Week 8 Blog

American Studies Week 8 Blog

Select and analyse any 19thC painting or photograph of either the American West or the native American peoples, and explore the implications of “manifest destiny” in the image, both overt and hidden. Make sure not to choose something  from the East coast or something obscure, eg it should be something that is culturally recognised as associated with the West and expansion.

First Image - http://antiquesandthearts.smugmug.com/Covers/American-Buffalo/i-Z9Cf69S/A

This painting by George Catlin depicts a scene in the American West. Three Native Americans are in the process of hunting some bison. It is set in an upland wilderness with grass, scattered trees and majestic, bare mountain peaks, and is painted with vibrant colour, especially green, illustrating the lushness of the environment at the time. The mountain range in the background is symbolic of challenge posed by the country that needs to be conquered, a destiny with which Americans have come to associate themselves today. It could be said that the scene is a kind of paradise, as Catlin describes this particular setting that he painted as “like a fairy land”. If so, it was the destiny of American settlers to occupy and cultivate this Eden.

The reason for this is that within this huge natural setting Catlin has only depicted three isolated living figures of Native Americans, who are hunting half a dozen or so bison. The landscape is extremely empty, uncultivated, unused. The Native Americans seem to have done nothing to improve it. Manifest destiny was seen as calling to American settlers to move west and put the land to much better use. There could be farms and crops grown here, and the area could be filled with people instead of being some kind of ‘wasteland’. To American eyes, it is completely uncivilized. From this picture, it seems that the price to be paid for this would be small. There is no sign of other animals such as elk and wolves, and so it ignores two species that would come to suffer greatly as a result of the desire of the Americans to realize their manifest destiny. As is well known, the bison were also hunted to the brink of extinction during this era and as a result the Native Americans who had depended on the animals as their livelihood greatly suffered. It also goes without saying that the Native Americans also suffered from genocide and were forced to relocate from such settings as depicted in the paintings as the white people migrated westward. But there are so few of them here that it seems ridiculous that they should be allowed to stand in the way of progress. So in many ways, the painting is representative of the ideas about Native Americans and the wilderness that allowed them to be destroyed as a result of manifest destiny.

It is true that the painting did not attempt to depict the Native Americans as something evil or bad. If one was to look at other paintings, such the American Progress by John Cast, they are clearly depicted in this manner with the use of dark clouds painted above their heads. However in Catlin’s painting, there is nothing of the sort. They hardly seem to exist as a problem.

Second Image - 

http://hoocher.com/Charles_Marion_Russell/Charles_Marion_Russell.htm

            A second painting, by Charles Marion Russell, depicts an encounter between gold diggers and Native Americans at the very end of the 19^th century. Entitled A Desperate Stand it shows several men making a last stand by forming a circle and using their horses to protect themselves. Native Americans are circling on their horses.

In the painting Russell clearly attempts to portray those making this stand as heroes who were being attacked by barbaric Natives. It is most likely that the audience of the time would have viewed this painting as another example of the Natives being an obstacle to the progress of American society and as people who were occupying land and resources that were rightly theirs. The gold diggers were simply trying to better themselves and take advantages of natural resources that they Native Americans had neglected and to which they therefore had no right. They clearly need to be excluded from the landscape because they have no ideas of civilized behaviour in attacking such a numerically inferior enemy.

In reality, of course, such confrontations as depicted in the painting were caused as a result of the repeated violations of the treaties by gold diggers who would venture into Native American territory in search of gold. The painting also serves as a premonition of how the manifest destiny/expansion to the west would eventually result in the Native Americans being driven out of their land and forced into territories and reservations against their will. No such concerns were allowed any value in paintings like this. The artist’s sympathies were all on one side.

19th Century photography

A 19th Century photograph of the American Landscape

 Landscape: Browns Park, Colorado

Timothy H. O'Sullivan (1840-82) was a photographer widely known for his work related to the American Civil War and the Western United States.

"Not only was O'Sullivan one of the most intrepid and successful of the U.S. government expedition photographers who roamed the West under appalling conditions in the late 1860s and 1870s," from the Tucson Weekly wrote in 2003 by Margaret Regan, "he was one of the best of the Civil War photographers. His photos of the war's anonymous dead, lying bloated in the bloody fields of Gettysburg and elsewhere, are emblazoned into the consciousness of Americans."

