Grabbed this from over at Dkos. It’s a poster placed by MARC, the metro rail between Baltimore and DC.
As is pointed out, the “Watch, Ride, Report” poster, requesting all to keep look-out for suspicious objects, overwhelmingly recalls Socialist Realism or what many retain in their memory as Socialist Realism.
On the web we tend to associate Socialist Realism more with this bold style, so easily parodied…
And this…
Than this.
The similarity between “Watch, Ride, Report” and Socialist Realism have some questioning if this was a parody, despite its real function as a call to every individual to do exactly as the poster says. At least, it seems a take-off of the style of Social Realism that has filtered down to us, which is a bastardization decked up in retro deco. A purist is going to say, “That’s not Social Realism”, but it’s what people experience when they look at the poster that’s key, and a good many are going to look and see what appears to be a version of old USSR propaganda poster art or simply nationalistic poster art (while I suppose also a fair amount of the white population may just see cliff-jawed super white he man demanding they look out for their red white and blue interests). Perhaps it is a casual, “Let’s grab attention.” But I think instead of the web’s wealth of parody of BushCo. and Homeland Security that has been a rewriting of WWII propaganda posters and works in the style of Socialist Realism and wonder if it is an attempt instead to purchase back the styles.
There are several bizarre things going on in the poster.
One is how much the poster recalls white nationalism. A man, a woman, a person of color–it begs to convey equality of sex and race. But diversity has been lost in the melting pot. Profiles and coloring of the three aren’t identical but are much the same.
Pecking order. The teutonic white male is foremost and in white collar, then the white female, while the person of color is to the rear and in blue collar. It even occurred to me that despite the person of color being one who is shown as watching, he could also be one to be watched. As this thought was something that occurred to me about a split second after my first seeing the image, I do wonder if a message of this sort may be intentionally conveyed but is supposed to stay on the subconscious level.
The stance. Look at how the hands are clenched and look at the colors in the pic again. Red, white and blue. Sure, they’re on the Metro and holding onto supports–but that’s gloss. The positioning, the clenching of the hands, it directly recalls the carrying of flags. Which is one reason this poster’s militant nationalistic feel is so strong.
Fact is, the encouragement to “Watch, ride and report” doesn’t have to demand patriotic vigilance and certainly doesn’t have to be nationalistic. A choice has been made to carry it there. And, perhaps, an attempt to co-opt and defuse the anti-nationalistic rewriting of propaganda posters of yesteryear. Retro, political, socialist chic, which is interesting considering America’s eager disdain for social programs. The message is one of an overall philosophy of tight controls and conformity moving from passive compliance to active gatekeeping.
I doubt that the artist was an individual who saw an opportunity to work in their message of “Homeland Security Hell” that bypassed command central.
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