For this assignment, I have gathered magazine articles, advertisments, as well as a comic strip and a poem from my graduation memory book. When brought together, these finds make arguments about the double edged sword of western society and technological advancements. That is, these finds put pressure on the promise of technology and western beliefs by sheding light on what is often lost when such "advancements" are made.
"Picture-Stories in Chinese Characters"
Although this piece from the July 1924 issue of "Asia," a magazine that exoticized the "East"--i.e. Africa, China, Japan, the Middle East--for the benifit of American's who could not visit these fairy tale lands on their own. This piece exemplifies the mentality that the west is practical and mechanically better off than the beautiful and artistic Easterners. Eventhough it is written from the xenophobic perspective of the author and of the society at large, Prideaux does shed light on the stories that every Chinese character tells. Although she does not discuss the way such characters are written, or show them together as they would appear to a reader, when placed next to the Adbuster's piece about Alphabetic American Literacy (3) these articles show the presence of multiple ways of reading, seeing, and making sense of the world.