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Grayson Perry - Emotional Man (Imagery (Symbols (treasure chest in the…
Grayson Perry - Emotional Man
Imagery
Figure
Hot pink colour
downturned mouth
confused and lost look on his face
a mind and a heart that has been unexplored and buried deep leads to loss of identity and peace in oneself
THINGS FALL APART
TFA -
Because Okonkwo was not able to release himself from his violent perception of masculinity, he could not empathise with Ikemefuna in that moment nor take care of his own emotional state and therefore he struck out with his
machete
and cut Ikemefuna down.
hammer and dagger symbols in Perry cartoon echo the machete in TFA
men = violence = disconnection
TFA
- Okonkwo kills Ikemefuna and refuses to discuss the pain that he has created inside himself and caused his family, especially Nwoye. This contributes to to the splitting of his family when Nwoye leaves to join the Christian missionaries which ultimately culminates in Okonkwo killing himself.
DEATH OF A SALESMAN
Symbols
treasure chest in the stomach labelled "Long Buried Trauma"
hammer in foot labelled "Empathy"
dagger in throat representing "Misplaced Pride"
fractal brain
Language
"Free Therapist with every figure"
Perry appears to be implying that every emotional man represented here requires a therapist, someone with whom they can sit down and discuss their "Long Buried Trauma". The adjective "every" highlights the extent of the problem as Perry sees it: all men, across cultures, continents and races is in need of this.
"WARNING! FRAGILE"
The capitalisation of this label as well as the exclamation marks serves three purposes:
it fits with the sensationalism of the marketing purposes of the toy's packaging.
DEATH OF A SALESMAN
it lends an ironic tone to the product as if shouting at something fragile were the coherent course of action (but of course Perry is saying that this is what men do all the time to each other)
it highlights that this 'toy', this man, is liable to break at any time, and when it or he does, he has the dagger in his throat and hammer in his foot to deal with the situation.
Context
Grayson Perry is a British writer and artist who won the Turner Prize and is a regular commentator on British TV
These cartoons first appeared in his book
'Descent of Man'
(2016)
The title is taken from Darwin's book of the same name published in 1871
Perry was positing that the model of man as emotionless, strong, provider is the root cause of such pain and suffering amongst men and wider society that causes men to have higher suicide rates than women worldwide
the format of the reimagined children's toys was used repeatedly throughout these cartoons, also representing 'DEFAULT MAN' and 'NOSTALGIC MAN'
Structure
Placement of symbols
knot of anger in the heart
We often link the heart to our feelings and anger is one of the most powerful feelings that we possess - it guides so many of our actions