The iconography of nationalism

Icons, popular culture, and American nationalism

Bibliographic Data

ID5776685
AuthorsDallas Hulsey (Louisiana State University Agricultural Center)
Year2005
Publication date2005-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeTHESIS
PublisherLouisiana State University Libraries (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.31390/gradschool_dissertations.2106
OpenAlexW2768496369
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited32

The Iconography of Nationalism: Icons, Popular Culture, and American Nationalism develops a model of cultural icons, defining icons as highly visible, culturally variable, and overdetermined auratic images. Situating icons within the context of mass reproduction technologies and American nationalism, this study seeks to demystify the simple images presented by infantile, national, and scapegoat icons in literature, film, and political rhetoric. This dissertation argues that icons participate in the American nationalist project by channeling citizens' political and patriotic feelings through seemingly simple images. While acknowledging that icons are necessary to construct what Benedict Anderson calls "the imagined community" of the nation, this study complicates a quick and easy reading of an icon's manifest content and uses narrative to reveal the latent content in images like Marilyn Monroe, Barbie, Mickey Mouse, Elvis Presley, Pocahontas, Uncle Sam, Big Brother, and Adolf Hitler

Aesthetics · Art · Icon · Iconography · Literature · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Popular culture · Rhetoric · Sociology · Visual arts · Comics and Graphic Narratives · Law · Media, Gender, and Advertising · Philosophy · Subtitles and Audiovisual Media