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comment by Owl
Owl  ·  4018 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Does this picture make you uncomfortable? Why or why not?

Initial reactions: I wonder if there are thirteen bodies there, and what's the yellow mean? There are more than 13.

More in depth whatever: It seems to me at first glance to be a kind of messed up version of "Standing on the shoulders of giants", except you have a child standing on the bodies of people, perhaps to me making the statement that America and the people, and its future prosperity rely the people they trample upon. It could also be a kind of comment on imperialism perhaps? Where the yellow is a new country about to be a star, part of the US, but at the cost of the red and white stripes, which could symbolize what this country originally stood for? Pessimism, if you didn't get that from the imagery, seems to me to be the thing the creator wants to convey to the viewers.

Perhaps the fact that the stripes are jumbled up might also signify a kind of disorder the author feels the country is in, while the stars at the top are the ideal that we strive for, making another comment on a loss of the original purpose in favor of the ideal?

As for how I feel? It's a nice painting. I can't say I feel uncomfortable staring at it, even after thinking about the meanings behind it. I mean, I have my reservations about America, and perhaps my interpretation is colored by my own views, but I try not to think too much about politics anymore nowadays. It's a lot like God. A lot of talk and ultimately going nowhere. In the end you just live like a dog or cat. They don't know the concept of God or politics and just live life avoiding it as best as they can. That's not to say you ignore movements that aim to change it, of course. But I suppose if you can avoid that kind of life, the better it is for you. If you can't, then wading in the muddy trenches of politics is a necessity. I wade in it from time to time, I guess.





istara  ·  4015 days ago  ·  link  ·  

> perhaps to me making the statement that America and the people, and its future prosperity rely the people they trample upon. It could also be a kind of comment on imperialism perhaps?

That's how I interpreted it.

Either that, or how the pathway to stars ("freedom" or whatever) is paved with war dead.