History 371 Hon
Devine
Fall 2010
PRIMARY SOURCE ASSIGNMENT – WORLD WAR
II IN THE POPULAR PRESS
Overview
Paging through old
magazines, one can intuitively tell, simply by looking at the ads and the stories,
that they were published during the war years – the patriotic themes, the
association of every product imaginable with the “War Effort,” the prevalence
of military-related imagery, the emphasis on sacrifice (but not too much
sacrifice!), and the frequently (perhaps ritualistically) expressed hope that
things will be “better than ever” once the war is won.
Your
challenge in this assignment is to analyze print advertisements, photographs,
and news or fiction stories from the war years (1941-1945) in order to evaluate
the validity of Paul Fussell’s argument that portrayal of the war on the home
front was anything but realistic or accurate.
In
so doing, draw on Fussell’s Wartime
and on our class discussion to look at these primary sources through a new set
of historically informed eyes.
Choose an Option
Option
#1:
In his book, Wartime, Paul Fussell contends that it
was not just the danger, fear, boredom, uncertainty, loneliness, and
deprivation that drove soldiers to despair.
According to Fussell, “It was rather the conviction that optimistic
publicity and euphemism had rendered the [combat] experience so falsely that it
would never be readily communicable.” By
drawing on two war-related articles,
one each from two different popular
magazines of the era, evaluate Fussell’s assessment of wartime coverage on the
home front. How accurately did American
popular magazines depict the war? Was
the depiction as sanitized as Fussell argues or is he too critical of the
popular press for obscuring the “real” war?
Things you might look
for include: Given what Fussell has to
say about the soldier’s wartime experience, does the magazine’s coverage seem
unrealistic or sanitized? Is it too upbeat? Is it overly simplistic? Does it neglect to mention certain issues and
thus by its silence distort the reality of the war? Is it critical of
OR
Option
#2:
During World War II, what
messages did magazine advertisements try to sell their American readers? Look closely at the ads in at least three
issues of popular magazines from the war years; select at least four
individual ads you wish to analyze and construct your thesis from what you
observe.
Things you might
consider: What images, symbols, or
sentiments seem to recur frequently? Why
is this the case? How effectively have
companies tied their “pitches” to the war effort? What emotional response are they trying to
solicit? What values do they
reflect? What do the ads suggest the
nation is fighting for? How are
Americans delineated from their enemies?
How is combat portrayed? Draw on specific examples and be descriptive of
their contents to back up the points you are making.
Getting Started
The best way to
choose ads or magazine stories is to go to the fourth floor of Oviatt Library
where the bound magazines are shelved. There you will find full runs of
numerous magazines from the wartime years – Time,
Newsweek, Life, Saturday Evening Post,
As you browse through
the magazines, remember the themes Fussell addresses and that we discussed in
class regarding coverage of the war on the home front. How do the ads or
stories that you’ve chosen to analyze comport with Fussell’s view that coverage
of the war was “sanitized” or presented in overly euphemistic language?
Presenting your Findings
So we will know what
you’re talking about, you should attach copies of your four ads or two articles
to your paper. Your paper should not
simply describe or summarize the ads or articles,
however. We are less interested in your description of what’s in the ad or story
(we can see or read that for ourselves).
We’re more interested in your analysis
of these ads, images, and stories – to what extent do they either support or
undermine what Fussell has to say in Wartime? In other words, don’t tell us what we already
see; give us a plausible “so what” –
why is this particular source a useful piece of evidence for someone trying to
learn more about how the media covered the war or how Madison Avenue exploited
it to sell products? What specific aspects of a story or photograph are
revealing about how the war was presented on the home front?
Citing
You should cite your
magazine sources within the text of your paper. Include the magazine title and
the date of the issue. For example: (Time, 6/6/1944). Include
a works cited page at the end, listing the issues of all the magazines that
you used in your paper (magazine name and date of issue). If you quote from Fussell or other course
readings, cite, as usual in the text: (Fussell, 47).
The Bottom Line – What you should Turn
In on November 6th
Your essay should be
900 words (approximately 3 pages double spaced).
As usual, number your
pages, give your essay an appropriate title, and use 1-inch margins all
around. Be sure you email it to Shirley
and me (cc’ing yourself) before 11:59 pm on Saturday, November 6th. You should also send us copies of the
sources you used. If you can’t email us digital photos of your sources or scan
photocopies of them and attach them to your paper, provide hard copies to us in
class on Wednesday, November 3rd or
turn them into the History department office by 5pm on November 5th.
On the copy of each
ad, be sure to write your name as well as the name and date of the
magazine it came from.