The New Yorker
COVER ANALYSIS
• July, 1966 – The cover of the July 2nd, 1966 edition of The New Yorker includes artwork by Michael Getz. Displaying a show of patriotism, Getz uses the entire portion of the cover to present an illustration of an American flag hanging from the front of a typical upper-middle class designed home. However, other than the title of the magazine and the drawing itself, the only other printed words contained on the cover are the date of the issue and the price of the magazine; 35 cents.
• July, 1986 – The July 7th, 1986 edition of The New Yorker presents a cover with a cartoon illustration of a woman holding a very large birthday/celebration cake. Similar to the rhetoric of the 1966 issue, John Biechman uses the colors of red, white, and blue within the woman’s dress to portray the patriotic feeling of our Independence Day, “The Fourth of July”. In addition to the American flag colors within the woman’s dress and garment Biechman includes a figure of the Statue of Liberty on top of the cake to further express a feeling of patriotism.
• July, 1996 – The July 8th, 1996 edition of The New Yorker once again includes the theme of nationalism with Jeremy Falcone’s image of the Statue of Liberty holding a “sparkler” fire work in its hand. Interestingly enough Joseph Pulitzer, founder of The New York World & Pulitzer Prize, was partially responsible for obtaining the statue from the country of France. Pulitzer used his public influence and image to collect nickels & dimes from immigrants, convincing such immigrants the statue would be a symbol of their newly gained freedom. Moreover, even though the price of the magazine has gone from 35 cents in 1966 to $2.95 in 1996, the display and headline of the cover are exactly the same as they were thirty years before (i.e.: Plain and clear title of publication, no preview of articles included, and no running ads on the front page).
ADVERTISING ANALYSIS
*July, 1966
• Alcohol/Gin – A majority, if not over half of all the ads contained within the edition are pertaining to alcohol. In specific, gin appears to be the most popular and targeted liquor of the era, with the theme “Dryer is Better”. Evidence of how predominant such a theme was is Gancia, an imported Italian Ve...
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...milar to that of the New Journalism techniques of the early 1900s. Articles on Medicare and President Policy are not likely to be attractive writings anymore, for The New Yorker seems to have lightened its political agenda with time. Biographies and personal stories have replaced the political articles of the past, as The New Yorker has gone back to its traditional conservative roots as a high-culture/fine arts magazine.
In conclusion, the most predominant theme throughout the publication of The New Yorker has been international travel. Those individuals interested in traveling overseas are usually quite affluent, and are too attracted to the history and art of culture around the world. The overwhelming amount of articles pertaining to foreign culture and arts are complemented by a number of advertisements from airline companies, international hotels, and imported alcohol industries. A great way to analyze a publications ideal audience is to look at the advertisements in-between the fine print. Although changing from time to time, The New Yorker has remained a magazine of high-culture taste, highlighting life’s pleasure of art, travel, and history.
In the documentary film, Page One: Inside The New York Times, the inner world of journalism is revealed through journalists David Carr and Brian Stelter as the newspaper company The New York Times, struggles to keep alive within a new wave of news journalism. The film is dedicated to reveal the true inner mechanics of what modern day new journalists face on a daily basis and leaves the audience almost in a state of shock. It broadcasts news journalism as yes, an old school method of news generation, but it also highlights an important component that reveals the importance behind this “old school” methodology. We often think that progression always correlates with positive products, but the documentary insists that within the case of modern journalism, the new wave method is actually a detriment that can reap negative consequences.
..., 1820-1865. Columbia Studies in American Culture Series (New York: Columbia University Press, 1942): 13-14.
As a result of the war, America felt a new patriotism. As the wealth of the country increased the people were inclined to celebrate their success. They also celebrated having a much easier life than in comparison to the hardship and compromises of the war years. This was evident in the products that were designed to save Americans time and effort. There was advertising particularly aimed at women in the home household products. The consumerist beliefs were perpetuated by the mass media, radio, television, cinema and print media. Household objects and celebrities faces were the way to sell these products. Art became visible to greater sections of the population and to lower classes. Because of its positioning, images were seen in conjunction with advertising and printed on clothing and acce...
Foner, Eric. "Chapter 9." Give Me Liberty!: An American History. Brief Third ed. Vol. One. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. N. pag. Print.
