The stock market crashed on October 29, 1929, and the worst economic downfall the United States has ever witnessed occurred. Unemployment skyrocketed, and breadlines began to form across America for people who did not have the money to pay for groceries. Margaret Bourke-White was a photographer who captured a snapshot of people standing in line waiting for their rations to be delivered to them in her famous photo “Breadline”. Her work was first published in LIFE magazine in their 1937 February issue . Her photograph had an emotional appeal to the viewer. Prosperity is one word that could describe life before the depression hit the United States. Technology was on the rise, and people began spending money on new inventions. This is where
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The people in the car is what the typical American family was meant to be like. A happy husband and wife, two kids of the opposite gender, and a dog fill up an automobile driving merrily throughout the countryside. The picture that Margaret took was ironic in a way that the United States was supposed to be this grand, high style of living that anyone could thrive in, but this photograph obviously shows otherwise. The image demonstrates how wide the gap was between the poor and minorities compared to the propaganda the media put out about life in America. Each family member in the vehicle has a crisp, white smile that stretches from ear to ear. Every individual in the breadline has a solemn facial expression with not one person cracking a grin or smirk. Some hold baskets or paper bags to be able to hold the little rations they get from the government. The people in line are not focused on the billboard and do not want to be due to it bringing up the harsh truth that the country is in shambles and that the ad is filled with …show more content…
There is definite reasoning behind this as it brings a different aspect for the viewer to look at the picture. Paul’s Photos explains, “Black & white reduces the image into its essence: subject, composition and light. There is no color to dazzle or distract from those basic elements.” Margaret wanted her audience to focus on the white family and how it contradicts the African American people standing in the line. At the time racism affected everyone except the majority of white Americans. The family on the billboard symbolizes whites dominating the United States and that they were the only ones able to have the luxury of a car and a stable family. Of course, this is not true as all races are equal but that was not how it was seen by the media and the majority of the country during the 1930’s. The viewer would not have been able to recognize these details if the picture was not published in black and white as it would have taken away from the focal point of the
The people in the car is what the typical American family was meant to be like. A happy husband and wife, two kids of the opposite gender, and a dog fill up an automobile driving merrily throughout the countryside. The picture that Margaret took was ironic in a way that the United States was supposed to be this grand, high style of living that anyone could thrive in, but this photograph obviously shows otherwise. The image demonstrates how wide the gap was between the poor and minorities compared to the propaganda the media put out about life in America. Each family member in the vehicle has a crisp, white smile that stretches from ear to ear. Every individual in the breadline has a solemn facial expression with not one person cracking a grin or smirk. Some hold baskets or paper bags to be able to hold the little rations they get from the government. The people in line are not focused on the billboard and do not want to be due to it bringing up the harsh truth that the country is in shambles and that the ad is filled with …show more content…
There is definite reasoning behind this as it brings a different aspect for the viewer to look at the picture. Paul’s Photos explains, “Black & white reduces the image into its essence: subject, composition and light. There is no color to dazzle or distract from those basic elements.” Margaret wanted her audience to focus on the white family and how it contradicts the African American people standing in the line. At the time racism affected everyone except the majority of white Americans. The family on the billboard symbolizes whites dominating the United States and that they were the only ones able to have the luxury of a car and a stable family. Of course, this is not true as all races are equal but that was not how it was seen by the media and the majority of the country during the 1930’s. The viewer would not have been able to recognize these details if the picture was not published in black and white as it would have taken away from the focal point of the