Thursday 1 October 2009

Images Representing America

I decided to look at how America is presented through the media, both positively and negatively. My first image shows Disneyland which reminds me of the typical happiness that is so often associated with America. There are many ideologies concerning the perfect image, as upheld by Disney, that are associated with America that are supported by the media which could be seen as media pressure on American society although I see this 'happy Disney attitude' as positive however fake it may be as it encourages a sense of well being in children and adults alike across the USA. My second image shows advertisements on a billboard concerning the food chain McDonald's and childhood obesity. It is interesting that the two advertisements were placed so closely. This reminds me of the negative reputation America has with obesity and fast-food and of how the world can sometimes view the USA and that the country faces problems amongst it's citizens reminding me the 'Disney happy attitude' I mentioned earlier could also be a mask for these problems. I think it is interesting to compare these images and how they contribute to the image that America has in the media. The second image obviously shows some irony which is why I chose this one specifically when searching for McDonald's.

1 comment:

  1. I really like the juxtaposition of the 2 billboards. It speaks to the conjunction of freedom (in this case freedom of expression) with capitalism, something many commentators think of as a typically American synthesis.

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