FREEDOM FRIES

THE STATUE OF LIBERTY vari-
ously appears as a symbol of America,
of democracy, of New York—or is
remembered as a gift from the French.
Christoph Niemann and R. J. Matson
submitted their sketches (right and far
right) during the hysterical outbreak
against the French led by the Murdoch
press in 2003: The French were at that
moment thought to be insufficiently
enthusiastic about the U.S. invasion
of Iraq. The restaurants that served
the House of Representatives renamed
French fries “freedom fries.”

IN WARTIME, somber images, such as
Lou Romano’s flag-draped coffins shipped
home by the military (opposite)—an image
that had become rare since the Defense
Department banned the media from
photographing caskets during the first
Gulf War—were interspersed with others
where artists tried for laughs. A good
topic for derision throughout was the
motive underlying the new patriotism.
Art Spiegelman, who strived to express his
disaccord with virtually all of the policies
of the Bush administration, used the iconic
Uncle Sam from James Montgomery
Flagg’s World War I recruiting poster to
paint what he saw as the United States’ call
to arms in the twenty-first century (left).

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