Study Task 01 - Image Analysis Exercise

The above image is an advert made for a cooking range produced by the Abendroth Brothers. It is probably aimed at middle class Americans who are instilled with ambition and patriotism, intent on living the "American Dream" and furthering American prevalence and superiority. As an image it's rife with hyperbolic American visuals, positioning Uncle Sam as the superior character in the room, showing off food being made to serve to the rest of the world. The type used is a block serif that conveys power and faux-history, attempting to situate America's identity as powerful and significant. Interestingly, the clock in the image has two years on it: 1776 and 1876, alluding to the 100 year anniversary of the "birth" of the US. This leads us to believe that the advert is riding on the coattails of patriotic jubilations that would be commencing at the time of publication; at a point where Americans were feeling particularly American and proud of it, marketing this range using America in a positive light makes sense. Our contemporary reading, though, is perhaps more sinister. The role of women evidenced within the image is that of a servant to Uncle Sam; similarly, the only black person is also acting as a servant. This is a great contextual insight into the historical standing of women and ethnic minorities, and comparisons can be drawn with it and the images below. The images below were published by the Empire Marketing Board, in what we see as an attempt to present the British Empire as a body that brings about positive change, and then ultimately through doing this they'll attract investment. It was probably aimed at rich colonised people who were becoming more sympathetic with their imperial colonisers than their kinsfolk. It is in many ways a piece of propaganda - it appears to claim that pre-British invasion, Africans were having an awful time migrating by foot, whereas post-invasion they are enjoying a life of technologically enhanced transport via bridge and truck. Technological infrastructure and enhancement is presented in a positive light in both the Uncle Sam range and the East African images - it is very much a case of 'more technology = better lives'. Additionally, in both of the images the roles of women and ethnic minorities is touched upon. In pre-Empire Africa, a woman appears to be leading the way, however in Empire Africa only men are present, and the image is dominated by a powerful, idealistic male figure. Moreover, black people in the pre-Africa are seen to be free and self-led, whereas post colonisation they're working under the apparent command of a white man. This corroborates our pre-existing understanding of the elements of social construct during that epoch: patriarchal ubiquity and white race dominance.