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Graphic Interlude: Creating the Enemy

Theodor Seuss Geisel, Rick Smolan and David Cohen

Abstracts

This graphic interlude features pictures illustrating this issue’s topic: creating the enemy.

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Index terms

Mots-clés :

ennemi, image ennemie, guerre

Keywords:

enemy, enemy image, war
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Author's notes

With Anonymous artist

Full text

Figure 1. George Cruickshank, The Radical’s Arms (1819)

Figure 1. George Cruickshank, The Radical’s Arms (1819)

Source: https://www.brh.org.uk/​site/​articles/​guillotine-knitting-terror

1The Radical’s Arms by English caricaturist George Cruickshank is a good example of British counter-revolutionary propaganda stereotyping the French after 1789, with the guillotine a symbol of terror and anarchy.

Figure 2. Sir John Tenniel, A Lesson (1879)

Figure 2. Sir John Tenniel, A Lesson (1879)

Source: http://projects.vassar.edu/​punch/​hires1.html

2Sir John Tenniel's “A Lesson” (1879), published in Punch, may be subverting the enemy image. While the Zulu warrior appears as primitive and uncivilized as can be expected for the time, that he schools an Englishman, by writing in English no less, suggests “savages” should not be underestimated.

Figure 3. Dr. Seuss, What have you done today to help save your country from them? 1942

Figure 3. Dr. Seuss, What have you done today to help save your country from them? 1942

Source: http://library.ucsd.edu/​dc/​object/​bb12977599

3Children's author Theodor Seuss “Ted” Geisel, better known as Dr Seuss, worked as an editorial cartoonist for the paper PM from 1941 to 1943. His work reflects a fundamental difference in American propaganda during World War II: Hitler and Nazism were the enemy rather than the German people whereas the Japanese as a whole were very much portrayed through racist tropes.

Figure 4. Cover of Time magazine, 26 October 1987, Vol. 130, No. 17.

Figure 4. Cover of Time magazine, 26 October 1987, Vol. 130, No. 17.

Source: http://content.time.com/​time/​magazine/​0,9263,7601871026,00.html

4In October 1987, Time published a series of photographs collected by journalist Rick Smolan and editor David Cohen. Despite Lenin's portrait being somewhat reminiscent of Big Brother’s in 1984, this cover really subverts the enemy image of the Soviets during the Cold War. Instead of soldiers, the Soviets are represented by three little girls in white dresses, a symbol of innocence and purity. The photograph suggests that the enemy isn’t the Soviet people, but the Soviet system; such a distinction heralds the end of the Cold War.

Figure 5. Sinchon Massacre, Sinchon Museum of American War Atrocities, North Korea

Figure 5. Sinchon Massacre, Sinchon Museum of American War Atrocities, North Korea

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/​wiki/​Sinchon_Museum_of_American_War_Atrocities

5The Sinchon Museum of American War Atrocities in North Korea presents numerous exhibits seeking to expose the barbarity of American soldiers during the Korean War. This painting is a particularly good example of the male enemy brutalizing a powerless female.

Figure 6. Real threats

Figure 6. Real threats

6From the far-right website Breitbart, the section “real threats” uses a stereotypical image of the Muslim terrorist. Breitbart regularly mocks Islam as a fake “religion of peace” to convey the idea that all Muslims are dangerous for Western civilization.

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List of illustrations

Title Figure 1. George Cruickshank, The Radical’s Arms (1819)
Credits Source: https://www.brh.org.uk/​site/​articles/​guillotine-knitting-terror
URL http://journals.openedition.org/angles/docannexe/image/422/img-1.jpg
File image/jpeg, 299k
Title Figure 2. Sir John Tenniel, A Lesson (1879)
Credits Source: http://projects.vassar.edu/​punch/​hires1.html
URL http://journals.openedition.org/angles/docannexe/image/422/img-2.jpg
File image/jpeg, 47k
Title Figure 3. Dr. Seuss, What have you done today to help save your country from them? 1942
Credits Source: http://library.ucsd.edu/​dc/​object/​bb12977599
URL http://journals.openedition.org/angles/docannexe/image/422/img-3.jpg
File image/jpeg, 308k
Title Figure 4. Cover of Time magazine, 26 October 1987, Vol. 130, No. 17.
Credits Source: http://content.time.com/​time/​magazine/​0,9263,7601871026,00.html
URL http://journals.openedition.org/angles/docannexe/image/422/img-4.jpg
File image/jpeg, 340k
Title Figure 5. Sinchon Massacre, Sinchon Museum of American War Atrocities, North Korea
Credits Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/​wiki/​Sinchon_Museum_of_American_War_Atrocities
URL http://journals.openedition.org/angles/docannexe/image/422/img-5.jpg
File image/jpeg, 254k
Title Figure 6. Real threats
URL http://journals.openedition.org/angles/docannexe/image/422/img-6.jpg
File image/jpeg, 77k
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References

Electronic reference

Theodor Seuss Geisel, Rick Smolan and David Cohen, Graphic Interlude: Creating the EnemyAngles [Online], 10 | 2020, Online since 01 April 2020, connection on 22 April 2025. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/angles/422; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/angles.422

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Copyright

CC-BY-4.0

The text only may be used under licence CC BY 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.

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