THE HARMFUL IMPACT OF AN IDEAL

I believe that Norman Rockwell’s illustrations are particularly harmful in that they present a world without conflict and without hardship.  Granted, looking at a Rockwell painting that depicts the ideal family is an uplifted experience, but at some point we ultimately weigh our own experiences against these idyllic images. Not surprisingly, our own experiences don’t quite measure up.  I doubt my next Thanksgiving dinner will be as joyous as the one depicted in Rockwell’s Freedom from Want, and I will surely be let down when it’s not.  I expect my future family to be as happy and harmonious as the ones Rockwell painted, but I’m sure I’m asking for a letdown.  In fact, the current divorce rate is somewhere near 43 percent; therefore, we must ask ourselves how accurately the Rockwellian family depicts reality and how the Rockwellian family affects reality.  Is the American Mythology presented in Rockwell’s paintings harmful?  Does it present us with an unattainable ideal that leaves us unsatisfied and unfulfilled in our current lives? Do people get married simply because they buy into the mythology of the perfect family? Is the divorce rate so high because husbands and wives realize they can’t live up to this ideal?

Yes, Rockwell presents a diverse nation with a common, uniting goal; however, this goal does not reflect reality or validate unique individual experiences.  I believe that a great majority of individuals cannot live up to this American Dream.  Here we see that Rockwell’s paintings are very similar to the modern advertisement.  They leave us striving for a goal, but constantly falling just short of that goal.  Thus, we are perpetually searching for the right vacation destination, the right mini van, the right fast food restaurant . . .  to hoist us one inch closer to the American ideal.