Blue Tide
“The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there.” — L.P. Hartley
I love browsing around in the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division online catalog. There’s no end of funky stuff there, including the World War I poster at right. Who knew Lady Liberty was such a babe? I’ve noticed that several war poster artists painted the Lady in diaphanous, barely-there tunics, waving flags and/or swords as she leads us to victory. You can see another one, different artist, on my web site, here.
These days the sight of a breast (or Nicollette Sheridan’s back, for pity’s sake) sends us into a collective trauma. And can we say, John Ashcroft? Our ancesters were made of sterner stuff. I have seen (sorry I don’t have an example ready to upload) 19th-century posters in which Liberty’s boobs burst proudly out of her dress, even when most of the rest of her was covered. Our Government used to print and distribute this stuff without a second thought, and no one seemed to complain at the time.
As Frank Rich recently pointed out, a lot of our hyperventilating over public indecency is naught but hot air and hypocrisy. Still, after last winter’s Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction, I wanted to drive around the country shaking people. It’s just a boob. It won’t hurt you. Judging by the old posters, fear of boobs (mammaphobia?) is a new phenomenon.
My point, other than the fact that I just love that poster, is that the past can be surprising.
Just a couple of examples: Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog tells us that much of the Red State south used to diss Thanksgiving. (Of course, some of ‘em dissed the Fourth of July, too, for the same reason — them is damnyankee holidays.) Now the so-called values voters whine because Thanksgiving history isn’t being taught properly in public schools, meaning that children are not being taught the first Thanksgiving was a religious observance held because the Pilgrims were so grateful to God for surviving a whole year in Massachusetts. However, as I wrote here, the traditional story of the first Thanksgiving is mostly a 19th-century creation. The scant historic documentation of the feast doesn’t say much about religious observation. We all just assume the Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving in a reverent and prayerful manner. For all we know, they all forget to say grace.
Another much beloved myth is that all of the Founding Fathers were Bible-believing Christians who intended ours to be a Christian nation. And, of course, us libruhls love to prove otherwise. But now it’s gotten so bad that a justice of the Supreme Court is going about saying that “The founding fathers never used the phrase ’separation of church and state,’” which is just a bare-assed lie. Or it is until the wingnuts rewrite the history books and leave out Thomas Jefferson.
Speaking of rewriting history books — isn’t it grand that the wife of the Vice President takes a personal interest in how history is being taught in our schools? Hence all public schools in America will be allowed to teach only the Lynn Cheney approved version of history. What Actually Happened is, of course, irrelevant.
But dontcha just love that poster? The artist had a fine appreciation for male butts, too, I noticed. Be sure to visit the Library of Congress site and take a look at the poster art while it’s still there.
November 29th, 2004 at 10:33 am
I think that the fear of breasts started approximately when they became exclusively sexual and were perceived as obscene even when bared for nursing. SOmetime in the Dr Spock era. Before then they were attractive and sexual but they were also maternal and nurturing. Now the bottle is nurturing (and you may take that any way you want.
November 29th, 2004 at 11:31 am
Speaking of mammaphobia, I just remembered something. There’s a great story in some old Norse chronicle about a pregnant Viking woman who was about to be attacked by the enemy, the not-Vikings. So she ripped open whatever it was she was wearing and wiped her sword on her bare breasts, and the enemy was so freaked out by this they ran away.
Now, I’ve never tried that one myself, but remember it in case you’re about to be attacked by John Ashcroft. I bet it would work.
November 29th, 2004 at 12:19 pm
Well, if it’s a boob from an old Woody Allen movie it might hurt you.
I’m pretty sure the wiping the sword thing was actually a Celtic woman and those who ran away were the Vikings. I’ll look through my collections to verify.
November 29th, 2004 at 12:19 pm
I believe that babies that are breast fed, do better than bottle babies. For sure the first milk must be the mother’s, to get those fancy anti-virus ingredients.
November 29th, 2004 at 12:49 pm
Nothing about Madonna here?
November 30th, 2004 at 11:17 am
Re Thanksgiving, you may care to know that what follows is the entire description from actual participants.
From Governor William Bradford’s journal: “They now began to gather in the small harvest they had, and to fit up their houses against the winter, being all well recovered in health and strength and had all things in good plenty. For as some were thus employed in affairs abroad, others were exercised in fishing, about cod and bass and other fish, of which they took in good store, of which every family had its portion. All the summer there was no want; and now began to come in store of fowl, as winter approached, of which this place did abound when they came first (but afterward decreased by degrees). And besides waterfowl there was great store of wild turkeys, of which they took many, besides venison, etc. Besides they had about a peck a meal a week to a person, or now since harvest, Indian corn to the proportion. Which made many afterwards write so large of their plenty here to their friends in England, which were not feigned but true reports.”
From a letter by Edward Winslow (presumably), December 11, 1621: “Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruits of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, amongst other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our governor, and upon the captain and others. And though it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often with you partakers of our plenty.”
What’s more, it wasn’t even a Thanksgiving (which to them was a special religious occasion) but a very traditional and very secular English harvest feast.