"Culture": Images of Imperialism

Our readings and discussion about Imperialism in the Philippines got me to go back into my files from 2004 and resurrect a paper I wrote about political cartoons during the Philippine-American War--in particular, how these images and political cartoons adapted as the war went on. I was able to find a few of the images, which come from the left-leaning Life and the right-leaning Judge, show that American attitudes towards colonialism were by no means uniform, even during this first surge of American imperialism. I reproduce here the first paragraph of my essay:

At the end of the 19^th century, the U.S. made its bid to become one of the great powers of the world. Amid growing tensions between the pro- and anti-imperialist forces, cartoonists for weekly journals began to take sides, creating images designed to influence public opinion. Founded in 1881, The Judge had become an organ for Republican pro-imperialist propaganda under William Arkell’s leadership.[1] Anti-imperialists found support in Life, which, despite its more social focus, took a strong stand on the question of Philippine annexation and on the morality of the subsequent war.[2] Before the outbreak of the Philippine-American War, The Judge portrayed Filipinos as needing the benevolent protection of the U.S. and rejoicing in their new liberty. Meanwhile, Life printed cartoons emphasizing the hypocrisy of the supposedly humanitarian motives for invading Cuba and the Philippines. Despite their differing stances, however, they both portrayed the Philippines as an attractive feminine identity, and used similar visual progressions to predict the effect of U.S. expansion. However, in the months and years following the outbreak of hostilities, The Judge turned sharply away from any sympathetic conception of the natives, emphasizing instead their wild uncivilized nature and the stupidity of their resistance. Life followed an opposite path, more seriously criticizing the hypocrisy and atrocities of U.S. involvement in the Philippines. Nevertheless, the use of similar imagery remained constant, as evidenced by the magazines’ visualizations of the White Man’s Burden, and their portrayal of the Philippines and Filipinos as dogs and insects. While The Judge’s and Life’s differing messages polarized even further as U.S. involvement in the Philippines continued, their use of similar imagery stays constant throughout the war. This paper analyzes the methods that these periodicals used to convey their different messages and follows the theme of similar imagery through the course of the war.

[1] Paul Somers Jr., Editorial Cartooning and Caricature: A Reference Guide (Westport: Greenwood Press, 1998), 11.

[2] Stephen Hess and Milton Kaplan, The Ungentlemanly Art: A History of American Political Cartoons (New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1968), 112.

Some political cartoons from Life: