World War Two is probably the era where US Propaganda was the most powerful. It was a hard fought war, and needed the most support it could possibly get. Above is an example encouraging people to work hard and do their best at home, implying that if they do not, the Japanese will win the war. In this image, the artists play off of the purveying sense of racism at the time and sarcasm in order to guilt a "lazy" worker into not taking the day off. The usage of racism sets the stage for the sarcasm. The picture contains an image of a Japanese man, with all of his stereotypes, that his skin is yellow, his eyes slanted and evil, almost portraying him as a gremlin. This all plays on the racism that most Americans had at the time, firing them up and making them want to ruin this man. Then, the artist utilizes sarcasm to condemn the audience and manipulate them into continuing to work. The text saying "Go ahead, please - TAKE DAY OFF", implies that the Japanese will win the war if one person takes off work. Obviously, this is not true, but it has a guilting effect that will certainly make the audience want to work instead of taking off. Thus this piece is overall quite effective, as the racism would certainly play off of the audience's prejudices, and the sarcasm would convince them to work. It is a shame that this was resorted to, but nonetheless the government saw it as necessary in order to save the nation.
No comments:
Post a Comment