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• 1 2016-08-04T15:28:09-07:00 Yue Nan Bi Sheng, Mei Di Bi Bai (Vietnam will triumph, the American Imperialists will be defeated), c. 1965 5 plain 2016-09-09T08:24:38-07:00

  Yue Nan Bi Sheng, Mei Di Bi Bai (Vietnam will triumph, the American Imperialists will be defeated)
  Ren Manxin
  c. 1965
  lithograph
  Shanghai People’s Fine Arts Publishing House
  74.5 cm x 52.5 cm
  Special Collections and College Archives, Musselman Library, Gettysburg College 

  In this poster a disproportionately large and pink-cheeked Vietnamese soldier prods a small U.S. soldier, flailing helplessly in the lower right corner, at gunpoint. The large hands and determined stare convey the vitality and strength of the Vietnamese army, in contrast to the greenish hue of the American soldier; his curved back and thin arm indicate that this man is at once cowardly and weak. The Vietnamese soldier powerfully traverses the jungle terrain, while the American appears to be stumbling through the forest and is ill equipped to defend himself. This disparity in the figures’ sizes highlights the hero and the perpetrator in the image, leaving
  no doubt regarding the bias of the producer. The clear red text at the bottom of the frame directly comple- ments the message of domination, which translates to “Vietnam will triumph; the American imperialists will be defeated.” Curiously, the Chinese text is also stated in Pinyin, the romanized system for spelling standard Chinese letters, possibly to increase viewership and to allow speakers of other dialects to more easily read the statement. It is also likely that this poster was made in response to low literacy rates in China and Vietnam; its illustrated message is understood independent of the text.(1)

  Despite their obvious differences and contradictory perspectives, American World War II posters, also on display in this exhibition, share similarities in their style, compositions, and propagandistic goals.(2) The posters all sought mass viewership with broad audiences in mind; the governments intended for the messages to be clearly conveyed without ambiguity. In stark contrast to the American posters, here the Americans are seen as the enemy “imperialists,” easily captured by the fearsome, young, and healthy Vietnamese soldier. This work is included in the exhibition in order to acknowledge both multiple nationalistic perspectives in war and a shared visual language. 

  1 “At a Glance: Viet Nam: Statistics.” n.d. http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/vietnam_statistics.html.

  2 On Vietnamese propaganda, see Philippe Peycam, The Birth of Vietnamese Political Journalism: Saigon 1916-1930. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012.