The Red Iceberg
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Painting Analysis:
This cartoon, is a communist propaganda from the era of the cold war. The political hostility between the United States of America and the Soviet Union was not only a power battle between both nations to sell their respective ideologies to the world, but was also eternalized enemy propaganda in both countries. Just like advertising firms use different media outlets and have to create worldwide campaigns, America and the USSR used different media to propagate the communism and anti-communism message in its own nation, but also around the world. With the fear of Communism infiltrating the American way of life, the messages that were spread in America concerning Communism depicted it as an evil being and one that should be feared. This cartoon portrays the Soviet Union as the Red Iceberg, marked by the prominent hammer and sickle, ready to sink the metaphorical ship of the United States. On the iceberg, it shows the graves of countries that the Soviet Union had taken over and spread its Communist influence to. These countries included: Poland, North Korea, East Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and China. These countries included: Poland, North Korea, East Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and China. In this painting, you can see in the foreground the tip of a red iceberg with the symbol of the flag of the Soviet Union and gravestones on it with the names of communist governments whom supported it. In the background, you can see a very famous American ship, the titanic, with Uncle Sam, which is a common national personification of the American government or the United States in general, siting on top of it and you get the impression that he is really big in the painting compared to the rest of it. The ship seems to be approaching the red iceberg. The setting of the picture is the ocean and there is a sky filled with white clouds and you can see its daylight. The colors that most stand out in the painting are red, blue, and white, which happen to be the colors of the American flag, and the red of the Soviet Union flag. if you look at the symbolic meaning in this painting, you realize that the Titanic with Uncle Sam and the letters U.S.A written on them represents the United States; the tip of the red iceberg, with the symbol of the Soviet Union flag and the gravestones with the communists represents the USSR. In the Titanic we all know that the boat, which was said unsinkable, crashed into an iceberg and sunk, also breaking a little of the iceberg. The message under this painting is saying that the Soviet Union is dangerous and warns of the dangers ahead should Uncle Sam fail to steer clear of the "Red Iceberg." So if you let communism take over, or if you believe in it, its saying that you are going to suffer or end up like the other countries that the Soviet Union had taken over and spread its Communist influence to which had failed to do so. Its also saying that the Cold War is driving the US into the Red Iceberg and the US is going to suffer great damage.