There were plenty of propaganda posters and other types of posters during WWII. I am not sure how this one fits in, as I have seen the more blatant advertising such as "Loose Lips Sink Ships" and others of that variety. I still have much to learn about that era. This poster has a strange overtone to it. The blonde Aryan mom and daughter, in matching outfits and hair styles, dad's regulation hat in the foreground, exemplifying the ethic of working at home to help the troops abroad. This poster was made courtesy of Ladies Home Journal, and that too is interesting, considering the influence of women's magazines on popular culture. I wonder about the representation of the mother as a child herself, ribbon in her hair, a little girl's dress on her grown up figure. Lying there on the floor as a child would be. This woman is no Rosie the Riveter, but a complacent and passive and seemingly helpless woman. Considering the slogan and the image, I wonder how successful the campaign was.
Rosie the Riveter, on the other hand was a woman of action, unafraid of a challenge. She is depicted in that famous poster in a role diametrically opposed to that of the my poster. She is a brunette, in work clothes, symbolically showing her strength by flexing her muscle. Rosie's role in history is clear.
There have been and continue to be plenty of wars in our lives. Not just the wars that send men to places like Vietnam, but the war against drugs, AIDS, crime, poverty and countless other social maladies. In day-to-day life, for example, I think about recycling as an issue. I confess to having a tendency to sneak in the occasional milk carton or glass container into the non-recyclables. I am not the only adult who does this, having observed friends bend the rules on one or two occasions, with as much guilt evident on their face as mine. Whenever my son Ryan catches me doing this, he removes the ill-placed item and then scolds me severely, pointing out how I am destroying his world and his future. "Even a little helps a lot--NOW!" seems to fit in with the notion of recycling, we all know that everything we can do contributes and helps. I try to think of my poster whenever I feel so inclined to place something in the incorrect trash bin.
There are also other issues in society today that warrant far more fastidious concern and followthrough, not the least of which is safe sex. I wonder how many teenagers are like my son, lecturing their parents on their less than perfect recycling habits. That among the many bad habits we adults have acquired. I hope that these teens will also be as observant and cautious when it comes to sexual experimentation and involvement. Using a condom would make their futures even safer than consistent recycling.
In my poster I see involvement that is passive and remote, like a donation to a favorite charity. Rosie, on the other hand, with her assertive attitude and willingness to participate and be involved is what we really need. "We Can Do It!" asserts that poster. I don't think there are many women left in the world today like the one depicted in my poster, at least I personally don't know them. However, there are plenty of Rosies alive today, and I would classify most of my friends as Rosies. Some even still are employed in a factory all right, fighting the war, but a global war.
I do love my poster. It represents to me an ideal long lost, a sitcom model of the idealism of that time, and the poster portrays this well. It shows the naiveté and innocence that we still see in children and those with blind faith. For the same reasons, with a touch of nostalgia, I still like the Wizard of Oz and plenty of old black and white films from the forties. For me though, in real life, I'd choose the acumen of Rosie any day.