Oral bac DNL (histoire anglais) : Destroy this mad brute

Started in 1914 and ending four years later, World War 1 is an event that deeply changed society. The document studied is a propaganda poster from 1917,which is the year the United States began to intervene in this war. It is 106 by 71 centimeters and was designed by Harry Hopps, an American businessman and artist. This poster is about World War 1 and it is meant for Americans in order to convince them to go to the front. The question we may ask ourselves about this document is what are the means that the artist uses to convince his audience ? In order to answer this question I will initially show you how he demonizes Germany and then how he tries to instill fear in the viewers.

So, first, I am going to study the representation of the German government and the war in general in this poster.

On the picture, Germany is depicted by the gorilla in the middle of the foreground. We can see that because the monkey is wearing a German war helmet, which is very recognizable thanks to the spike on top of it. There is “militarism” written on the helmet. Another hint to the fact that the gorilla represents Germany is its mustache. This mustache strongly resembles the one of Wilhelm II, the German emperor during World War 1. The monkey is also holding a club with the German word “kultur” written on it. The fact that the German government is represented by an animal says a lot about how the artist views and wants people to view Germany. To him, it seems that the country and its people are ignorant savages. Furthermore, that monkey looks really aggressive and his mouth is open as if he was screaming. This idea of ignorance is reinforced by the bat held by the gorilla, the world “kultur” meaning culture in English could mean that war and violence destroy culture. We can also see that the bat and the gorilla’s hands are covered in blood, giving a violent and monstrous appearance to the animal and thus to Germany as well. The monkey is holding his bat in his left hand and with his other hand he is holding a blonde women. That women is wearing a kind of dress that is blue and that only covers the bottom half of her body and we cannot see her face because she is covering it with her hand. She looks desperate and in great need of help. To me, this woman could represent two things. Firstly she could be the allegory of freedom, since this freedom could be taken away by Germany like she is by the gorilla, and moreover she is wearing blue which can be a symbol for freedom and escape. But she could also represent Europe being conquered by Germany. In the background of the poster we can see the outline of a city that seems to be destroyed. This city probably represents Europe. The monkey is walking away from it as if he just destroyed it and was looking for other places to attack.

Overall, in this drawing, Germany is represented as a cruel, violent animal that attacks a frail and weak women and destroys everything in his path, including the city behind him.

Now, I would like to focus on how the artist pushes people to enroll by making them fear the war. The way he does it is that he makes people afraid of what could happen to them and their country if Germany was not stopped. Indeed, in the drawing, the German gorilla is standing on water. There are two bodies of water, separated by some kind of border. Those bodies of water are different, the one more in the background,

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