Octopus & Propaganda

[Clem]

I wonder if that is supposed to be John Bull?

Hello Phil,

Can you give us a picture of Mr. Bull?

"Phils2ndbestbestdreamever", eh? The first involved a pith helmet and a Maxim you know....

...being modelled by that hottie from "Space: 1999," yes, I know.



Clem

 

[Phil]

Seems it is indeed 'John Bull' a Victorian image of defiant bullish Britain (of the time). Date is much later than I thought though.

Just found this quote here: 5.html

5. An American cartoonist in 1888 depicted John Bull (England) as the octopus of imperialism, grabbing land on every continent.

P.S. Clem, were there any 'hotties' in 1999? I thought those in 'UFO' were much nicer. Must have been those purple wigs and tight silver catsuits...

 

[Clem]

Seems it is indeed 'John Bull' a Victorian image of defiant bullish Britain (of the time).

What a great track-down. Thank you, Phil. You've also provided an answer to the question of coloring. 1888? That's interesting, I wonder if the artist was inspired by the California Railroad "monopoloctopus" of 1882, discussed in a previous post. (click here to see that one.)

P.S. Clem, were there any 'hotties' in 1999?

If you like shape-shifting redheads, yes.



Clem

 

[Emperor]

Seems it is indeed 'John Bull' a Victorian image of defiant bullish Britain (of the time). Date is much later than I thought though.

It would have to be (as what I assume is) the Suez Canal is marked on Egypt and that wasn't officially opened until 1869.

Emps

 

[Infusoria]

P.S. Clem, were there any 'hotties' in 1999?

If you like shape-shifting redheads, yes.[/quote]

I remember her,

Those eyebrows did it for me...

 

[Clem]

Hi Matt,

There's a "Space:1999" related thread elsewhere in the Culture & Entertainment forum, accessible by clicking here. Seems several of us were scared pantsless by the ceph-monster in the "Dragon's Domain" episode.

On the propaganda front, I found another John Bull cephalopod, this one looking thoroughly unsavory:

John Bull in Egypt

Note that Bull's sideburns appear to be made of real mutton. No date for this cartoon is given on the source page, but I'd assume it to be pre-WWI, because Russia isn't presented as Soviet.

Clem

 

[Clem]

Below is a cartoon that appeared in the August 21st, 1886 edition of the Sydney Bulletin. Titled "The Mongolian Octopus - His Grip on Australia," this illustration is the work of English artist Phil May.

Anti-Chinese sentiment was running high in Australia, fueled by the usual mixture of racism, class-resentment and xenophobia, but given a particular focus during the 1880's by campaigns against immigrant labor conducted by "European" furniture makers. The long hours and low pay tolerated by Chinese laborers in furniture workshops so angered the established white craftsmen that "Euopean labour only" was stamped on individual pieces to discourage discriminating buyers from supporting the new immigrants' trade. Note that the opium-smoker at the botttom of the picture is helpfully leaning forward to showcase his chair; the contemporary Bulletin reader would probably have assumed the chair to be of Chinese manufacture, like the chest of drawers clutched in the "Cheap Labour" arm in the upper-left corner of the picture.

The mass of arms of the "Mongolian Octopus" is unusually graphic for the era in which it was drawn; perhaps May enjoyed the felicity of using ink to draw an animal that produced its own. In addition to "Cheap Labour," most of the other categories of vice are straightforward: "Immorality," (prostitutes), "Small-Pox," "Opium," "Bribery" and "Customs Robbery." The other two are more obscure: "Pak Ah-Pu" is a a lotto-style game, and "Fan Tan" is a card game; white Australians were apparently very bad at both of them, as evidenced by the panic of the illustrated gamblers.

It would be easy to dismiss this drawing as racist, xenophobic crap, but I wonder if Phil May fully believed what he drew. Born into poverty in England, he was orphaned and homeless at the age of nine. He emmigrated to Australia after enjoying some success as a caricaturist in London. The encouragement of race-hatred among the poor is nothing new, and May might have resented the Chinese immigrants for undercutting the more established white folk.

I've also attached a comparison plate: On the left is a contemporary self-portrait by Phil May, on the right a detail of the opium-smoker and the artist's signature. I think the smoker is Phil May: take away the hat, and replace the pipe with the pen, and they're ringers for each other. Did May (who was an alcoholic) also like to smoke opium? Or, is this mocking artist's portrait an acknowledgment that his grotesque drawing springs from an overheated imagination, and is not to be taken seriously?

