Keywords
The Pepper
cartoon
image of an enemy
propaganda
USSR
USA
Uncle Sam
Cold War
How to Cite
Abstract
Introduction. The article conducts a study of the “Uncle Sam” visual image in the cartoons of the Soviet Ukrainian satirical magazine “Perets” (“The Pepper”) of 1947–1953. The background of this character and its adaptation in Soviet Ukrainian satire of the early Cold War era are examined.
Relevance of the study. The informational and semantic aspect of the current Russian-Ukrainian war is not limited to the confrontation of the national historical myths of the two countries. Still, it lends new relevance to a more complex web of memes and clichés from the WW2 and Cold War eras, which are reproduced or reinterpreted in the modern media space. The article aims to define the main features and uses of the “Uncle Sam” image in the cartoons of the “Perets” magazine.
The research methodology includes observation, content analysis, generalization, comparison, quantification, and data visualization. The source database comprises a total of 168 issues of the “Perets” magazine.
Results. It has been found that during the examined period, the maximum presence of “Uncle Sam” in cartoons was in 1952, the height of the Korean War; in 1953, the decline began after Stalin’s death. The visual markers of the character were identified. The existence of an established visual canon of the image of “Uncle Sam” made it recognizable and its “reinvention” unnecessary. Over time, non-classical interpretations of the image rose. Such experiments could become possible if the established image was already known to the audience. The most common companion to “Uncle Sam” in the “Perets” cartoons of the early Cold War era is “John Bull”, a personification of Great Britain. The cartoons reveal the exploitation of the topic of “biological weapons”, consonant with modern Russian narratives of information and semantic warfare.
Conclusion. The work highlights previously unexplored aspects of “Uncle Sam” image using quantitative methods and focusing on visual content, namely on the “Perets” cartoons. The data obtained and the results of analysis are important from the perspective of studying the functioning of visual symbols-representatives of countries, states and communities in the information and semantic warfare.
References
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