Please do.
If for any reason, I can only imagine the looks upon your freshman advisees when they meet you for their first meetings.
Cheers.
This reminded me of an article in The Onion, Why Can't Anyone Tell I'm Wearing This Business Suit Ironically?
Irony is the mosr personal form of comedy, i.e., the one that most others won't get. If you walked into my office and saw a framed poster of Hitler, would you understand the irony in that?
That's "most".
No. Camp and irony are great, but I think Claude is right: this would be a "ready-made" whose irony would be lost on most. Perhaps if you drew a big handlebar mustache on Mao, or collaged the print in some way--maybe with photos of cheap Chinese imports. But to hang it up cold, even with a cheesy frame--this strikes me as tasteless and disrespectful, not campy. Why not hang up bin Ladin, or Pol Pot, Stalin, Eichmann, Lt. Calley?
It should hang if you want it to, but visual irony gets boring very quickly, so maybe you'll change your mind for aesthetic reasons. If it would be OK if you drew a silly moustache on it, then it is OK in your office alongside all of your other stuff (no offence to your stuff intended (and what's so funny about silly moustaches anyway?)).
'Commie' is so passe. You have nothing to worry about. That worry dissapeared 20 years ago.
Hanno's right: "commie" IS passe. But Mao was such a ruthless and destructive fucker, it feels weird--I dunno, somehow indecent--displaying his image even as campy pop art. Hang something like this up instead:
http://www.amazon.com/Tiananmen-...84246447&sr=8-
1
I'll even buy it for you!
Should the poster hang in my office or not?
Not.
Of course you should hang it, but with a stroke of Comedism.
Cut out a thought balloon from some white paper and apend it near Mao's head. Put something funny in it. Then occaisonally change it as you see fit. Here's some initial ideas:
"General Tso's Chicken again? That Bastard!"
"Where's my royalty check Lennon?"
"Papa Ooh Mao Mao? The Bird is not the word!"
"At least I was always more photogenic that Stalin and Pol Pot."
"Another Blow for Irony!"
"There is a serious tendency toward capitalism among the well-to-do peasants." -actual Mao quote, and sufficiently ironic to keep you from being burned at the stake.
The balloon should read "Mass produced cheap iconography is the tool of Capitalist reactionary forces, the new opiate of the people!"
I'm with the nay sayers. But here's a thought. Instead of hanging it, ask the same question to your ethics or intro class and have them write a short argument for or against it. Then have the class discuss what to do and then make a decision. If you decide to hang it, it's only for the semester. You take it down and do the same assignment again...
If you do decide to hang it now or because of a class, I'd juxtapose next to Kerry's suggested poster. It makes me uncomfortable to have fun with a picture of a mass murderer.
I like CMN's suggestion to have it be decided by dueling essays from a class of freshmen each semester. But I wouldn't go with a cheap Chinese frame; I don't think that's obvious enough. I'd go with a super cheesy big shiny gold frame, maybe with beadwork or rhinestones on it, something you might see overpowering the picture of an unfortunate girl at her Quinceanera.
Che!
The divine is not trivial, so you shouldn't be worried about that. You should be worried about:
1. this interfering with your job as an educator, by making students feel uncomfortable, etc.
2. this not being funny
So maybe if you can find a way to hang it that is funny and is obviously intended to be so. Perhaps a lolmao? I can has cultral revolution?
On second thought, you're probably better off leaving it down.
"Papa Ooh Mao Mao? The Bird is not the word!"
YKW, congratulations! This is the comment of the day. As a prize you win a free year's subscription to The Philosophers' Playground! Once again, congratulations and keep up the good work.
See if you can get permission from your school to have it embedded in the floor of your office as a welcome mat, possibly under some lexan.
Or, possibly, write "Capitalism for Dummies" on his Lil' Red Book.
I love the irony of Mao reduced to the ultimate cheese, but have reservations about hangin it. Apt to missinterpretation.
You kno what I would love ... and pay HEAPS for ... a reproduction of that iconic work Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Gottfried Helnwein ... I would love that reproduced with Mao, Pol Pot, Stalin, Bin Laden, Adi Amin, and with the Ayatollah Khomeini as the guy behind the counter. Would hang that on my wall anytime.
How about "a little Mao a little less"
I quite like the thought bubble idea, you could have a lot of fun with that, and it would cut down on the misinterpretations.
When I was in China last year for the International Association of Bioethics conference I did love the irony that Mao appeared to be the number one thing to sell to tourists. It was a strange place though, you could still get the feel of authoritarianism and communism. Big signs at the airport saying that "The people shall ensure that the customs agents do their job well"... And guards on the door to each room at the conference who wouldn't let you in unless you were wearing your badge around your neck (nope just having it wasn't good enough)
Very strange
Cheers
David
Put it up, you pinko commie
You're not an artist though. You're a decorator. Don't hang it. Or post a clear label that says "irony" in at least seven languages, including Mandarin and Tibetan.
First, I would weigh your enjoyment in the poster against the likelihood of the poster interfering with that which you care about. If you enjoy it more than that likelihood, I would put it up.
But, should you enjoy the poster?
Is it meant to send a message and does it send that message? Is the displaying of the poster like that of saying "Big Mac" when attempting to order a salad? If it is likely to fail the intended message, then I would not post it.
As a G'burg graduate with a major in philosophy, I appreciate the concern as I'm familiar with the campus milieu: at least as it was manifested in the mid- to late-1980s....
Consider putting the poster up with a bold faced caption; something like, "Hardwork pays!"
I'm sure the management majors will enjoy that....
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