Happy New Years, everyone! In celebration, a double feature.
Excerpts from "Art in the First Cultural Revolution", generic art history textbook, c. 2003
".... Among the many artists recruited by the Secretariat of Culture was a young illustrator named Norman Percevel Rockwell. A native New Yorker, he had been a promising artist in the Boy Scouts magazine Boy's Life in his teens, before he was recruited for the Navy during World War I[1]. His experiences, like so many others, left him alienated and disillusioned. Still, he had managed to find some work with various magazines, as well as continuing with his beloved illustrations at Boy's Life (particularly the Scouting Magazines' yearly calendar), though his disillusionment only continued as magazines began to make thousands his drawings, whilst he got only the payment for the initial drawing. Inevitably, he slowly began to drift towards a number of artists who had become radicalized by the Worker's Party. He began to contribute some illustrations for recruitment and propaganda posters.With his experiences with Boy's Life, he also made some contributions to the Pioneer magazine. It was also during this time that Soviet influenced social realism also began to penetrate his work, showing various workers in a more realist manner similar to Soviet artists of the time
By the time of the revolution, he had already built up some goodwill from his illustrations in magazines and for the Party. Now, he was asked to make propaganda to help promote the revolution. His illustrations often depicted workers and farmers going on with their daily activities, or people enjoying leisure activities. He also contributed to the new Pioneer magazine, and the Pioneer calendars, which would become some of his most enduring. His biggest project came however, in 1938, when he was commissioned to draw a series of paintings corresponding to the "Declaration of the Rights of Person, Toiler, Exploited Peoples and Citizen." He would spend years releasing this series (partly delayed by World War II), before he released the final one "Article XIX" in 1947....."
[1] He had tried to apply OTL for the Navy, but was ultimately rejected, and he instead became a military artist who never saw service. I imagine, with an earlier entry into World War I, they would have a need for more soldiers.
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El Terror al Acecho (The Lurking Terror)
A 1958 Mexican science fiction-horror film. Despite being a "riff" (read: rip-off) of The Quatermass Experiment , it is considered an underrated classic of the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema.
An American space capsule crashes in the Mexican desert in Sonora, after a lunar orbit mission. Only the Mexican crew member, Diego, is, and is forced into a Mexico City hospital. Dr. Ernesto Galvez, a local astronomer, and Diego's wife, Julianna Curbelo, another astronomer who works with Galvez and helped the mission, are sent to retrieve and interview Diego about what caused the crash. However, when Diego awakes from his coma, he lashes out violently, saying that "It's Coming! It's Coming!"
With Diego sedated and restrained, Galvez goes to the crashed craft, and sees no technical failure. Then, he spots some mold on the side of the craft. He collects it, and returns to his university to have it tested. Julianna attempts to console her husband, and, now that he is calmed down, tries to convince the hospital staff to release him. Galvez learns that the mold does not match any Earth species, and this gets him speculating. He goes to where the other two are autopsied, and learns that the mold was also found on them.
Diego is finally calm enough to tell Galvez and Julianna what really happened. During the return to Earth, his crew mates began to become more aggressive. While they attributed it to Cabin Fever, they grow more and more deranged. Diego noted that their skin became more flaky, and when he heard them talking, he realized that they were under a strange possession, and were planning to wreck havoc once back on Earth. The crash was orchestrated by Diego to prevent this from happening.
Galvez notes that Diego seems boiling, implying he is under the mysterious mold control as well. While Julianna tries to convince Galvez otherwise, he demands that Diego be held under complete surveillance. Sure enough, Diego finds the strength to escape, and when Julianna tries to reason with him, he pushes her aside, showing that he is now under the complete control of the mold. He heads to the morgue, where he retrieves the two bodies. (It's implied the mold merges them).
Galvez and Julianna go to find the monster that Diego has become is rampaging through Mexico City. While the militas try to gun him down, they shrug him off. Luckily, Galvez and Julianna are able to stall the monster enough (appealing to the remaining consciouses of the crew), that the Mexican militas are able to destroy it. The film ends with Galvez comforting a grieving Julianna.
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Happy New Year!
