrupted that women are less than a man. Even the United States, the pioneer of freedom and rights, still pays a woman less than a man. A women’s opinion is still doubted or in some cases not even listened to especially when they hold positions of power. In third world countries, if a woman is attacked or raped it is her fault, just because she is a woman. Infanticide, the killing of female babies, is still predominant in areas all over the world. Mothers rid themselves of girl children so that they don’t have to worry about dishonor or providing a dowry. This killing of females is also represented in the art. This artwork should remain on Tejon Street as a reminder as how far we have come as women and how we have much work ahead of us in order to get true
Using bright colors and subjective mood, Robert Grilley’s 1967 oil painting, the Pink Lady, depicts a man and a woman casually standing before an intensely colored background. Now exhibited at the Chazen Museum in Madison, WI, this stylized work of art conveys a fantastical, almost trippy quality of a 1960’s cocktail party and gives the viewer a sense of unease and glamour. This painting highlights two figures standing close to one another while adverting their eyes and gazing somberly away from one another. While both smoking, the two people play into their gender stereotypes as the man is dressed in a bright blue suit, and the woman in a vibrant pink cocktail dress. During the 1960’s when the painting was created, gender roles were both simultaneously being held to their traditional standards, as well as starting to push against the predetermined boundaries. Grilley’s characteristic color palette, the adverted gaze, and placement of the hands serve as symbols that deal with the complexity of gender norms and sexuality. By decoding these symbols, the painting promotes voyeurism, and encourages the viewer to dissect the role of women and their bodies. Because of its use of iconography, this painting when examined under gender theory, comments on the stereotypical gender roles and how
A lady is an object, one which men attempt to dominate. A man craves to get a hold of this being beneath his command, and forever have her at his disposal. In her piece “Size Six: The Western Women’s Harem,” published in 2002, Fatema Mernissi illustrates how Eastern and Western women are subjugated by the control of men. Mernissi argues that though she may have derived from a society where a woman has to cover her face, a Western woman has to face daily atrocities far worse then ones an Eastern woman will encounter. Moreover, Mernissi’s core dogma in “Size 6: The Western Women's Harem” is that Western women are not more fortunate than women raised into harems in other societies. Additionally, she asserts that though women in the Western world are given liberties, they coincide with the unattainable ideals of what is aesthetically pleasing. Furthermore, to strengthen her argument towards her wavering audience, Mernissi’s main approach in her paper is to get the reader to relate with her issue by means of an emotional appeal, while also utilizing both the ethical and logical appeal to support her thesis.
...direct assistance of a male. In Japan’s Comfort Women, the “weakness” of women is seen again. Rape and sexual trade became a power play by individual men all the way up to the highest levels of government. But it was also a story of strength and courage on the part of victimized women. The Pacific War changed many things in Japan and the evolution of those institutions of Japanese society happened rapidly. The changes, however drastic, however gruesome, however sorrowful, were what shaped the history and future of Japan.
Feminism has been an extremely controversial and significant subject over the centuries. The issue of equality between men and women have been questioned and exceedingly debated upon, why men were treated and considered the ‘superior’ gender. During the 1960’s, civil rights, protests against war and gay and lesbian movements were at its peak. It was the period of time, which the Feminist art movement had emerged, also known as the “second-wave” of feminism, shifting away from modernism. Women wanted to gain equal rights as men within the art world. Feminist artists such as Cindy Sherman, Carolee Schneemann and Hannah Wilke pursued to change the world and perspectives on women through their artworks, specifically in body art. Their goal was to “influence cultural attitudes and transform stereotypes.” (DiTolla. T, 2013)