The Uncle Sam Range (1876) Advertising Image by Schumacher & Ettlinger, New York.
(source one)
Initial observations
- Propaganda "Uncle Sam's Little Dinner Party"
- List of countries/foods/products - suggesting America are feeding the world? or are the world feeding them?
- Oven/stove - selling product - purpose of poster?
- Slave worker at the oven - represents social hierarchy at time
- Uncle Sam character's body is turned away from Africa globe figure
- The globe figure that represents Africa has been given a immature strange looking face - could represent America's opinion of the continent and its people at the time
- clock could represent 100 year mark of Independence
- Cultures and regions brought together, American displayed as the most relevant and domineering
- Women serving food - represents their position in society at the time and what they were expected to be
East African Transport Old Style & East African Transport New Style (1930-1931) Adrian Allinson from the 'Colonial Progress Brings Home Prosperity' series of poster.
(source two)
Initial observations
- Rural
- Women presented as strong (leading) - would make men feel uncomfortable at the time - women were not seen as leaders
- Faces of people appear angry - could be to represent them as being wild, aggressive or unwelcoming - the enemy???
- 'New Style' - representing the intervening of white people in East Africa?
- Faces of the natives look tired, exhausted, irritated? No longer strong independent characters
- Turned into slave/workers - aggressive nature has been 'tamed'?
- Transport introduced - shows the difference of the times between posters
When observing both images it is stereotypes built in by society at the time are evident. Source One demonstrates the hierarchy of men and women, women being the stereotypical cook/stay at home wife who is attending to the table. In Source Two white people are demonstrated as the more superior race, who are capable of suppressing another race, although it is portrayed as a strong and positive trait. In contrast, the old style poster represents the african natives as strong, powerful, independent people who are interestingly mostly led by women. This was probably illustrated to appeal to those who agreed with the social hierarchy in the 1930's, showing black women as the leaders would have been controversial and the new style poster completely shows what they would expect. Most likely done so the audience would agree even further with the new style or believe the vision it is providing.
Furthermore,
false security/knowledge
a) The choice and organisation of font and style of illustration
b) The purpose and meaning of the image
c) The target / potential audience of the image
d) The historical contexts relevant to the production of the image