Excerpts from "Art in the First Cultural Revolution", generic art history textbook, c. 2003
".... Among the many artists recruited by the Secretariat of Culture was a young illustrator named Norman Percevel Rockwell. A native New Yorker, he had been a promising artist in the Boy Scouts magazine Boy's Life in his teens, before he was recruited for the Navy during World War I[1]. His experiences, like so many others, left him alienated and disillusioned. Still, he had managed to find some work with various magazines, as well as continuing with his beloved illustrations at Boy's Life (particularly the Scouting Magazines' yearly calendar), though his disillusionment only continued as magazines began to make thousands his drawings, whilst he got only the payment for the initial drawing. Inevitably, he slowly began to drift towards a number of artists who had become radicalized by the Worker's Party. He began to contribute some illustrations for recruitment and propaganda posters.With his experiences with Boy's Life, he also made some contributions to the Pioneer magazine. It was also during this time that Soviet influenced social realism also began to penetrate his work, showing various workers in a more realist manner similar to Soviet artists of the time
By the time of the revolution, he had already built up some goodwill from his illustrations in magazines and for the Party. Now, he was asked to make propaganda to help promote the revolution. His illustrations often depicted workers and farmers going on with their daily activities, or people enjoying leisure activities. He also contributed to the new Pioneer magazine, and the Pioneer calendars, which would become some of his most enduring. His biggest project came however, in 1938, when he was commissioned to draw a series of paintings corresponding to the "Declaration of the Rights of Person, Toiler, Exploited Peoples and Citizen." He would spend years releasing this series (partly delayed by World War II), before he released the final one "Article XIX" in 1947....."
[1] He had tried to apply OTL for the Navy, but was ultimately rejected, and he instead became a military artist who never saw service. I imagine, with an earlier entry into World War I, they would have a need for more soldiers.
------------------------
El Terror al Acecho (The Lurking Terror)
A 1958 Mexican science fiction-horror film. Despite being a "riff" (read: rip-off) of The Quatermass Experiment , it is considered an underrated classic of the Golden Age of Mexican Cinema.
An American space capsule crashes in the Mexican desert in Sonora, after a lunar orbit mission. Only the Mexican crew member, Diego, is, and is forced into a Mexico City hospital. Dr. Ernesto Galvez, a local astronomer, and Diego's wife, Julianna Curbelo, another astronomer who works with Galvez and helped the mission, are sent to retrieve and interview Diego about what caused the crash. However, when Diego awakes from his coma, he lashes out violently, saying that "It's Coming! It's Coming!"
With Diego sedated and restrained, Galvez goes to the crashed craft, and sees no technical failure. Then, he spots some mold on the side of the craft. He collects it, and returns to his university to have it tested. Julianna attempts to console her husband, and, now that he is calmed down, tries to convince the hospital staff to release him. Galvez learns that the mold does not match any Earth species, and this gets him speculating. He goes to where the other two are autopsied, and learns that the mold was also found on them.
Diego is finally calm enough to tell Galvez and Julianna what really happened. During the return to Earth, his crew mates began to become more aggressive. While they attributed it to Cabin Fever, they grow more and more deranged. Diego noted that their skin became more flaky, and when he heard them talking, he realized that they were under a strange possession, and were planning to wreck havoc once back on Earth. The crash was orchestrated by Diego to prevent this from happening.
Galvez notes that Diego seems boiling, implying he is under the mysterious mold control as well. While Julianna tries to convince Galvez otherwise, he demands that Diego be held under complete surveillance. Sure enough, Diego finds the strength to escape, and when Julianna tries to reason with him, he pushes her aside, showing that he is now under the complete control of the mold. He heads to the morgue, where he retrieves the two bodies. (It's implied the mold merges them).
Galvez and Julianna go to find the monster that Diego has become is rampaging through Mexico City. While the militas try to gun him down, they shrug him off. Luckily, Galvez and Julianna are able to stall the monster enough (appealing to the remaining consciouses of the crew), that the Mexican militas are able to destroy it. The film ends with Galvez comforting a grieving Julianna.
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Happy New Year!
