Abril Alvarez

Professor Filbeck
English 114B
Through illustrations
Since the moment advertisement became a source to development, society
has not stopped in the extension of human culture and commerce. Through these
advertisements people have been able to expand their social groups and have been
able to portray and persuade others to think and believe the same things they do.
Today we see this everywhere; from everyday religion pamphlets to magazines of
prestige persuading you to get the latest fashion. Similar ideas like these have been
evolving through time depending on what was going on during the time, for
example during the 1940s advertisement was used to encourage different politician
views. The pulp magazines were created to attract adult attention, viewing that most
of the covers seem to aim at male adults through female sexuality and contain a
sense of war, of fighting against something else. Through these pulp magazine we
can prove that indeed society influenced the way illustrations were and are being
made but it can also be said these illustrations also take role in the way society is
built.
About the pulp magazine
Pulp magazines illustrations were created as entertainment and propaganda. They
seemed to be very popular at the time and where a source of communicating
messages to the audience:
In particular these three magazine pulp covers reflect something that is trying to be
communicated to the audience the cover from change intro
Super Science Stories illustrated in November 1941 that contains two
creatures in angelic forms and demand wings flying wildly in space attacking a man
who seems angry and a burning ship in the background, the cover from Super
Science Novels illustrated in August 1940 that contains an angle with futuristic
clothing fighting against human kind in space, and the third is Fantastic
Adventures illustrated in September 1941 that is set up in a science scene with a
melting man in the laboratory and a woman tied up in the background. These three
magazines contain information that is intended as a futuristic prediction. Whats
your point?
Change the beginning sentence for all of them
1. For example the illustration from 1941 the women in the portrait, can be a
mixture of both goddesses and demons. Their wings are large with the
shape of bat wings, their hair is wild and not delicate. They are both
disguised in a celestial white gown with white alerted wings. One of the
womans faces show a desperate look in her face and they are both trying
to hold on to the man. We can see how they are attacking him because of
his body posture, and the creatures hands are going towards his gun. He
has on a suit that gives him oxygen, his body seems as if its being thrown
backwards by the two creatures and his face reflects the struggle he is in.
He is holding on to his gun with both hands thrown up. In the background
there is a ship that is burning down and the moon has a large shadow
lingering over it. There are a couple of stars here and there, space is as
dark as it should be and a sense of urgency is felt when you look at the
entire portrait as one. Because of the scenario one question that is
developed here is who the bad guy really is, the unhuman or the human?
Perhaps they are a representation of the futures enemies that someday, as
a society, we might have to face. This illustration might have also been
made with the purpose of portraying men as a superhero, its clear that
the ship in the background has lost, we can assume that the ship is where
the human came from therefor making him the fallen of the war. Yet he
continues to fight till the very end, hence just like a super hero its a very
patriotic symbol especially since World War 2 had initially began in 1939,
also the creatures could reflect the thought of the country developing new
and stronger enemies in the future.
2. The cover done in 1940 was illustrated with a futuristic angel fighting
against humans. She has on some transparent pants and is shooting with a
laser gun. She has gigantic wings and her costume contains a lot of red in
it, there are multiple in the picture. We can say that perhaps the purpose
of her being seen in a futuristic costume is the common mentality of
seeing the future as a technological place. The transparency could be seen
as an advanced nylon where it is resistant like rubber but with an
advanced presentation. In this picture they are also fighting a war with
humans out in space. Again this raises the question of who the bad guys
are, in this case the angels or the humans. In contrast to the first two
fighting scenes,
3. And finally in contrast to the first two fighting scenes the cover done in
1941 with The Liquid Man is a bit different. In the first two humanity
fights against a future enemy yet in this one the scientist fights against
himself in this pulp there are only two people, a man and a woman that
are set up in a lab scene. As always the woman shows enough cleavage to
capture interest. She wears a casual crop top and a plaited purple pants
that goes up the waist, highlighting her figure. She is tied up and her
mouth is covered with tape. Her gaze is directly looking at the man who is
becoming unhuman. The man is or has already drank the chemical in his
lab tube he has a chemical maker at his side and in the other he has a
glass container with a notebook with scribbles on it. He has a pencil and a
bottle of some sort behind his book. The mans face is a mocha color, it is
sparkling and disappearing. His body has become transparent and his
arms have created a pool of hot acid on the table you can see how his
face is disappearing in a magnificent way while the beautiful woman that
represents the conscience can do nothing but watch him dissolve. This can
be associated with the way people saw how the war was going to destroy
people who had all the power, also in how the thirst of wanting beyond
humanity strengths can destroy one regardless of how beautiful ones
being can become.
what are they trying to say
These illustrations are used in the purpose of getting messages to society.
