Monday 10 October 2011

Context of Practice- Essay Task 2

When looking at the two examples given, there are many similarities as well as many differences between the two. Both images have a sense of Patriotism to them, and stand up for a certain Ideology. they are similar in the sense that they are both promoting something, but different in what they are promoting.

Image one " The Uncle Sam Range" by Schumacher and Ettlinger in 1876 is based on the idea of the "American dream". The image is an advertisement for The Uncle Sam Range which in the image is shown as a huge cooker, filled with meat and expensive goods. Within the image there is evidence of gender roles, This is shown through the women who appears to be part of the family, but is also "waiting" on them. In addition to this there eis also evidence of Class Struggle, the image shows a young black Boy cooking food, who is most likely a "Slave" to the Affluent White American family. This is also shown through the globe figure in the centre right of the image, it appears to be mocking African people, in the sense that there is a cartoon face on Africa, which has over exaggerated features compared the the "Life-like" faces of the white American people in the image. As the image mocks African people it allows people to be racist and for racism to be morally acceptable, which was one of the many reasons for class struggle at the time. This resulted in many African people being the victims of slavery.

American is the main focus in the image, it is very symbolic, for example there is an American eagle sat at the table, looking towards the table as if he is minding the situation. There is also the carpet, wallpaper and curtains which are all decorated by stars and stripes, referring to the American flag. to add to this the man sitting in the Centre of the image also represents America, he is also wearing stars and stripes, and has been placed in the centre of the image so that he is the main focus of the image and the first thing the audience looks at. sitting at the back of the image, are three smaller figures each with different names. There is Dixie, West and New England, all of which represent the different areas of America. Everyone in the image is Gathered round the table the discuss "The Bill" which shows what each country eats.  It is as if America has invited the world to eat at its table, from the "Uncle Sam Range".  On the list some counties such as Ireland have items such as potatoes, showing that they are inferior to America who has meat and a wide variety of choice, showing Americas Financial position in comparison to all the other countries on the list.

The advertisement is saying, in order to life the high life, with poise and style, you must own this Range. The image is, in a way a celebration of the Beginning of America, the clock on the fire place shows the year in which America was established, and then 1 year after, which is the date in the image, so the people in the image are also celebrating history. The type in the image is also intriguing, It is in gold and therefore show wealth and happiness, it is also all in capital letters which shows power and confidence.

In comparison with image 1, Image 2 by Savile lumley in 1915, is a poster from the war in the UK, Its proper-gander which aims to recruit men into the army. The poster is simple and legible; it draws the audience in due to the fact that the man in the centre of the image is making eye contact. The Poster was before the time of conscription, and so tries to make those people who have not signed up feel guilty, It does this through showing the young boy playing with soldiers, who look like the Queens guards, suggesting that those who do not fight, are cowards and don’t protect there country, the man is emasculates him. Also the young girl who is asking her father what his contributed to the war, makes those who are not involve feel like they should be. It suggests that there will be children’s stories written about the wars and that the war will have a positive outcome, in a way it glorifies it, and suggests the war will change the country for the better. The image is personal and appeals to both upper and lowers classes due to the fact the man is looking directly out of the image.

There is a huge amount of National symbolism within the image, such as the Flur de le on the chair and the English rose pattern on the curtains, representing British culture and History. In addition to this the children are wearing red, blue and white, some would argue this symbolizes the British flag. In conclusion I have found that both images are trying to promote something, and do it successfully, I personally think that image two communicates the message more successfully than image one.

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