Friday, April 02, 2010

Anti-American Art: Urban Crossbows


Here's a cultural-revolution-era poster from China, another marking Chairman Mao's statement in support of the African-American people. While well-meaning, the cluelessness in its depiction of American black people is a little mind-blowing. The only thing that can be said is that you can tell it's about American black people because Chinese posters about people in Africa tended to also feature half-naked people playing drums. I just really don't know what to say about the crossbow.

1 comment:

  1. I think this needs to go in the category of Bad Anti-American Art. Why do these people have giant hands? What's with the bright red lips? Doesn't that woman know that when she fires that crossbow the string will hit her left arm. She's going to get an ugly welt. It might even break the skin. Ouch. The supposed text here is "Solidarity with the Black workers of America". The real message seems to be in the subtext which is, "We do not know anything about the Black workers of America and we don't really give a shit about them."

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