O'Sullivan toook photographs of the American West between 1867 and 1874,During two expeditions administered by the U.S. War Department (one led by Clarence King along the 40th parallel and the other by Lt. George M).

What marks us in these images is the curiosity shown by the photographer, the perfection of the composition and the beauty of the wild landscapes of the American West, which are already being radically transformed deeper. 

We see one character surrounded by the enormous landscape. Which could represent the fact that us, human are really small in the world? The character also represents a man which takes the land as his possession. Thinking this land belong to them.. Which emphases the 'manifesty destiny'

I believe that this photography was taken to show the 'incredible landscape' and natural beauty of west and encourage people to travel west, to discover new area and encourage western expansion.

 

American Studies Week 7 Blog

American Studies Week 7 Blog

Find and embed any video advertisement for a candidate in an American election – local or state. The advertisement does not have to be current. Analyse the message given in the advertisement and relate it to the ideals and recurrent themes of political life in the American republic

Chosen Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEyZZz5LXw4

            The video advertisement selected, was made for Democratic candidate Nate Shinagawa, who was running for Congress in 2012. The candidate’s target audience is the country’s mainstream citizens and the message is very clear: he will help to rebuild the middle class and thus improve the economy. The video very cleverly portrays the plight of people since the recent financial crisis, using black and white shots and focusing on their lives and somewhat poignant expressions. It concludes with a colour shot of the candidate who endorses the message and states that “I choose the middle class” representing himself as someone who can deliver on their hope to escape their current situation.

But for this to happen the candidate has to be elected, so the video also appeals to audience by emphasizing the importance of their choice. For example the first 10-15 seconds of the video focuses purely on the importance of the choices of their votes by claiming that the “future of our country depends on a series of choices” and that “the next representative will help choose if we are going to rebuild a middle class”. It then asks those watching if they are going to choose to allow “Tom Reed cut taxes for the wealthiest” and “reward companies that ship American jobs overseas”, re-emphasizing the importance of their choice and in the process also attacking his opponent, the Republican candidate Tom Reed.

In general the video highlights the importance of the people/community, a view representative of the Democrats. However we can also see that by focusing on the topic of “choices” the video is also indirectly referring to, and emphasizing the nature and importance of individual rights. This is interesting because the Republicans value such rights as much as the Democrats, though they interpret them differently. The right of the people to choose its representatives was a key feature of the struggle for American Independence and has been a recurrent theme in U.S. history, as in Lincoln’s definition of democracy in his Gettysburg Address as ‘Government of the people, by the people, for the people’.

The problem of taxes is also mentioned in the video, and this is another recurrent theme in American politics from the time of the American Revolution. By exploring this topic, the video links the candidate to his country’s past. The statement “Tom Reed cut taxes for the wealthiest” clearly implies that the rich will have it easy whilst the working/middle class people will be forced to take upon another unfair burden, that is eerily similar to situation of those poor Americans before 1776 who were forced to pay exorbitant taxes to the crown in comparison to those who lived in Britain. So the video actually manages to portray his Republican opponent in the same light as the Revolutionists viewed King George III and England. Finally, by focusing on the American flag, the video appeals to the country’s patriotism, seen most strongly in time of war, against enemies like the British or Japanese. It accuses Tom Reed of rewarding companies that ship American jobs overseas, which is a kind of treason, helping America’s economic enemies, just like Benedict Arnold helped the British during the War of Independence.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/157244/Democratic-Party

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/498842/Republican-Party

http://www.diffen.com/difference/Democrat_vs_Republican

Bill de Blasio

 Bill De Blasio.

                                           A picture of the Bill De Blasio's family.

This is the campaign video for Bill de Blasio. De Blasio, a former alderman and current Brooklyn mediator of the city, who chose to conduct his campaign by proposing a radical change from the policy of Mr. Bloomberg, accused'' have contributed to widening inequalities within the population of New York.Councilor representing the 39th district of New York from 2002 to 2009, he has held since January 1, 2010 as a mediator of the City of New York (New York City Public Advocate).
 

I have chosen this video campaign, firstly because it’s actual; it’s on news, the election was only two days ago.

I think this video is really interested to discuss because his son is the one in the campaign.

In the advertisement Dante talks about Bill de Blasio being the only democrat who only raise taxtes on the rich ‘Tax Weathly’.

