In today’s world, nearly all newspapers contain political cartoons that highlight particular viewpoints or ideas through the use of images. These images tend to be exaggerated, informative, and sometimes even humorous. However, all of these features are dependent on the view of the individual and the way he or she interprets the illustration. Take for instance Uncle Sam’s famous portrait “I Want You for the U.S. Army.” Originally published as the cover for the July 6, 1916, issue of Leslie's Weekly with the title "What Are You Doing for Preparedness?" the portrait of Uncle Sam went on to become--according to its creator, James Montgomery Flagg--"the most famous poster in the world." However, in reality it is only well-known among fellow Americans because of its use as propaganda during World War II. The U.S. government produced these posters in an attempt to get the public to fully support the war effort. Do you think that someone who wasn’t from this time period or from the United States would be able to discover all this information by solely analyzing the image? Now, in order to answer this question, we must first imagine ourselves as an extra-terrestrial anthropologist. As someone who’s mission is to objectively study and analyze humans and their customs. What can we tell by simply looking at the famous Uncle Sam picture?
We can start by stating exactly what we can visually see in the picture. The image consists of the upper body of a gray-haired man with a goatee, wearing a white colored top hat with a thick blue band around the bottom cone-part of the top hat. It’s also worth noting that the band has white stars going around it, which could be symbolic. The man appears to be wearing a white collared shirt with a navy-blue c...
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... patriot sentiment. However, it is also responsible for evoking a sense of guilt by making the viewer feel like the country is depending on him or her and should therefore enlist in the U.S. Army.
To conclude, it is now pretty clear to me that the image is focused on Uncle Sam. He is the ultimate fundamental figure in our studies of humans and Americans. By choosing to make Uncle Sam the central focus, Flagg created a countrywide known figure that almost every person could identify and relate to, which made simplified my studies. Regarding the actual poster, I understand that this poster had tremendous success at one point in time, but I think that it is now outdated. I don’t think that it could achieve the same results if, for any reason, our country went to war again. I need Uncle Sam to start thinking of new persuasive ideas if he wants those results again.
As the history of the United States has progressed, the motivation for starting a war has varied over the years. Something that has been consistent throughout every war are the emotions behind the soldiers fighting it. This can be seen in the books Gone with the Wind and The Things They Carried, and the document Letter to Elmer J. Sutters.
An image has the explicit power of telling a story without saying any words, that’s the power behind a photo. A photo tends to comes with many sides to a story, it has the ability to manipulate and tell something differently. There is a tendency in America, where explicit photos of war or anything gruesome occurring in the world are censored for the public view. This censorship hides the reality of our world. In “The War Photo No One Would Publish” Torie DeGhett centers her argument on censorship, detailing the account of graphic Gulf War photo the American press refused to publish. (73) DeGhett argues that the American public shouldn’t be restrained from viewing graphic content of the war occurring around the world. She believes that incomplete
The first cartoon, “Recommended by Hoar”, shows Uncle Sam feeding a child in his arms wrapped in a blanket labeled the Philippines and a bowl of soup labeled civilization and education(90). Uncle Sam is taking care of the child while the smaller man named, Hoar, is trying to convince him to give the child to the nurse. The nurse labeled Philippines Independence is riddled with degrading names such as ignorance, theft, piracy, and murder. An observation of Uncle Sam’s height to the height of Hoar presents an example of gender qualities in this print. Also, a man, Uncle Sam has to step in when the woman, Philippines Independence, is not a good influence. Although, the commentary on this cartoon states, “opposition of Massachusetts Senator George Hoar to Philippines Annexation”, this cartoon is stating the need for America to separate Philippines from such societal problems. The second cartoon, “The Anti-Expansion Ticket for 1900”, displays the lack of masculinity of Senator Hoar by characterizing him to be a woman playing a drum(91). Characterizing Senator Hoar as a woman alludes to his lack of patriotism and poor stance on Imperialism. The third cartoon, “The White Man’s Burden”, shows a largely masculine man with large stride carrying an indigenous person up the hill toward a schoolhouse(92). This displays the need for the manly American in the uneducated and
Having such an image before our eyes, often we fail to recognize the message it is trying to display from a certain point of view. Through Clark’s statement, it is evident that a photograph holds a graphic message, which mirrors the representation of our way of thinking with the world sights, which therefore engages other
Despite earlier resistance to the war by the American people, once war was declared patriotism swept over the nation. However, patriotism rose to it?s peak and quickly turned to an intolerance for any kind of dissidence of the war.
People tend to views an image based on how society say it should be they tend to interpret the image on those assumption, but never their own assumptions. Susan Bordo and John Berger writes’ an argumentative essay in relation to how viewing images have an effect on the way we interpret images. Moreover, these arguments come into union to show what society plants into our minds acts itself out when viewing pictures. Both Susan Bordo and John Berger shows that based on assumptions this is what causes us to perceive an image in a certain way. Learning assumption plays into our everyday lives and both authors bring them into reality.
