Visual ArgumentsNorman Rockwell’s “Freedom from Fear” appeared March 13, 1943 in The Saturday Evening Post.
What “argument” does the painting make?
What warrants are evident? (Again, a warrant is a belief or assumption that serves to validate the relationship between claim and evidence.)
Is the argument effective? If so, why so? If not, why not?
The second image is the album cover for Nirvanna’s 1991 album, Nevermind.
What “argument” does the imagemake?
What warrants are evident? (Again, a warrant is a belief or assumption that serves to validate the relationship between claim and evidence.)
Is the argument effective? If so, why so? If not why not?
"Freedom From Fear"
ReplyDelete--The "argument" that the painting raises is that comfort and safety is freedom, and that is what will save us. As long as we are snugly tucked into bed, the Nazis are nothing to worry about.
--The sleeping children are a strong warrant; the fact that they are sleeping indicates tranquility, with no air-raid sirens or bombs flying overhead as was prevalent in Britain. The father is interesting. He's happy that his kids are safe, but he's also been reading the newspaper, which can't have good news in it.
--The argument is effective because we won the war. Essentially, the argument is that our great-grandfathers and mothers, the "Greatest Generation", were capable of protecting the nation. In hindsight, the piece seems prescient, but in 1943, it was merely propaganda.
"Nevermind"
--The album cover makes the argument that our society is possessed with money, but also about our individual powerlessness.
--The warrant is the baby reflexively lunging after the dollar bill, even as it gets pulled further and further away by the fishing line. The baby is also being lured by the dollar bill as a fish would be by bait, so the cover also suggests the there is some outside power (government/corporations, maybe?) leading our society where they want to go, through the lure of money.
--The argument is very effective because it effectively utilizes the pathos that the image of the helpless baby naturally stirs in people and uses it to make a scintillating point about our society.