America the Beautiful - Research into...

The title:

Coloured using the national colours of the American flag. The “I” in “America has been made into a lipstick for humour but also to emphasise the nature of the documentary. Making the Statue of Liberty hold a lipstick apart from the torch makes a mockery out of American culture and how it has become so obsessed with looking ‘perfect’.  ‘America the Beautiful’ is the name of a well known patriotic song. Naming the documentary this is both ironic and humorous as again, it is making a mockery of American tradition and culture.

The image:

The image has been edited for the effect of the documentary. The fact that such an influential and respectable landmark has been drawn all over and changed to what is seen as ‘perfection’ both emphasises the light-hearted feel to the documentary, but also highlights the seriousness of it. The statue has been changed to fit the idea of the American man’s perfect woman. Some Americans may find this image offensive, but the producers of the film poster have cleverly used the image to represent the narrow-minded, productised characters of the American population. The annotations are written using a font that looks like someone’s handwriting to represent that it is so easy for anyone to highlight someone’s imperfections and how superficial people are becoming.

The slogan:

The slogan is a rhetorical device which intends to address the audience and draw them in. Using a question causes the reader to want to find out what the advertisement is about, therefore encouraging them to watch the documentary. ‘Obsessed’ has been highlighted and brought above the other words to emphasise it and also make a suggestion as to what the product being advertised is about. The colour is identical to that of the colour of the lipstick that the Statue of Liberty if holding to intensify the plasticised personality of Americans and also of the product.