The Skys the Limit poster by Allen Courtney - Admission/Application Essay Example

The Sky’s the Limit! Literature of a given historical epoch is actually the only way through which we can know the cultural practices, beliefs and customs of a given culture; by studying the literature of a given epoch, we can get the cultural-historical themes of the historical era. One of the most useful literatures in this regard is the pictorial literature, for instance posters. Through studying, examining, and analysing posters used in a given historical era, we can indeed get a lot of insights on the cultural-historical themes of the given historical period. This paper studies and analysis one such poster in an attempt to gain insights into the cultural- historical themes of the historical era of the poster. The poster analyzed in this paper is the The Sky’s the Limit poster, authored by Allen Courtney in 1944, during the World War II. In the examination of this poster, utmost attention is paid to the smallest details: colour, lines, sex, format, style, and rhetoric. A close analysis of this poster reveals how the Sky’s the Limit poster was a USA military propaganda tool meant to mobilize the Americans to support the American government involvement in the World War II by buying war bonds; the poster also was meant to mobilize the American women into joining men in working in the factories, in the manufacturer of weapons. The pictures in the Sky’s the Limit Poster passes across the intended message in a very precise way. One of the pictures in the Sky’s the Limit! Poster is the picture of two male mechanics and a female mechanic building/ repairing an aeroplane. The presence of a woman in this poster working together with men in repairing/building an aeroplane was meant to mobilize women to join men in physically demanding work of making weapons. On the background of the two men and the woman working on the aeroplane are military planes on the ground. The presence of the mighty American warplanes in the Poster was meant to give the impression that America is far superior in military weapons than its enemies and that it will ultimately win the war, World War II. On the right upper corner of the poster is the bomb, which is about to strike a Japanese flag. Japan was actually one of the arch-enemies of the USA in the World War II and so the picture of an American bomb about to strike a Japanese flag was US propaganda, that the USA is stronger than Japan, and that ultimately Japan would be defeated in the World War II. This is briefly the description of the Sky is the Limit Poster. The painting of the Sky’s the Limit! Poster was inspired by world 11 and the social changes that were taking place in the USA during this period of time, such as women fighting for their rights and joining men in physically demanding professions. During the World War II era, posters were quite effective means of spreading war propaganda due to the fact that posters are inexpensive, accessible, and efficient. This fact therefore made the American government to widely use posters in spreading war propaganda. The main reason why Women in USA started doing physically demanding jobs such as working in factories during the World War II was that, there was a shortage of manpower in USA because many men in the USA had gone to fight in World War 11; the World War II had depleted the white males from the workforce as the white male professionals had gone to fight in the World War II (Kimble & Olson, 534). For this reason, women had to join professions that hitherto were predominantly men’s professions. The World War II had far reaching effects in the whole of the American society such as the economy of America. This is because the America government spent a lot of resources on World War 11, and this affected the economy of America negatively a great deal. One of the socio-cultural changes that we can get from this poster is the break from retrogressive cultural traditions. Despite the fact that prior to World war 11, it was socially unacceptable for women to do physically demanding manual work like working in manufacturing companies, the woman working on the aeroplane in this poster broke this tradition by becoming a aeroplane mechanic, a profession hitherto considered unfit for a woman. The woman in this poster is modelled after the legendary Rosie the Riveter. Rosie the Riveter was a fictional character used by the USA military in its propaganda to mobilize women to join men in working in the factories, in the manufacturing of weapons ((Kimble & Olson, 535). Rosie the Riveter therefore is a fictitious character who represents patriotic women who, out of patriotism and sense of duty for their country joined men in factories in making weapons. The woman in this poster is in full working gear, and she has the sleeves of her blouse rolled up, ready to work. This is exactly how Rosie the Riveter was presented in the We Can Do It poster. The woman in the Sky’s the Limit! Poster therefore is actually modelled after Rosie the Riveter. The presence of a woman modelled after Rosie the riveter in this poster symbolises that, it is indeed possible for women to succeed in areas that were thought to be a preserve of men. The image of a woman modelled after Rosie the riveter, also, is a symbol of break from the traditional criteria of labour division, whereby division of labour in the USA was largely based on sex, i.e. men were expected to do physically demanding jobs while women were expected to do work that was not so much physically demanding. The image of the woman modelled