He mentioned that de Blasio defines early childhood, and after school programms. It prove that education is needed.

It’s important to comment on ‘he’s the only one that will end a stop and frisk error that unfairly targets people of colour’ – A lot of young coloured people in America are victim of it.

The main message given I think about is how family is important, the support of his 16-years-old son. The fact that a teenager is giving his view on the election is really essential. It proves that he can stand for himself, tell and think what he wants even though he is related to De Blasio

Obama Campaign

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uONGtgxHjYk

I choose the advertisement that Barack Obama did for the election of 2012.  America has been known for many things over the years. The important things that they are known for are there soldiers, their tax that they have to pay and the fact that they are hard working. But the problem Americans had before Obama was voted as the president for the first time was the fact that the scale in jobs had dropped a large amount so a lot of americans were out of jobs leaving some of americans not to be able to live up to that hard working name that they had.  The thre important things were also mentioned in obama’s commercial ad for his campaign when he was running to be president in 2012.

America has also be known for hard workers and when America had lost it jobs Obama was able to help the citizens of America by risen the jobs by 5.2 million. When Obama stayed to his word to increase the level of jobs this meant that Americans would have in faith in him for the second round when he was campaigning. There is more of a chance to vote for the same person if they have kept to their word the first time around.  If we were to compare the two campaigns for that year between Romney and Obama, you can see that Obama defiantly fits the Fedalists category since he wants best for the people by wanting to bring soldiers home and ending war which could only mean one thing that Romney could possible be an anti Fedalists since in the first minute of his campaign he is pointing out the flaws of Obamas plan to be president.  Romneys campaign video could’ve potentially ruined Obamas chance to become president. But this didn’t because of all the things that Obama had promised reached out to the citizens like ending the war and making the wealthy pay more tax which would mean that Obamas plan could also help the poor of America, the people who are too sick to work.  But with Obama winning the election for the second time it ends the era for the racial politics. Allowing America to have their first black president shows how far America has come considering they had black African slaves shipped over to America. Also the fact that America went through a racist era which meant black people weren’t entitled to do a lot of things especially not run for president.  America is still racist and sexist and some parts of it still do not allow gay marriage but when Obama became president the first time around he was out to change that and began to help get it legal in a few states more than it already was.  

You should have posted by now...

Texan Election Adverts, Hard work and family all around?

Traditionally America was seen as a place where people went to work hard and raise a perfect family, as the centuries have passed these core ideas still live within the very foundations of everything American especially politics. These core values are seen through the constitution and onwards,  a man may own his own land and work for himself. A state which holds dearly onto the core values of  eighteenth century America is Texas, a state which is famous for confederacy and strict ideals about nuclear families, homosexuality, immigration and hard work so it came to no surprise to me that there is a bank of videos on YouTube of election videos that hold very similar views on how the state should be run. A few key concepts that interested me was their desire to show cowboys within their campaigns, constant mentions of 'wilderness' and 'land' and a strong theme of working. American politics was founded on protecting those that would work and protect the land and not take too much from it. The campaigns of Texas have a recurring message which lies in the very core values of the Constitution of the United States, it has always been a state which has been famous for being 'backward' in their views and has gripped on to the America that used to be and in the two videos I have seen these views seem to hold strong. Work hard for the government and the government will work hard for you.
Another common yet surprising theme throughout these political campaigns is a strong sense of family and pride for heritage, America is a proud country founded on strong bonds of ownerships and allowing their children to have a better life than themselves and politically both the state of Texas and the US in general provide a strong sense of family beliefs. For example making thanksgiving a Public holiday, an event which is politically very definitive in American history is displayed and acted out through one of the few days a year a family will spend time close together to celebrate American ideals of pride and family. This idea of family is clearly seen through Texan campaigns very clearly showing that hard work paves the way for the future of their families and country. This source is a video from 1985, it shows a man with his grandchildren asking the voters if in twenty years the wilderness and land will still be their for his children/grandchildren to appreciate. This holds the strong view of family and togetherness running through the American government. Twenty five years on and the same core values of family and land and work are expressed as an importance. This is a 2010 video looking into the past to show the absolute importance of working hard, is this video answering the original video's question with a positive that Texas still values the original ideas of the founders of the US, the Constitution of the US and still thrives on the core beliefs holiday America together. Hard work and family.