3-2 Virtual Tour
I chose two cultural works from the Smithsonian Museum from the art and culture collection.
The first one is Dorothy's Ruby slippers (http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a4-d41e-704b-
e053-15f76fa0b4fa) I chose these because as a little girl my favorite movie was the Wizard of
Oz. I even dressed as Dorothy for Halloween two years in a row and my mama still to this day
has my costume and the red glittery slippers in her closet. The Wizard of Oz was produced in
1939. This film was a notable change for filmmaking because this movie was famous for
technicolor which switches scenes in the film from color to black and white throughout the entire
film. Technicolor became a worldwide hit. During the 1940s hundreds of those sorts of films
were made. Technology has come a long way since then and has changed the film industry from
the ways movies are made to the way they are edited and even the ways the audience views
them. The second work is the poster named, “We Can Do It”
(http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ng49ca746a8-6875-704b-e053-15f76fa0b4fa) By Miller, J. Howard in
1942. I chose this specific work because it symbolizes strength and motivation, and I can closely
relate to that being a full-time single parent, employee, and student. This poster was ranked one
of the most famous icons of World War Two. Females during this time were forced to be second
to men in the workforce, the wages offered to women were not even half of what men were paid,
FOR THE SAME JOB! This was such a dramatic change during this era because it was unheard
of for a woman to go to work in factories, women were meant to stay home and cook and clean
for their husbands and raise their children. In 1943 a popular song came out called, “Rosie
the Riveter,” written by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb, and that is when the name
went down in history and gave a name to the face on the poster. In addition to factory
work and other home front jobs, some 350,000 women (about half the population of
Vermont) joined the Armed Services, serving at home and abroad. At the urging of
First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and women’s groups and impressed by the British use
of women in service, General George C. Marshall supported the idea of introducing a
women’s service branch into the Army. (2021, October 12). Rosie the Riveter.
History. (https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/rosie-the-riveter)
QUESTION: What does the woman in the poster represent or what message is she
portraying? To further research this question I would look up female workers during
World War Two. Some keywords that would be helpful are Industry, Manufacturing,
Advertising, Government Politics, and Reform.
Resources: https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/wwii-lady-poster-war-
propaganda.html?edg-c=1
https://business.comcast.com/community/browse-all/details/the-impact-of-
technology-in-the-film-industry https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-
technicolor-definition/
