National potency: Ritual and action code in United States Marine Corps recruiting posters from the Vietnam era

This thesis examines the representation of militarized masculinity in United States Marine Corps recruiting posters. It investigates changes in the recruiting poster during one of the most divisive times in American history: the Vietnam era. From the perspective of art history and visual culture studies, Marine recruiting posters are highly constructed visual objects, the products of a concerted program of image development that speak to both the potential recruit and the general public. The author first situates the Vietnam era posters within the greater context of Marine Corps recruiting history since the history of Marine Corps recruiting is also a history of the reception of the Marine Corps by the American public. She then discusses the idealized masculinity of the Marine and its media-generated counter images of wound and embattlement within the Vietnam era. In conclusion, she offers an analysis of the significance of the representations of women Marines and African-American Marines alongside white, idealized masculinity.