Positive and negative images

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This image of the Apollo 11 moon landing in July 1969 shows astronaut Buzz Aldrin saluting the American flag on the surface of the moon.

It celebrates the fact that the United States of America has succeeded in becoming the first to land a man on the moon, ahead of its rival Russia. It promotes the scientific and technological excellence required to achieve this goal with the USA leading the world in space exploration.

Placing the flag on the moon's surface suggests the conquering of another frontier, much as the settlers over more than three centuries had braved the rigours of living as pioneers in the new world. The concept that difficulties and dangers were challenged and overcome.

The flag adds kudos in advertising America to the world as a great nation through this positive photographic image.

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This next image is a troubling one, taken during the Detroit race riot in 1943, which certainly does not further the rosier picture of the American dream. Several white men are dragging a black man from what appears to be a vehicle.

These riots occurred twenty years before the well publicised riots and unrest of the 1960s.

It illustrates that there were many tensions and hostilities between races and cultures that ran contrary to the aspirations and declarations of freedom and equality. Observations would encourage us to see that those freedoms had provisos depending on the peoples' willingness to embrace all of its aims and depended on their prejudices and how it affected them personally.

Jill Glazier

Positive and negative images of America

The picture I have chosen to show positive America is one of New York City. This picture shows how populated and developed New York City really is as it is full of different shaped buildings all clustered together. It signifies positive America, as it shows how developed areas of the country actually are which in turn shows how many opportunities and businesses there are available in the country. It also helps reinforce the idea of “the American Dream” because if someone worked or lived in one of the tallest buildings in New York City, one of the most famous cities in the world, they could be seen as “succeeding” in America, and therefore “living the dream”. However this picture could also be seen as negative, with all the buildings symbolising overpopulation in certain areas, and that cities like New York continue to grow and expand year after year, whereas poorer areas which need the growth are not given the support and resources like the bigger cities. Despite this, I think that this picture is more positive than negative as it symbolises that through constant growth and expansion, America has become a world superpower.

The picture I have chosen to signify negative America is of a McDonalds in another country, Japan. This picture shows that America has influenced the whole world, as McDonalds is an American restaurant selling American food yet it has stores in over a hundred countries. Although this worldwide influence could be seen as a positive, the fact that this picture shows a restaurant which many have blamed for contributing to America’s obesity problem, operating in other countries, means that the same problems could happen in other areas of the world. The worldwide influence that some American businesses have, like McDonalds, also mean that cultures in other countries are at risk from constant exposure from American ideas, and could in the long run, be turned into a “second America”

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