In defense of Norman Rockwell

[james_davis_nicoll]

From a discussion of the American War! on! Christmas!:

But what she was really doing in the first instance, though, was standing up for America's aggrieved white Christians, a cohort that's watched in frustration as ethnic populations have grown in size and political power, causing Norman Rockwell's America to fade before their eyes.

Now it is true Rockwell's American includes scenes like this:




But not only is that a reference to FDR's Four Freedom's speech, Rockwell's America also included scenes like this:

Comments

[graydon saunders (from livejournal.com)]

People who start doing heavy manual labour as children are like that.

You don't see very much of it anymore, but in the 1960s -- I am guessing wildly at the date of the painting from the salt shakers -- you'd be looking at people who started life when about a third of the population was employed in agriculture, so it's quite possible said matriarch has lived a life that involved picking rocks out of fields when she was six.

[seth ellis (from livejournal.com)]

1942, actually. It's the third in Rockwell's Four Freedoms paintings (freedom from want). So even more rooted in manual-labor/agricultural America.

As for her upper body strength, you can't see it from this angle but Grandpa's holding onto the back of her apron and hauling like mad.