The Positive Images Of American Women In Propaganda Posters During World War ?

On December 7th,1941,the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor of the United States without a declaration of war.The next day,America declared war against the Japanese.Then millions of American men were enlisted in the army,and a large number of supplies were transported to the front line,causing problems such as a temporary lack of labor and shortage of goods and materials.To cope with these problems,the American government started to call for women's involvement in the war effort.In order to mobilize women to join the workforce on both the war and home fronts while taking good care of the family and adopting a frugal lifestyle,the United States Office of War Information launched a massive propaganda campaign in collaboration with other government agencies,during which posters became the major tool due to its features,like conciseness and explicitness.In the meantime,a series of female images with distinct characteristics was constructed through these posters.This thesis takes as research subjects the female images in the American propaganda posters during World War II,and analyzes their features such as physical appearances,behaviors as well as changes in their jobs and dressing styles.It is found that,during World War II,the American government agencies utilized posters to construct powerful,frugal,independent female figures to meet the demands of the country in the wartime,which successfully mobilized women to join the workforce and contribute to the war effort.The main body consists of three chapters.Chapter One compares the female images,especially the differences in the appearance features,in the WWII posters with those in commercial posters at the beginning of the twentieth century and finds that the American government replaced the delicate female images with powerful ones,in order to encourage women to go out of their homes and take up jobs.Chapter Two analyzes the frugal behaviors of women as reflected in the contents and themes of the posters to show that the American government agencies purposely shaped the frugal female image to educate the public,especially women to actively cope with the shortage of goods and materials.Chapter Three analyzes women's employment trends,changes in dress code as well as the principles of poster design,to prove that these posters deliberately shaped the independent images of women who were capable enough to take up men's jobs so as to encourage American women to fill the gap in the labor force during World War ?.