... after nine at night, but in those days [we] ... did not think of our day in terms of hours. We liked our work, we were proud to do it well, and I am afraid that we were very, very happy.” The 1930s were a time of struggle and sadness. However, American citizens continued to work and search for the happiness they once knew. Although the Great Depression stretched through the 1930s, putting a damper on the economy and liveliness of the nation, the decade cannot be solely defined by it. Art and photos illustrate the decade’s sentiments, while acts of society and architecture reveal much more regarding a common citizen's lifestyle. A tragic photo, a vast-spread psychological struggle, and a famous building, are all examples of artifacts taken from the 1930s that have changed, they way we perceive our country, the American way of living, and America’s skyline forever.
An icon is an image that refers to something outside of its individual elements, something or someone that has great symbolic meaning for society. Icons are often perceived to represent universal concepts, emotions, and meanings. Iconic images are recognizable yet, known not for their origin, time of production or for the people who created them, but for their great symbolic and historical meaning. Iconic images have an important role in American history that has shaped our identity through controversy, cultural awareness and historical events. A single image can trigger memories of a moment in history that the universe will cherish for a lifetime like the “Time Square Kiss” photograph. The Times Square Kiss, was taken with little known information to begin, so today it is even more of a mystery. For this reason, there is a significant amount controversy today over what is really going on in the photograph. Much can be said about The Times Square Kiss that captured a moment in time. The photograph shows a couple, an sailor and a nurse passionately kissing in New York's Times Square. The photograph became an iconic image frozen in American history because it represents the end of war and a new beginning. Every shade and line of the photograph will be analyzed, the time period when the photograph was taken and how society views itself through images will be discussed.
Loeffelholz, Mary et al. (2011). The Norton Anthology of American Litterature: New York, W. W. Norton & Company. pp 3-20
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "Why I Wrote 'The Yellow Wallpaper'" Ed. Catherine Lavender; The College of Staten Island of the City University of New York, Fall Semester, Oct. 1997. (25 Jan 1999) http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/whyyw.html
This gallery was not in place at the birth of the political nation. America, as a young republic, found itself immediately in the middle of an identity crisis. Having effected a violent separation from England and its cultural and political icons, America was left without history--or heroes. Michael Kammen, in his Mystic Chords of Memory explains that "repudiation of the past left Americans of the young republic without a firm foundation on which to base a shared sense of their social selves." (65) A new national story was needed, yet the Revolutionary leaders, obvious choices for mythical transformation, were loath to be raised to their pedestals. "Even though every nation needs a mythic explanation of its own creation, that process was paradoxically elaborated by the reluctance of Revolutionary statesmen to have their story told prematurely." (Kammen, 27) To be raised above others would be undemocratic, they believed. The human need to explain origins, to create self-identity through national identity, was thwarted by this reluctance. A vacuum was created, and was slowly filled with the image...
Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper." Images of Woman in American Popular Culture. Ed. Angela G. Dorenkamp, et al. Port Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1995. 78-89.
Bailey, Thomas A., David M Kennedy, and Lizabeth Cohen. The American Pageant: A History of the American People. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, 2010. Print.
The issue of recovering the extremely destroyed and chaotic state of New York became the prime concern. Luckily, with the genius minds of people from all over the globe, different inventions and advancements came to life. After the war, even more immigrants came to the area while the French gift – The Statue of Liberty – became the symbol of freedom and hope for many prospective immigrants. By the late 1700s the population was back up to 20,000. During the 1800s, the population of New York had increased to over 60,000 people and that was only the start. Further along the line, in the late 1800s many more immigrants arrived to New York and they were mostly from southern and eastern Europe and China which made the population consistently increase (Jackson and Dunbar 362). Along with the different immigrants came different religions that in result built more churches and religious buildings that enhanced New York’s cultural diversity. The different immigrant groups attracted by the free New York also increased the amounts of different divergent business and restaurants present in the area that helped boost the
Andrist, Ralph K., and Edmund O. Stillman. The American Heritage History of the 1920s & 1930s. New York: American Heritage/Bonanza, 1987. Print.
Willey, Chris; Saunier, David; and Mendez, Garry. Reinscribing the Statue of Liberty. Horizon Magazine, Jan 1998. http://www.horizonmag.com/pictorial/liberty.htm
Schweikart, Larry, and Michael Allen. A Patriot's History of the United States: from Columbus's Great Discovery to the War on Terror. New York, NY: Sentinel, 2007. Print.