The visual representation of the freedom and democratic ideals remains depicted in the representation of the clamor towards fighting towards the nation’s ideals. Analyzing the portrayal of the characters in the poster, it can be seen that Uncle Sam appeals to the crowd by pointing his fingers and promoting the need for enlistment. This, alongside the usage of the symbolisms of starts and stripes seek to both promote and encourage participation in the enlistment of every able individual and fight for the country.
Similarly, the female of in the poster seeks to represent the nation. Though the overall mood of the woman remains to be passive, it also shows vulnerability and limited capacity to address the nation’s needs without the help of the citizenry. In essence, though the woman may be perceived as independent, she continues to remain submissive to the will of the people. This symbolism then highlights the capacity of exhibiting opportunities to open up choices for participants of whether or not to partake in its mission to protect the country or just doing nothing.
Seeing this, the contrasting symbolisms brought about by the sword in the poster and vulnerability of the woman highlight the relevance of decision making. Though it may remain to be one of a personal choice, the pattern of guilt and preservation of nation’s principles remain to be the same. Such visualization alongside the effective utilization of the text then brings about the capacity to entice followers rather than opening up options for them to reach out in the specific conflict. Thus, this visual depiction then clearly highlights the woman as vulnerable and has the limited ability to respond without collaboration and patriotism.
The second visual takes into account the perspective of furthering the other roles of women in the war. It can be seen that the depiction of the visual portrays the responsibility of the woman in providing food supplies to troops with their participation and application in the army. Here, the visual showcases the female raising her arms to get the crops while the other one grabs hold of the branch. These aspects in turn have their corresponding symbolisms as they apply in the overall value of how these elements are portrayed accordingly to viewers.
Looking at the war poster closer, the theme that it tries to present seek to represent the value and responsibility given by the country towards the other roles of women during this period. Here, the grasping of the fruit by one hand and the branch on the other seek to demonstrate strength and control over what they are tasked to do. It promotes that women have the capacity to become involved regardless of the fact that they have to participate in the battle or not. Here, this then becomes an instrument in outlining not only the preference given towards specific responsiveness but in the way people react to this call.
Given the utilization and exhaustion of resources during the war, the purpose of this visual corresponds to the need to promote sustenance towards Americans. Indeed, the war called for consumption of supplies including food. This was why this campaign and information drive was initiated in the first place. By catering to this objective and seeking to explore the role of the women in the process, the U.S. government was able to consolidate and apply new principles relating not only to the facilitation of continued nourishment.
Regardless of the overall aspect of this poster, it still goes to show the relevant shift in responsibilities and the manner on how the country addresses its needs with the promotion of the woman and epitomizing their corresponding role not only of protecting territories but also the formulation reinforcing food supply and security.
The last poster seeks to again provide a visual enticement among women to join the air force. This is another war poster that tries to portray and encourage women to sign up in the military. Here, it presents a smiling woman wearing the standard uniform of air force personnel. Alongside this picture is the usage of text and important key words that also promote the capacity to partake in the objective of the poster. This aspect in turn provides better means of consolidating inputs and related to today’s capacity to inform and convey information.
In one aspect, it can be seen that the symbolism of the smiling woman in uniform represents the ability of fulfillment and happiness in joining the military service. However, this presents a contrasting view from the harsh and brutal experiences of soldiers during the war. In essence, it provides a negative perspective of the reality that is happening in the expense of promoting increased number of women recruits eligible for the air force.
Similarly, it can also be argued that the usage of the term ‘smartest women of the year’ presents a relatively enticing approach to gain new participants. Since the process of aeronautics is mostly dominated by men, having a woman join this group gives the capacity to be referred to as being smart. Similarly, since it also highlights technical expertise and abilities, there is then the need to establish and promote this in order to provide motivation for women to join and take part. Again, this shows a biased view as women are then enticed using the wrong rationale and reasons accordingly.
Overall, this poster depicts the capacity of indeed highlighting how women can be proud in protecting their country. However, due to the false advertising brought about by the poster, it fails to consider the ills related to their participation in such endeavor. Seeing this, rather than uplifting women’s status, they are then subjected towards a wrong message and reality in the given poster.
Works Cited
- FruitfromWashington.com. Crop Harvests at Home in America during World War II. 2008 accessed from <www.fruitfromwashington.com/History/harvest.htm>
- Gold, Lisa. Library of Congress World War I posters now online. October 2009 accessed 4 May 2010 from <http://lisagoldresearch.wordpress.com/2009/10/08/library-of-congress-world-war-i-posters-now-online/>
- University of North Carolina Greensboro. Be One of the Smartest Woman of the Year 1951. 2008 accessed 4 May 2010 from <http://library.uncg.edu/dp/wv/biggie/7/MSS044.7.A015.jpg
