This is a stencil done by the British artist "Banksy" depicting Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald walking hand in hand with Phan Thi Kim Phuc. The image of Phan Thi Kim Phuc was taken from the famous 1972 photo of her and her family fleeing their home village of Trang Bang, Vietnam after the South Vietnamese dropped napalm on it. The postion that this image has taken is one that portrays the Disney Corporation and McDonalds corporation as being evil (thus the distressed look of Phan Thi Kim Phuc). With the joyous looks that Ronald McDonald and Mickey Mouse both share it is apparent that they are content while Phan Thi Kim Phuc seems to be screaming which gives the audience that the two spokespersons are the reason Phan Thi Kim Phuc is screaming. The fact that Ronald and Mickey are with a naked woman breaks the common American convention that makes it unusual or obscene to display nudity so publicly. The object of the image is the woman in the middle where as Mickey and Ronald are just reinforcing the uncomfortable mood this image signifies and thus making this image a fantastic symbol of American imperialism.
This is so disturbing! I have never heard of Phan Thi Kim Phuc or her story, but the horrifying expression on her face and the fact that she is nude immediately creates empathy from the reader/viewer. It sickens me that Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald are incorporated into this sketch. I agree with you 100% that this image portrays the Disney Corporation and the McDonalds Corporation as being evil. Just looking at this image and reading your "reading" of the image makes my stomach knot.
ReplyDeleteThis image almost makes me have sympathy for McDonalds and Disney. [Almost. Isnt that terrible!?] It makes me question --- are they really THAT bad?! To be portrayed SOOOOOOO horrifically?! Dont get me wrong --- I never, ever eat McDonalds & I dispise large, touristic traps --- but at first it seems SOOOO extreme to group these together.
ReplyDeleteThen... I have to think about all of the family restaurants McDonalds put out of business. All of the money they make -- yet the poor wages they pay. The 'Happy Meals' and 'Big Macs' that they have manipulated us to buy -- despite horrible nutrition contents... and I guess the image seems a little less bizaar.
Its just those decievingly over-happy smiles hide it all... ugh.
Nice choice on the Banksy!
ReplyDelete