How so? Well to begin with the illustrations are used as a way to advertise to
society what it believes people should believe. Advertisement can come in different
ways from words to illustrations and it can influence both good and bad. In these
illustrations people are encourage and reminded of the fighting era they were going
through, violence is incorporated. Messages are thrown within the artistic brush
results, during the time, World War 2 had just began this is where the violence came
from, but with the violence we can also see the way in which woman are portrayed
as part of the problem or useless. The reason which woman were portrayed as the
problem began with their equality after the war. Look for something here dont just
dive in Even before the United States became involved, companies had contracts
and agreements with the government to produce equipment for allies and after
entering the war in such a sudden way people were needed immediately to work
and take the place of the working men who had been drafted. Woman were needed
to work in factories and although working was not new for the working class
woman, more and more were needed and after trying various ways of persuading
higher class woman to work they finally came up with the perfect solution, a perfect
wonder woman, Rosie the Riveter and what better way to label this character as it
was in History Engine but as the ideal American woman [that] was loyal, efficient,
patriotic, and pretty. Through this advertisement by the end of the war 18million
woman where working in factories. The rights that where granted to woman
couldve also influence the illustrations of pulp magazines, woman were drawn as
the enemies who fight against men in the covers, and in the time when men
returned from war some woman wouldnt give up their stance. Obviously men were
against woman having any sort of rights, so through the covers perhaps they try to
predict a problem that results in irresponsibly granting woman equal rights as men
in the future.
Beyond woman
Similar things were happening not only with the pulp magazines but with the
illustrations around different companies such as Disney and the Warner bros during
this time. To encourage the involvement and approval of the war these companies
resorted in illustrations through the media. The United States government knew
that they had to get the public to agree with the intervention and to support the
war . . . through animated propaganda films. Says Sabrina Parker on the Reflection
of American Society in the 1930-40's through Animated Film. Parker develops
different episodes in various cartoons with characters like Popeye and bugs bunny in
which they would influence the media to believe in the divisions that were
developing with the US and Japan at the time Using racism in cartoons was an easy
and effective way of demonizing Japan, making their culture and country look
foolish and inferior to America. Both before and after World War 2 illustrations
continued to be affected by what was going on in society and illustrations continued
to impact society in different forms.
Advertising, the uneasy persuasion
Advertisement within illustrations did not always project a beneficial impact
on society, at times illustrations were created to destroy the little positive influences
that were arising. Michael Schudson a sociologist working in the fields of journalism
and its history and public culture, has directed the issue of how advertisement can
have either a negative and positive effects on society through his book Advertising,
the Uneasy persuasion. Schudson writes:
Social critics have argued that the greatest danger of advertising may be that
it creates belief in the larger sense. It has been common coin of advertising
critics that advertising is a kind of religion. This goes back at least to James
Rorty who wrote of the religious power of advertising, holding that
"advertising becomes a body of doctrine." Ann Douglas has written that
advertising is "the only faith of a secularized consumer society." In more
measured tones, Leo Spitzer relates advertising to the "preaching mentality" in
Protestantism and says that advertising "has taken over the role of the
teacher of morals." The advertiser, like the preacher" must constantly remind
the backslider of "his real advantage" and "must 'create the demand' for the
better.
Schudson has made an analysis of the way advertisements is a sort of realism
a different type of function that has become part of one of societys structure.
People expand their social groups through propaganda, they convert it through not
only illustrations but music lyrics, art and even in clothing. Yet sometimes
propaganda through these windows have been miss used in a way were the role of
the effect it takes causes an extortion in society and in people as individuals.
Creating an instable believe hence, It creates an illusion of detachment and mental
superiority even when one is obeying its exhortations. Words said by Daniel Pope in
his book Making sense of advertisement. Advertisements can be a good ally but
most importantly it can be a creeping enemy.
In conclusion
Advertising can offer a fulfillment of the aesthetic desires of modern
humanity"(Pope) meaning that thanks to the advertising that has been made
through different illustration we have been able to represent a great part of one
world to the other end of the world. Its clear that illustrations in the 1940s were a
way to discipline people in what was going on. It was a way of informing the world
of the different roles society needed its inhabitants to take part of. Today we
continue to see this through modern film, magazines, commercials and even in the
internet. As we continue to move into the new eras new opportunities continue to
arise, new ideas and new concepts make no struggles to keep up with the modern
world. Illustrations will clearly remain as a once source output to use as
advertisement. These types of advertisement will continue to shape the world and
the world will continue to illustrate its future.
Works Cited
Parker, Sabrina. "Reflection of American Society in the 1930-40's through Animated
Film."
prezi.com. N.p., 11 Apr. 2013. Web. 6 May 2014.
Pope, Daniel. "Making sence of advertisements." . N.p., n.d. Web. 6 May 2014.
Rockwell, Normen. "Rosie the Riveter." historyengine . N.p., n.d. Web. 6 May 2014.
Schudson, Michael. 1984. Advertising as capitalist realism. In Advertising, The
Uneasy
Persuasion: Its Dubious Impact on American Society. New York: Basic
Books, Inc. 6 may 2014
United States. National Park Service. "Rosie the Riveter: Women Working During
World War
II." National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior, n.d. Web. 6 May
2014.