OUGD401 (Study Task 3) 500 Word Comparison

Context of Practise - Task 3

Write a 500 word critical comparison of the two images below. Compare and contrast the two images regarding the following

• Choice of font and style of illustration 
• Purpose and meaning of the images
• Who the potential target audience of each image is
• Historical context 

Image 1

Image 2

Image one titled ‘The Uncle Sam Range’ is an advertisement for a cooker, which is not immediately obvious as the image of the cooker is pushed to the side and it seems that the main focus of the poster is to show wealthy American life. Image two is a propaganda poster from 1915 that is trying to encourage British men to enlist for WW1. Like image one this is not obvious at first and also has the same patriotic feel. Both images have clear elements of their nationalities through the details and objects such as the bald eagle and the clock showing 100 years since American independence, finding as many examples to portray the ‘American dream’ as possible. The boy playing with the toy soldiers in image two to the colour scheme used in both. A difference between the images however is everything on the design of the cooker advert is Americanised in a way which shows the importance of America. The western font used is in gold to again, show the wealth of the country and a reference to the Californian gold rush from 1848-55. The whole image is showing off America and the dream life, and advertising that if you buy this cooker you will achieve this perfect life. The world sitting at the table is suggesting other counties should come and experience the superior American lifestyle indicated by the list showing stereotypical foods degrading the countries. 

Similarly to image one, the second image is portraying British culture through the patterns on the wall and sofa and calling WW1 ‘The Great War’ shows it will be something you can be proud of being involved in. The fathers stare out of the image looking at the viewer instead of at either of his children is captivating and combined with the capitalisation and underlining of ‘you’ gives the impression that the reader is being spoken to directly and almost being guilt tripped into it. His children may want to hear things about it, which is why it is they asking the question and may be disappointed if he has nothing to say because of his lack of involvement. The image is also reassuring showing that the war has clearly been won even though it would have been during the war in 1915 when it was produced and you can still live the ideal life, much like the ‘Uncle Sam’s Range’ image.

Another similarity between the two images is the aesthetics, they have been illustrated and hand painted and both rely on image rather than text. They both also focus on targeting men due to the male characters in both images. In image one Uncle Sam is sat round the table with everyone’s attention directed at him, he is the man you should aspire to be and buying this oven will help towards that. Image two has the his (assumed) daughter looking up at him like a role model, much like the portrayal of his son playing with toy soldiers as if fighting in a war is something he aspires to do.

Overall, while both these images show strong themes of patriotism, their differences highlight the differences between British and American culture at the time, the British side seeming much more subtle, while America is flaunting how far they have come since gaining their independence.