White America’s fear of Asia takes the form of an octopus…
The United States Marines #3 (1944)
Or else a claw…
Silver Streak Comics #6 (Sept. 1940)[1]
[1]Silver Streak #6 is the first appearance of Daredevil
Creatures whose purpose is to reach out and ensnare.
Before the Octopus became a symbol of racial fear it was often used in satirical cartoons to stoke a fear of hegemony…
Frank Bellew’s illustration here from 1873 shows the tentacles of the railroad monopoly (built on the underpaid labor of Chinese immigrants) ensnaring our dear Columbia as she struggles to defend the constitution from such a beast.
The Threat is clear, the railroad monopoly is threating our national sovereignty.
But wait…
Isn’t that the same Columbia who the year before…
Yep…
Maybe instead of Columbia frightening away Indigenous Americans as she expands west, John Gast should have painted an octopus reaching out across the continent grabbing land away from them.
White America’s relationship with hegemony has always been hypocritical.
[1]Silver Streak #6 is the first appearance of Daredevil
The propaganda and symbolism shown in these images is quite interesting! I hope to see more descriptions for these images in general as well as connecting them together, and I look forward to seeing what other images you talk about!