Wednesday 24 September 2014

America and Liberty



The image above epitomises patriotism in America, mainly because it is a photo taken on Independence Day, one of the most celebrated and iconic national holidays of America. It affirms the association between America and liberty for a number of reasons, namely because liberty's literal meaning is 'the state of being free within society' and the day celebrates the 'independence' that the country has. Also, children present the future and by having them brought up in an independent and free country they are, by definition, free. The outfits worn depict parts of the American flag, commonly known as 'stars and stripes' and they seem to be walking in a carnival type parade which seems to be quite typical of America. This complete patriotism and love for their country only strengthens the link between America and liberty, as without liberty there would surely not be such enthusiastic displays of patriotism.


This second image depicts a US Army soldier holding his dog tags, one of which shows the unity of America with the phrase 'United States of America One Nation Under God' however the whole image is completely juxtaposed. Despite the clear patriotism, and stereotypical theme of religion, the soldier is still fighting in a war. The US Army is the oldest and largest established branch of the US military which makes them quite a strong foundation, and if the foundations of the country still have to fight for their freedom then it could be considered that they were never free at all. The 'mission' for the army includes 'preserving peace' which does suggest there is indeed peace in America, for them to be able to preserve it, however it seems quite self-destructive to maintain peace and liberty by fighting for it. This could lead us to question how 'free' America is, if the citizens need to continue to fight for their country and its independence, which I feel negates the association between America and liberty to a certain extent.

Both images present different uses of the flag, one shows people celebrating the freedom and independence they believe they already have whereas the other shows it as being used as a motivator to strive towards true fairness, freedom and liberty, suggesting that actually the people don't have the things that were supposedly promised by their country.

No comments:

Post a Comment