The Soviet propaganda picture shows a young, gentle boy who is seemingly looking towards the future, compared to the aggressiveness of the U.S marines. With the caption of
"From Student's Models to Spaceships!", this poster really captures a young audience. The goal of this poster, was to get kids interested in space and their space program, so that they could spur forward a new generation of astronauts in the highly competitive, international race.
The art style in this is rather simplistic, using bright and warm colors, showing a contrast between the children's present and their possible future. The children are drawn as care free individuals who are playing with their model rockets while space is depicted as futuristic and mystical. The two scenes are separated by a simple rocket blasting off. This simplistic style represents how easy it would be for one to contribute to the Soviet space industry. The artistic style is also drawn to be extremely realistic, showing that it's a real possibility for all who wish to pursue this field of work, male or female.
Along with the drawing style itself, the picture has an optimistic and almost happy tone. The boy in the pictures looks enthralled with the opportunities he's been given. It carries a tremendously positive atmosphere, in which the viewers want to be a part of. It's appealing on all levels, from the colors used to the objects in the picture itself. If I was in Russia at this time, I would certainly want to be apart of this mission.
I thought your analysis of style was interesting. I liked the separation of the light and the dark and how the kids seems to be straddling these two worlds. It is definitely an inviting image. I just had a thought, maybe the red spaceship shooting up in the top right corner is supposed to symbolize the success of communism. What do you think?
ReplyDelete-Lindsey Wright
I love your comparison between the two halves of the poster and the relationship between them. One thing of note: why is the futuristic image on the top and the left, where people naturally tend to look first? One reason could be to have outer space be at the top to symbolize both the lofty goal of being a cosmonaut and its actual physical position relative to us.
ReplyDeleteAnother reason could have to do with the narrative the poster is trying to tell. Linearly, the child playing with a model rocket should go first, since that is what leads to the futuristic scenario on the other side. But what story does the poster actually tell? By showing the ending and then the beginning, perhaps the story is that space colonization may seem like a crazy and outlandish goal, but actually, it all started with a kid and his friends playing with model rockets.
-Jesse