Credit: Oldamericancentury.org
“Sight Gags” is our weekly nod to the ironic and carnivalesque in a vibrant democratic public culture. We typically will not comment beyond offering an identifying label, leaving the images to “speak” for themselves as much as possible. Of course, we invite you to comment … and to send us images that you think capture the carnival of contemporary democratic public culture.
This image is a perfect example of propaganda. It is trying to convey a message about how poor our health care system is. According to a report from the Institute of Medicine, the United States is the only industrialized nation that does not provided universal health care. It also states that there are roughly 18,000 deaths in the United States as a result of no health insurance. I think this image is a very compelling and conveys a very powerful political message with it. The gaze of the nurse also draws the viewer to wonder. It makes the viewer wonder “Will we ever have universal health care”. Gaze is used to describe the relationship of looking in which the subject is caught up in the dynamics of desire through the trajectories of looking and being looked at among objects and other people. The use of gaze and propaganda make this a really strong image that works in multiple ways to make the viewer think.