In the figure 1920’s they initiated a series of propaganda poster to attract volunteers. Done by a number of different artists and illustrators, these images were designed to strike an emotional and patriotic cord of the observes. The propaganda poster Our Greatest Mother Join, the artist/ illustrator of the propaganda poster was by Cornelius Hicks, he was born in Massachusetts and he was a student at Pratt Institute and had showed tremendous talent in the flied of art, he painted two posters for the American Red Cross. Cornelius Hicks died in 1930 of Tuberculosis at the age of 32.
Instead of telling readers what to think through words, readers can form their own point of view from a photo. A photograph that showed different interpretations was taken during WWII after the destruction of Iwo Jima in Japan of Americans soldiers raising an American flag in the ruins. Some viewers may perceive this act as patriotic, and others may have thought it was an act of terrorism and revenge. Either opinion could be argued and the photograph is the evidence. Since photographs can be unbiased, they can also hold truthful detail. For example, one photograph from the Vietnam war depicted a Vietnamese police officer shooting a Viet Cong in the streets. There are a lot of emotion in that photograph that words cannot describe all; which included the fear and hostility that was upheld during the time. Newspapers need to print more of these kinds of photographs to educate people the ugliness of war and death. Ephron pointed out, “throughout the Vietnam War, editors were reluctant to print atrocity pictures. . . That 's what that war was about.” War and its deaths are a part of history too, and history needs to be kept true and unbiased. As long as the photos are not altered nor used for propaganda, they can be
The poster I have chosen contains a young woman holding a gun with a red bandage covering her eyes and mouth and behind her, on the wall is an American Flag painted on with dripping textures. On the American Flag there is a quote which reads, "We kill people who kill people because killing
When popular culture is associated with militarism it changes the way we regard war. Sports can do this in many different ways, for example advertisements in the Super Bowl is a massive way to get a large audience to hear a pro war commercial. After we attacked Iraq in the first Gulf War, “Super Bowl XXV featured a flurry of nationalism including American flag decals on the players’ helmets, images of soldiers in the desert throughout the pregame show, and a halftime address from President George H. W.
Simon Keller argues in his essay "Patriotism as Bad Faith" that patriotism is not a virtue but it is actually a vice. Keller begins by splitting the views on this philosophical debate into three different representations. The first being the "communitarian patriot", where patriotism is not only a valued virtue to someone's self but that it is actually an essential virtue. The second representation is a radical contradiction of the first, known as the "hard universalist. The hard Universalist sees patriotism as a vice instead of being any type of positive virtue. They think that everyone should be valued the same, and that there should be no favoritism. The third representation is the idea of the first two combined, to form what is called the "soft universalist." This view is understood as patriotism is allowed, and is not seen as a vice, but also that one has an obligation to the rest of the world, almost to try and treat them as a loyalty that you would have towards your own country. (p.112).
The Patriot is a fictional story directed by Roland Emmerich, based on the true events of the American Revolution. Set in colonial South Carolina in the year 1776, the story of a war hero attempting to escape the haunting memories of the French-Indian War is put in a difficult position and is torn between protecting his family and defending his country. Benjamin Martin, played by Mel Gibson, is a widowed man with seven children living a peaceful life at a plantation, who would do absolutely anything to protect his children. When the decision to enlist in the newly formed Continental Army is approached in court, Benjamin says that he absolutely will not fight, and when speaking to Col. Harry Burwell in court he says “this war will be fought not on the frontier or on some distant battlefield. But amongst us, among our homes.” He knows that many innocent people will die, and the safety of his children will be disrupted, so therefore he does not cast a vote. When questioned about his principles, he responds saying that he is a parent, and therefore does not have the luxury of principles; once again confirming that family is the most important aspect of life to him. On the other hand, his oldest son Gabriel, played by Heath Ledger, is the complete opposite; he is extremely eager to enlist in the newly formed Continental Army, and he feels as though it is his duty to enlist and fight for freedom and independence, therefore, against his father’s orders, he enlists immediately. As the war moves forward, Gabriel is seen injured, and along with other wounded militia men, they rest at Benjamin’s home. Colonel William Tavington, played by Jason Isaacs, along with other British soldiers become aware of this and take many militia men as prisone...
At the start of the Spanish American War, the U.S. army was strong, however, not as strong as some had hoped. By the end of the war, the army was very strong and successful due to the rise of jingoism in the American citizens. The press influenced society through its underlying message of jingoism. Many people joined the army because of their nationalism and loyalty to their country. “The Spanish American War sparked unprecedented levels of patriotism and confidence” in the American people (“The Film” par. 1). Engaging in this war resulted in a jingoistic society, which was different than years prior. This extreme patriotism united the nation and created a hunger for success as a nation. The institution of jingoism in the lives of the American people was a crucial social modification that stemmed from the Spanish American
The headdress that is seen on the ground in front of all the men looks like it resembles the style the Pope wears. It does not look like it belongs on the battlefield or that it would belong to any specific person in the painting. The man on the left has hair that looks to be blowing toward the others in the painting, which is opposite of the smoke, which is blowing toward the boats and gathering in a dark cloud above the water. The two men in green are also interesting in the piece of work as they are the only two who are in this color uniform and do not resemble a