The Image of the Rural Pride as it Relates to the American Identity Essay

The Image of the Rural Pride as it Relates to the American Identity - Essay Example Land ownership shifted from the elite who held the yokes of servants in the feudal system to that of the common man who either staked his claim or was given land on which his pride and his sweat coaxed out a living. In using the imagery of farms and rural life to express idealism, artists have made a commentary on what it means to work the land and the identity that this image creates in relation to that of American life. As a consequence, those same images have been used to relate the disappointments and changing ideals that have grown. The concept of the rural landscape or representation is not always defined by the image of a happy or successful representation of American rural life. In Grant Wood’s work American Gothic, one interpretation is to see a savagery in the faces of the farmer and his wife, their lives so cruel and harsh that they live with that impressed upon their faces. Charles Demuth resented his surroundings so much that his artwork was representative of that same hard lined concept which produced the idea that rural life was unacceptably harsh. The Rural Aesthetic One of the most iconic pieces of art in the American portfolio is that of American Gothic by Grant Wood. The image of the harsh and sober farmer, his wife looking at him with the barest disdain combined with a hint of respect, suggests both a satirical look at rural life, contrasted with a respect for the stoic and harsh nature of such a life. Corn (1998) argues that the work is not based on satire, but on the way in which Wood was raised, his background informing the aesthetic that he has adopted. As well, Wood, according to Corn (1998), had an aesthetic that was reflected in hard lines. Through the examination of the Midwestern lifestyle, he associated the difficulty of rural work to that of the hard line. Corn (1998) quotes Garland who defines the concept of the Midwest through the representation provided through hard lined works, which gave them the aspects of being †Å"rural, raw and tough – as hard ‘edged’ (p. 397). The work, American Gothic, is one of the most recognizable paintings done in the 20th century. It is often referred to as the â€Å"American Mona Lisa† because of its wide use in pop culture iconic works of advertising and social referencing, and because it is associated with American Art in a very central and meaningful way. Critics of the work often assign it to being either regional or satire, both which the artist believes diminishes his intentions with the work. Wood resented the idea that the painting represented specifically Iowa, the work having a more universal representation of the American farmer and not representative of Iowa. The criticism of satire also did not seem to fit the painting. According to Seery (2002), â€Å"the farther the critic lived from the Midwest, the more predisposed he or she was to read the painting as satire or social criticism† (p. 121). In fact, the painting was depicted as vicious by art historian Mathew Baigell who framed his interpretation as â€Å"a ‘vicious satire’ that depicts the couple as savage, exuding ‘a generalized, barely repressed animosity that borders on venom†

Culture's Portrayal of the Vietnam War Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Culture's Portrayal of the Vietnam War - Essay Example Most of the popular culture images were highly critical of the war, and painted the US forces as brutal intruders into an otherwise peaceful and innocent jungle scene. From the viewpoint of the popular culture, its images and art, everybody had a scene to play and everybody got it wrong. The lowly buck private was no less responsible than the Commander in Chief, and the Pentagon shared equal guilt with the Military-Industrial Complex. Was the criticism legitimate From the viewpoint of the actors, agents, and citizens that filled these roles, the media's criticism of the war and their grim portrayal of the times, was an exaggerated stretch of reality that forever tarnished the reputation of an entire generation. It was easy to criticize a war where the world's mightiest military machine invaded a jungle, decimated the population, destroyed the environment, and left fifty thousand of their best and brightest dead, and another half a million maimed for life. Yet, the war was more than just the front lines in some far away jungle. The war was the returning soldiers confronting a society that was different than the one they had left. It was the protestors that were stereotyped by both sides of the political spectrum as they challenged the system and denounced the American way. It was also the public that was waiting in the wings to weigh in with their critical support or criticism. These were the victims of the war. Writers would continue to paint the makers of the war as deceptive, greedy, and hypocritical megalomaniacs. Anti-war protestors would forever be branded as a silver spooned generation on drugs, gazing as the reality of capitalism slipped through their fingers. Conscripted soldiers w ould play the role of the demonized madman, bent on total destruction, and having little thought of patriotism while only hoping to escape an imminent death. Criticizing the war was easy, but keeping the criticism legitimate was a far more difficult task. The Vietnam War presented America with a foreign policy, a military action, and a public response that certainly had plenty to be critical of. However, in an effort to sell the war, or its end, the portrayal of every aspect of it became a marketing tool designed to sell a political position or a blockbuster film. The movie Good Morning Vietnam (1987) chronicled the Vietnam tour of Armed Forces Radio disc jockey Adrian Cronauer, and was one of the more accurate versions of the war from the soldier's point of view. Cronauer is portrayed as a soldier and a human being that has the capacity to empathize, criticize, frustrate his commanders, and fall in love even as the war goes on all around him. This is a different approach than the doomsday films such as Full Metal Jacket (1987) or Apocalypse Now (1979), that painted the soldier as a robotic killer, faced with continual death, and willing to extract any revenge necessary to accomplish the mission and survive to fight one more day. The viewer was left with the impression that the war had turned a generation of young patriotic men into automated killers that had the potential to snap at the slightest trigger or pent up memory. To be clear, there was no one singular experience for the Vietnam veteran. However, the barrage of pop culture images that stereotyped the Vietnam veteran as a ticking time bomb has had a significant negative impact on these