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House Beautiful Bringing The War Home Analysis

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House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home a photomontage series by Martha Rosler is an interesting exploration of American society during the Vietnam War, and could be applied to today’s society as well. The series examines the apparent ignorance that is prevalent in American homes during the war as a result of media exposure, and how, from a socio-political standpoint, that affects society as a whole. Rosler uses superimposed images to convey the disconnectedness of the American home with the reality of conflict as a result of the sheltering limitations of media. Through the juxtaposition of images of family life and of war, Rosler portrays the contrast of the disillusioned American home and the realities of war. During the Vietnam War, Americans were very sheltered from the actual events of the war. Much of the exposure to the war was through television, dubbed a “living-room war,” which was easily manipulated by social and political influences to portray war in such a way as to disillusion the American people. The people were getting a …show more content…

Though directed at society during the Vietnam War, and a later series on the war in Iraq, the same idea in House Beautiful: Bringing the War Home can be applied to society today and the conflicts in the Middle East. Media is still a very large influence on how well the American people understand the conflicts in the world. Like in the Vietnam War, society today is distanced from the contention that occurs in the Middle East. More or less, the American people live in impunity, not directly affected by global conflict. There have only been a few instances of conflict that have occurred on American soil, particularly 9/11, the Boston bombing, and various shootings. Because of this, the American people are still very sheltered, however, not quite as much as was previous to the 21st

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