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Bringing The War Home Comparative Essay

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Bringing the War Home Comparative Essay Martha Rosler created a series of paintings during the time of the Vietnam War. She called the series, House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home. The series ran from 1967-72. About forty years later, during the US occupation in Iraq she reopened the series as a kind of update on what she was trying to get across. These works, created a couple of decades apart are very similar, they both portray the controversy of the media during wartime, as well as many connections between the media and politics, sexism and violence (Berkeley 1). They also portray the controversy over the role of the woman in the household. However, her second series also plays on how the media has evolved over the years and how her …show more content…

The American people should not be so desensitized towards the war. Everything in the image is portrayed in black and white besides for the drapes. She’s implying that the only thing separating the American people from the atrocities of the war is a simple piece of fabric; it isn’t as far away as some may think. She’s also implying the fact that some Americans are very materialistic, and they rely heavily on their luxury and pleasure. The woman in this image seems to be concentrating on cleaning the drapes and on nothing else. Also, her left hand doesn’t seem to be accurate, she should be holding on to a piece of fabric, but her arm isn’t over any fold in the fabric. Her hand almost looks like the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner. Rosler strategically placed the figure this way, bringing up the notion of the woman in the household, and her frustrations towards the objectification of women. She’s bringing up the controversy over the role of the housewife in the household. She also brings up an interesting juxtaposition between the work that the soldiers are doing in Vietnam and the work that the woman in this image is doing in the home. Rosler works in photomontage, which is a very affective, politically. She was disappointed with the media and the portrayal of wartime

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