B1 – How far do representations 1 and 2 differ?
Representation 1 is a text extract from the book “The Vietnam War” written by Douglas Willoughby and published in 2001; it offers an overview of the anti-war movement. While representation 2 is a cartoon that gives insight into anti-war protests, it was created by John Fischetti and published during the Vietnam War.
Representation 1 and 2’s content have similarities in that the both contain demonstrations the anti-war opinion held by a percentage of the American public. Represenation 1 describes several examples of protests such as the “20,000 people [attending] a rally at the Washington monument” and representation two showing the opinion of the anti-war movement It is also demonstrated, in both representations, that much of the anti-war movement was supported by students and the younger generation at the time. However, there are also differences in the content. The most prevalent of which is that representation 1 contains a summary of the anti-war movement, whereas 2 defends the US in its action taken in Vietnam. This is shown in the title of the cartoon which is intended to be the reply to the statement “It’s a dirty war” by saying “Name a clean one”, it is implied that this war is no different to any other and therefore the US has the right to be there. The man who is depicted to be stating “Name a clean one” also appears to be a person of authority, intelligence and experience, suggested by his clean, high class clothes, this is almost the direct opposite of the young (and thereby inexperienced), scruffy and hippie-like stereotype that the anti-war protestors are portrayed to be. Representation 1 is also a factual and comprehensive summary of the protests while 2 is the expression of one side of an opinion-based argument.
