Get back to the Kitchen Rosie!
The documentary entitled the "Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter" was a feature length documentary made by Connie Fields, about the women who entered the work force at the urging of the United States Government during World War II. What most people tend to talk about when addressing the cultural significance of Rosie the Riveter as a icon in Popular Culture is how this figure was used as a representation of a quote on quote every woman of the day who went out and did what was required to bring her man home. What most people don't talk about is how the character was downplayed after the war to demobilize the women back into the kitchens and out of the factories and shipyards. What an example of the use of propaganda. how can you convince a massive group of people to come out of the household and into the workforce and then a few short years later tell them the exact opposite and be able to justify it with a straight face. The image of Rosie the Riveter was a more masculine one during the war. All images of her had the woman making a muscle and with the slogan "WE CAN DO IT" above her. After the war this picture was downplayed in favor of images that showed women getting back into0 the domestic sphere.
posted by jboone1264 at 12:53 PM
1 Comments:
A good post.
Not of all of the images featured muscular women. In fact those were exceptional. They seem common because the few images that featured muscular women were chosen by feminists to represent the modern ideal of working women. The vast majority of images of "Rosie" featured strong but feminine women. It was important to emphasize that feminine beauty to reassure America that women would not become masculine if they took on male-defined jobs for war work. War work was sold with feminine beauty, strong but glamorous, big biceps were not a common image.
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