Propaganda and Seventeen Magazine

World War II had ended, and in the March issue of 1946, the magazine was again promoting teen-age girls to get involved with the aftermath of the war. The images are more of young adults, most likely older then 17, but their beauty and confidence make them become admirable figures for young girls. Girls who used to read Seventeen magazine, and who currently read it, were usually under seventeen. Thus, the images become a way of idealizing an age that often becomes glamorized within the media. It is the age when you are supposed to have boyfriends, join the popular group in high school, and feel more independent.

While this image contains the basic attributes, which encourage young girls to idealize the female portrayal on this cover, it also acts as a propaganda poster. Once again this image hails the young girls reading the magazine, in order to get them involved with assisting soldiers who needed medical care after returning home from the war. This cover reminds me a lot of the propaganda poster of "Rosie The Riveter" which was to get women involved in working at the factories during the war. The woman are empowering in both images. Seventeen magazine focuses more on interpolating the viewer through the women’s beautiful and feminine appearance. The image of "Rosie The Riveter" represented a female who was embodying more masculine features, in terms of her stance and her clothing. Her hair is back with a bandana, and her arm is up as if she is showing off her muscles. Her facial expression doesn’t portray her as meek and subservient to men. Her head is held high as she raises one eyebrow, as if she is testing the power of the audience. She is also wearing a blue, men’s tailored shirt and her makeup is less obvious as in the other image in which the girl is wearing bright red lipstick. "Rosie the River" embodied attributes that were seen more masculine at the time.

Although this Seventeen magazine cover may not portray the women using commonly more masculine codes, she is still an empowering figure. We must consider the placement of this image. It was placed on the cover of a young girls magazine, so in order to still make it appealing to this demographic they had to use an image of a women that every young girl would look up to. In terms of what occurred after the war, these two images would meed to be quite different. When men went away to war, women took over many of the jobs previously occupied by the men. As soon as the men returned women no longer held those positions, but they were encouraged to help the soldiers deal with the aftermath, such as medical care. Yes, this may be a very patriarchal way of thinking about the use of women in society, but the fact is this is what occurred during the aftermath of the war. We must realize that the intention of this image wasn't to make young women feel subservient to men but encourage women to help out during a time they were really needed. Thus, the cover image wants to hail the teenager by playing off their insecurities and desires, while still attempting to create a propagandist image that persuades young girls the importance of helping the US recover.

This image is very beautiful, and a piece of work similar to many other propaganda posters. The color from her lips is picked from the color of the Red Cross symbol. Her eyes are bright blue, and the Seventeen writing is in another shade of blue. All of this produces the patriotic color scheme of red, white and blue. She is looking up at the distance as if she is destin for greater things. The image doesn't focus on what she is wearing, much like many other covers which showed the women wearing ornate dresses. The image is simply about uniting the country and including women of all age groups. The aesthetics of the cover are a big part of why this photo would have been effective in persuading young girls to go along with the dominant ideology of the time. This magazine cover seems to demonstrate how society at the time understood the value of young women. Today, it seems as though teenagers are viewed as more passive masses, who should simply think about more superficial things.