Pictures

In a period where prohibition, and the law breaking of prohibition, dominated the land, the U.S. saw a huge increase in crime.  In this image your eyes are automatically drawn to the man in the foreground. He is in a suit, meaning he is obviously wealthy, he is holding 2 firearms, leading us to infer one of two things, he is either a police officer, or more likely he is a gangster. The second option is confirmed when you turn your attention to the background. In the background we see a dozen or so boxes, or cases of whiskey, most likely illegally imported from Canada and sold to eager buyers in speak easy’s. The entire picture is equally in focus, showing that each part of the picture is equally important. The man would have no business without the alcohol, and there would be no alcohol without the man’s lucrative business. The entire picture is black, which can lead to a dark or saddened mood. Some would argue this is due to alcohol being bad for you, others would say it is because this man is breaking the law. The image is a perfect example of what became known as the roaring twenties. Many young men and women began to fulfill their happiness through partying and drinking. As this happened the illegal trade and sell of alcohol became hugely popular, leading to gangs, and gangsters such as the man depicted in this image.

In the twenties, wealth, and how wealth was shown changed. Before the twenties the rich lived in exclusion, away from society in their farm houses, or secluded mansions, but as more and more rich began to flaunt their wealth scenes such as the one in the picture above became more popular. In the foreground you see the young man directing a parade of elephants, ridden by most likely the richest in the city. In the background you see the young men and women hoping to one day reach that status looking on in awe. Everything is in focus as the elephant march through downtown New York as it shows that the city was run by the rich, for the rich. The image is crazy for some, disturbing for others as it shows an incredible disparity in wealth, as the rich lived on thrones, literally, while the poor struggled every day to survive. The image further displayed the cultural beliefs of the rich in the twenties, that money should be spent, and shown off, not put in banks hidden away.

The image above is both an image of life style, but also an image of racism. As the wealthy began to grow farther and farther away from the poor, the idea of helping the poor became less and less appealing. Immigrants and specifically blacks began to be discriminated and hated upon by the leading white class. Your eyes are immediately drawn to the white family traveling in their car most likely across America, and then they travel downward to the line of African Americans, waiting in the soup line. The Foreground holds only white family which further enhances the idea of white above black, as the blacks are in the background and below the whites, very similar to how they were treated in society. The words in the picture clarify, and further enhance the idea hoped to be displayed by the photographer, that that blacks were harshly discriminated upon in the twenties. The image further shows the racist ideal that swept the country in the late twenties following the rise of hate groups like the kkk.