Spectral Soldiers

Domestic Propaganda, Visual Culture, and Images of Death on the World War II Home Front

Bibliographic Data

ID12465504
AuthorsJames J Kimble (0000-0002-2080-0174, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume19
Issue4
Pages535-570
Publication date2016-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueRhetoric and Public Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1094-8392 • E-ISSN: 1534-5238
PublisherMichigan State University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.14321/rhetpublaffa.19.4.0535
OpenAlexW2594106903
LanguageEN
Citations received4
References cited17

This essay argues against the prevailing historical conception that George Strock’s graphic photograph of three lifeless Marines—published by Life magazine on September 20, 1943—was the definitive point when domestic U.S. propaganda began to portray increasingly grisly images of dead American soldiers. After considering how the visual culture of the home front made the photo’s publication a dubious prospect for the government, I examine a series of predecessor images that arguably helped construct a rhetorical space in which such graphic depictions could gradually gain public acceptance and that, ultimately, ushered in a transformation of the home front’s visual culture

Art · Art history · Construct (python library · Front (military · George (robot · Government (linguistics · Home front · Literature · Media studies · Political science · Rhetoric · Rhetorical question · Sociology · Visual culture · Visual rhetoric · World War II · Anthropology · Computer Science · History · Law · Literature, Film, and Journalism Analysis · Philosophy · Photography and Visual Culture · Visual Culture and Art Theory

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