This British poster was created during WWI and was utilized to get men to join the cause by playing on their internal emotions. The masculinity of the father figure comes into question because we're left wondering if he fought for his country. His son playing with toy soldiers, symbolizing that his son supports fighting for the country. The man stares out at the viewer as if he does not know what to do and this creates the idea that we don't want to be this man. We want to be able to say " yes, I fought and defended my country", instead of being embarassed by our children and not having this "wimpy/pansy"-esque look. That is one take on the poster. the other is that he did in fact fight in the Great War and is now able to tell his children about the duty he performed and that everything turned out alright. There is debate on which way the poster goes. I think it can go either way.
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ReplyDeleteI think it is important that in this poster it could go either way, that is the father could answer very proudly "why yes I served" or not proudly "no". This is what I think makes this poster so memorable and this question acts also to include the viewer. I do feel that the illustrator has created an "armchair father" who would have seemed like a "dandy" to the working class British in 1915. So I do feel that this individual did not serve and is now having trouble explaining that to his young children one of which is playing with toy soldiers, of course if it were 1975 he could have always answered "No I did not serve I was too busy loving your mother hence the two of you. "
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