after Rosie the Riveter therefore was meant to mobilize women into joining men in working in the factories. This was actually one of the main aims of the Sky’s The Limit! poster. The other important element in this poster is the sophisticated nature of the work that the three people in the poster are doing, i.e. aeroplane assembly/maintenance. Aeroplane building/repair actually requires one to be highly learned and skilled, and during the World War 11 era, aviation science was actually the peak of human breakthrough in science and sophistication. The assembly/maintenance of aeroplane therefore was a symbol of how mighty and progressive the USA was in aerial weaponry. This was meant to mobilize and encourage the Americans to fully support the USA’s efforts in the World War 11. Mobilization of the civilians to support American government’s involvement in World War II was quite important because without the public support, the government would never have won the war; this is because it is the civilians who were supposed to work in the factories in the making of the weapons. The war mobilization was particularly important considering the fact that there were few people to work in the factories in the manufacture of weapons; the USA government was in dire need of manpower. Also, the civilians were supposed to financially support the government through buying of the war security bonds. For this reason, mobilization of the civilian to support the war was quite important. In the Sky’s the Limit! Poster, the presence of mighty American war planes in the background was meant to show the superiority of USA in military weapons. This was meant to buoy the spirits of the Americans and to assure them that ultimately America would win the war. This was a perfect way of mobilizing the public to support the government involvement in the World War II. During the World War II, one of the arch-enemies of USA was Japan. The American government therefore had embarked on a propaganda campaign to assure the public that America is superior to Japan, and that ultimately Japan would be defeated by America in the war. The image of an American bomb therefore, at the upper right corner of the Sky’s The Limit! poster, and about to strike a Japanese flag, was meant to show that American is superior to Japan in terms of military weaponry. The Japanese flag is the symbol of Japan, and striking the Japanese flag therefore means defeating Japan in the war. This again was meant to mobilize the Americans to support the American government efforts in the World War 11. Another important element in the poster the Sky’s The Limit! is the image of a woman modelled after Rosie the riveter. The woman in this poster is presented as a pretty, stoutly built woman, with her hair covered with bandana. The woman in this poster has the sleeves of her blouse rolled up, ready for work. The covering of hair with Bandana reveals to us the common dressing style in the early twentieth century. The presentation of the woman in this poster as a very determined woman, doing a physically demanding job of repairing/building an aeroplane is meant to be an inspiration to women to join men in working in factories. Apart from the pictorial images in this poster, the title of this poster also is very important in conveying the intended message. An analysis of the title, The sky’s the Limit! poster, reveal the cultural-historical themes of the World War 11 era in USA. First, the expression “the sky is the limit” is a strong statement that was meant to encourage and mobilize the Americans to be infinitely optimistic and hopeful for the best in the war. This title therefore shows us that the American people were very optimistic people during the World War 11 period; the Americans believed that everything is possible and therefore they had a lot of hope in every situation. The writing at the bottom of the poster “Keep Buying War Bonds” was meant to mobilize the Americans to financially support the government in the war. Through buying war security bonds, the members of the public would contribute enough money that the government would use in buying and making weapons. War bonds are debt security bonds and they are very effective government means of contributing money for during war, whenever a government faces financial constraints in financing war. The phrase, Keep buying bonds mobilizes the members of the public to financially support the government in the war. This phrase also extorts the Americans to be hopeful for success in the war. The phrase therefore was meant to call upon the Americans, in the home front, to fully support American government efforts in the World War 11. The home front support of the war was particularly important because without the home front support, the military alone would not win this war. In nutshell, the Sky’s the Limit poster was quite effective in conveying the intended message: mobilizing the Americans to fully support American involvement in World War 11. The American government achieved this goal through the use of propaganda as we have seen in this poster. This was particularly important in mobilizing the whole American community in supporting the American government efforts in the World War II. Without the community support, it would have been impossible for the American government to win this war. Work Cited Kimble, J.J. And, Olson, L.C. “Visual Rhetoric Representing Rosie the Riveter: Myth and Misconception in J. Howard Miller’s “We Can Do It!” Poster”. USA: Michigan University Press, 2006. World War 11 Poster: The Sky’s the Limit. Web Read More