Click the highlighted text to see a selection of May's drawings at the National Portrait Gallery of England. There's a great little drawing of Winston Churchill's father, Lord Randolph Churchill, with a lion riding in his skull.



Clem

 

[pipsquek]

Plus, they're cute.

Yes, and that makes them all the more tasty.

Full Disclosure: Clem is living on Cape Cod, where many earn their living by trapping and selling lobsters. This has been an especially difficult year for lobstering, with diminished stocks, steep prices and widespread poaching contributing to a generally gloomy outlook. Clem neither supports nor refutes the notion that lobsters are the marine equivalent of dung-beetles.

I'm on the fence about this -- I still don't think lobsters are cute, but they definitely look "cthuul" . Being financially challenged all my life, I rarely eat lobster more than once or twice a year, so hopefully I am not significantly contributing to the depletion of the species. And I wouldn't eat a very large lobster because I know that would indicate it had lived a long time, and therefore was a "grand old man (or woman)" who had earned survivor's rights to a peaceful retirement. (Yes, this sounds very subjective, but I think people who are neither vegetarians nor observers of religious dietary laws, tend to create their own rules about what to eat anyway.)

With all my medically-prescribed dietary restrictions -- low fat, low cholesterol, low calorie, low alcohol, high fiber -- it's refreshing to take a break every few months and permit myself a lobster dinner with a glass of White Sangría (or a sirloin steak with an extra-spicy Bloody Mary ).

Hey, is this chat time? Let's see if I can get a connection....

Me

What if it didn't eat dung eaters? What if it ate coconuts? Despite what lobsters eat, they still taste pretty wonderful, so imagine the taste of the largest hermit crab in the world that gorges itself on the tasty white flesh of coconuts. I never had the chance to try one while I was in Polynesian, but I did see one, and can admit to massive Pavlovian response despite it's even more grotesque apperance. It wouldn't even need butter.

I would not have felt good about it anyway since the locals had nearly eaten the entire population, which is becoming the case in more and more islands. By the same token though, it could also be argued that this is a positive thing when they pick a non-native species, like dogs, as on Auitutaki, one of the Cook Islands. I've heard it tastes a little like lamb....

 

[cthulhu77]

Having consumed a fair amount of dog meat, as well as cat, it does tastes somewhat like lamb...perhaps a bit "gamey"...maybe more like mutton. Cat is horrific...tastes like cat pee smells...

 

[pipsquek]

Having consumed a fair amount of dog meat, as well as cat, it does tastes somewhat like lamb...perhaps a bit "gamey"...maybe more like mutton. Cat is horrific...tastes like cat pee smells...

Apologies for straying so far off topic(I did read everything up to this point at least), but this reminds me of another favorite of the Cook Island Maoris - parrot fish. They taste just like coral stinks. Really unpleasant.

On topic - Where the hell do you people find the time to find all of this stuff? I'm lucky if I get fifteen minutes online to poke around, so it took me 3 days just to read this whole thread!

 

[cthulhu77]

"On topic - Where the hell do you people find the time to find all of this stuff?"
as for myself, I am self employed, and work out of my house, and the paint fumes make for breaks quite often. May even explain some of my posts, now that I consider it...

 

[pipsquek]

I was searching for copyright credtis for pictures I used as reference for building Big Red when I came across this little tidbit. I don't have the time to read the materials on the site, but I thought I'd post it.

It's along the same lines as many of the others posted so far. The octopus is the big bad corporation sticking it's arms into every facet of the industry it's concerned with.

http://www.powerlink.net/fen/octopus.htm

 

[cthulhu77]

Nice illustration...gather they were upset about the pulping...

 

[Clem]

Ach.

Apparently, the Northwest Pacific Tree Octopus has a relative in the Northeast, and a rapacious one to boot.

Thanks for posting that link, Pipsquek.

Clem

 

[Emperor]

As Boris "The Jackal" Johnson MP has been upsetting the fine people of Liverpool (including myself ) the front page of The Spectator has been given a lot of coverage on the TV news and it illustrates the welfare state as a large octopus choking the life out of people:

www.spectator.co.uk/covers/2004-10-16.jpg