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Hillary, Mao and Hypnotoad
There's a new poster in the Hillary store, linked from the front page of hillaryclinton.com:
http://www.hillarystore.com/store/HC0925.html
Larger, if you can handle it:http://store.hillarystore.com/i/li/HRC-2.jpg
Don't stare at it too long, I think there's a hypnotoad effect.
More seriously, have they never seen posters of Chairman Mao before? A common motif had rays of sun behind him:
http://www.chinabooks.com/cart/files/t_19424.jpg
http://www.iisg.nl/~landsberger/images/mzd04.jpg
It's common enough to show up in things like this:http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,1101050627,00.html
or this:http://www.livingstonbuzz.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/screen-bill.mao-newsweek.jpg
WTF?
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Comments (17)
Is it possible to embed pictures here? Seeing them all side-by-side makes the comparison pretty striking.
May 16, 2008 11:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Meant to try embedding an image in that. Here goes:
May 16, 2008 11:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
I guess the answer is no. The img tag is removed completely.
May 16, 2008 11:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, this is what it reminded me of. ;)
May 16, 2008 11:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Ben,
Did you find the picture from your link at Obama's site?
The picture of Hillary comes from her campaign.
Could it be that you are missing the point of this blog and therefore comparing apples to oranges...?
May 17, 2008 10:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
No, but it is one that I've seen around a lot, and I haven't heard a single Obama supporter complain about it. I don't see the problem with it, and I don't see the problem with Hillary's, either.
Is it the first time you've seen that poster? If not, did it bother you when you did first see it?
May 17, 2008 10:34 AM | Reply | Permalink
Well his is so stark black-and-white, hers is more 60's Fillmore West with Janis Joblin and Jefferson Airplane. "I'm going to try...just a little bit harder."
May 17, 2008 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
China was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the poster last week or the week before. I thought it was just a one-off by some random person. I had no idea it was an official campaign poster.
More tone-deafness is just what the Clinton's campaign needs right now.
May 16, 2008 11:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
The other thing I noted was how Clinton was facing. After the Cultural Revolution, IIRC, Mao was shown by his left profile.
May 17, 2008 1:07 AM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah i saw this last week too and decide to just keep moving along because really...where do you start?
Supposedly they wanted to create a counter, although late, to the Obama poster "HOPE" that uses populism mofits (block lettering, pop abstraction, and the 3/4 pose).
But it looks like instead of consulting with an art historian they just said "ooo, those colors are pretty and lets use some sunshiny "
May 17, 2008 12:32 AM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, I was reminded of all those old black-and-white fascist propaganda banners. You know, the giant ones that hang down that you see in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?
May 17, 2008 12:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
I dunno. I vote put her on the nickel.
http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/45305/2/istockphoto_45305_nickel_no_shadow.jpg
May 17, 2008 1:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
Am I the only one who thinks that people in glass houses shouldn't be throwing stones?
May 17, 2008 8:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
Now let's see: something on the official site, or some jackass on flickr. Official site, flickr. official site, FLICKR.
May 17, 2008 9:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
My point is, would we be disparaging these posters if they had come from the official site?
I don't think so. Let's move on. McCain is the target now, not Hillary.
May 17, 2008 10:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
Let's move on as soon as Hillary moves on.
May 17, 2008 10:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
And maybe we'd be disparaging him if he went on an antisemitic rant. Luckily, neither are the case.
May 17, 2008 1:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
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