Image impact

[asterroc]

Having a very interesting conversation with Foxtrot comparing a couple of images. Rather than recreating the discussion here, I'll post the two images and see what y'all think of them.



Edit: Some people weren't seeing the proper image on the left before. I replaced it with a different version of the image, should work now.

Comments

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

To me the second one is more offensive for two reasons.

1) I don't read it as bin Ladin, I read it as Arabs. Therefore it is condemning a class of people not based upon their beliefs regarding the US, but upon their religion (and religion and politics are not a one-to-one relationship). The first is about the individual Hitler, not a group of people, and if it was a group it'd be Nazis, which *is* a political belief.

2) The second one reads as hateful, the first reads as mocking. This may be primarily b/c of the color choice, and in the first one they had a restricted palette of colors that were acceptable, so that's part of why I posted this w/o commentary at first, to see if others agreed with this assessment. I read the first one as mocking and as taking power away from Hitler by making him an absurdity, while the second is all about hate and fear.

[allandaros.livejournal.com]

Looking at the image, I though it was supposed to be Bin Ladin, partially because you juxtaposed it with a shot of Cap beating up Hitler (and partially because the beard looks like Bin Laden's beard).

I think part of the tone difference is the freedom comics have at the moment. The WW2 comics were under the oversight of the CCA (and primarily directed at kids), I don't think they were allowed to show deaths (other than that of the main villain sometimes). Now, comics are treated as any other form of work, and thus there's a bit more realism, a good bit more violence.

I don't know. To me, both look like propaganda pieces, and so I feel the same about both.

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

I don't read it as bin Ladin, I read it as Arabs. Therefore it is condemning a class of people not based upon their beliefs regarding the US, but upon their religion

*cough* Um, either you mean "ethnicity" instead of "religion" or you mean "Muslims" instead of "Arabs". Which?

[zandperl.livejournal.com]

Ugh, you're right. I read it as Middle Eastern people (ethnicity), and I understand that not all such people are Muslims. However as an emotional piece it makes me totally forget that intellectually and smush them all together so that when I read it I get race and religion mixed up. Bleh. That's why I hate these sorts of things.