Four Freedoms Essay

The poster that I chose to do my analysis on is by Adam Lewin. His art is modern and is representative of current events. He is an illustrator and an art director. He has studied at the Pratt Institute, the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam, and New York University (http://www. thoughtsondemocracy. blogspot. com/ 2009). The poster is representational of what is currently happening in American culture today. Lewin’s poster persuades me not to want to live in the United States anymore. His poster depicts our freedoms being taken away from us. The â€Å"Freedom of Speech† picture persuades me not to want to protest. It conveys to me that if we go out into the streets and exercise our freedom of speech we will be gagged and hauled off to jail. The Police in the poster look menacing and colossal, and the protester looks small and meager. The â€Å"Freedom of Worship† poster persuades me not to tell anyone what religion I am for fear that I may get killed, for not being the right religion. The man looks as though he is lying on a gurney and has been shot dead because he was worshiping to the wrong religion. Lewin’s â€Å"Freedom From Want† reminds me that we should not feed our children McDonald’s. Children know what the golden arches mean before they can even read. The fast food industry has made Americans huge. The little boy in the picture has a super-size coke in front of him, and he looks like he is pointing to get some more food, which he clearly does not need. This persuades me that there is no freedom from want because Americans are gluttons. They want as much as they can possibly acquire to fill them up emotionally. Lastly, â€Å"Freedom From Fear† persuades me not to want to break any laws (running a red light, talking on cell phone while driving) big brother is always watching us especially at every stop light. On the positive side it might make some people feel safe and might deter a criminal from committing a crime. Lewin’s and Rockwell’s posters look completely opposite from each other. Rockwell’s poster is indicative of what the people looked like in the 1940’s (wholesome). It seemed to be a more innocent time, but it wasn’t. Rockwell was painting an ideal instead of reflecting a reality. Whereas, Lewin is doing the opposite, he is reflecting the reality of the current American way of life. However, there are many similarities between the two pictures. In Rockwell’s â€Å"Freedom of Speech† painting it looks as though the people in the painting are giving the man respect and listening to what he has to say. However, I read that these men did not agree with what this man was saying. Therefore, it relates to Lewin’s poster because both these men are being degraded for speaking their minds. Also both men look like they are from the working class. The religion that I saw represented in Rockwell’s â€Å"Freedom of Worship â€Å"is Christianity. Thus the painting failed to represent multiple religions. This relates to Lewin’s poster because in my opinion Lewin’s poster is suggesting that the man in the picture is dead. This suggests that the predominate religion of the 1940’s (Christianity) is dying. practicing one Also people should have the right to practice any religion they want as FDR suggested in his speech. Lewin’s and Rockwell’s â€Å"Freedom FromWant† relate because neither of these scenes are lavish and the food seems to be the focal point. Also, the elderly woman seems to be the one serving everyone and the boy in the picture is pointing as though he is waiting for someone to serve him or give him more food. Although these two pictures look completely different they relate to each other in the same way. They both depict safety and security. When I was a little girl my mother use to tuck me into bed every night and this made me feel safe as the mother and father in the Rockwell painting are doing to their children. The man is holding a paper which tells of the horrors going on overseas. They are protecting their children from the evils of the world and easing their young minds. I think that Lewin’s depiction of the cameras eases the American people’s minds or maybe the powers that be. Surveillance cameras may help catch criminals or even terrorists. The poster, which depicts four separate themes, will be shown to reflect contemporary understandings of democracy and the democratic system in operation. The theme in the upper left hand corner under â€Å"Freedom of Speech† depicts a young man being dragged by two police officers. Although our Constitution guarantee’s freedom of speech, nevertheless the arrest of this young man portrays what occurred recently when the Wall Street protesters gathered peacefully in front of the New York stock exchange, yet they were arrested and thrown in jail for disturbing the peace. However, what they were actually doing was exercising their first amendment rights of free speech. The second image on the top right hand corner under â€Å"Freedom of Worship† depicts a dead person. Unfortunately this depiction is very true in today’s society. We are constantly informed of suicide bombers in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq who , in the name of religion, strap bomb belts on themselves and blow themselves up in mosques and other places where their co-religionists ( of different sects) are worshiping. It also suggests to me that the practice of one religion in the United States no longer exists. Since there are people from all over the world living in the United States we have an array of different religions. The third image on the bottom left hand corner under â€Å"Freedom of Want† depicts a young man pointing to a half empty glass. This expresses the current division in contemporaneous society of the haves and the have not’s. This young boy seems overweigh and is probably a member of the have not’s. I say this because insufficient funds results in poor eating habits, such as overindulgence of processed foods. The final image on the lower right hand corner under the caption â€Å"Freedom from Fear† depicts an array of surveillance equipment. Thanks to the increased awareness of crime coupled with modern high technology, these surveillance cameras are designed to catch criminals in the act of committing a crime there by resulting in quicker arrests and convictions, and possibly preventing the crime from being committed in the first place. Surveillance cameras which were installed in all entrances to the London underground have effectively prevented a repeat of the 2005 underground bombings. Therefore commuters have no fear using the â€Å"tube† and are thus free from fear, exactly as the artist intended to demonstrate.