http://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2007/spanish_posters/
This poster is for ¡Bienvenido, Mister Marshall!, which is a Spanish film that emphasizes the question of European (specifically Spanish) identity in the face of American consumerism. The film was directed by Luis Garcia Berlanga and released in 1953. In the movie, a Spanish town prepares itself for the arrival of American diplomats, hoping that the diplomats will give them benefits of the Marshall Plan. In order to prepare for the visit and impress the Americans, the town redecorates to display stereotypical Spanish culture complete with a renowned flamenco dancer and Andalusian costumes. The people from the town dream about the American visitors who will give the town tractors and other goods. In the end, the diplomats drive past the town. The townspeople are left to pay for their elaborate display without completing their end goal of gaining the benefits of the Marshall Plan. As exemplified by the Spanish villagers, while people began to rebuild cities and rehabilitate bodies after World War II, European nations also questioned and reconstructed their various identities.
There is an interesting parallel between the village’s reconstruction/decoration of itself in stereotypical ways to Europe’s reconstruction in the consumerist ways of the United States. Both Europe and the villagers need help rebuilding, but would this kind of reconstruction be at the cost of their personal European identities? The villagers do not decorate their city for their eyes. Victoria de Grazia, a historian from Columbia University, argues in her book, Irresistible Empire- America’s Advance through Twentieth-century Europe, that American consumerism created economic power for the United States over Europe. Accepting help from other countries in rebuilding would make the process of reconstruction easier and quicker, but there would be considerable foreign influence in the economy and culture. However, if the country rebuilt itself, “change, when it comes, will occur at [its] own tempo, through [its] own resources, and be in [its] own image” (Garzia, 338).
The United States created a “Market Empire” in which it influenced the actions and economies of other nations. Alexandre Kojève, a Russian-born French philosopher, discussed ’empires’ in his “Outline of a Doctrine of French Policy” in the more traditional sense of the word. He argued that Germany and the United States would reduce France to the rank of a secondary power within continental Europe, and urged the creation of a Latin Empire that would ensure France’s continued elevated position of power. France’s political identity was changing drastically.
Kojève and Grazia both discuss the concept of control in relation to empires. According to Grazia, the United States had a “Market Empire,” which meant that the country held control on Europe through Europe’s adoption of its consumerist culture. Kojève argues that African colonies are what the Latin Empire should control in order to be an empire (Kojève 19). These two concepts of empires have different influences on identity. The United States’ position as an empire depends on its ability to convince other nations to adopt its culture of consumerism, and benefit from the purchases made to companies from the United States. This model asks European society to change its economic identity in order for the “Market Empire” to work. France’s identity depends on its physical hold on (with Italy and Spain) and exploitation of African colonies.
It seems that at the conclusion of World War II, nations struggled with identity not only because of heavy displacement of people, but also because of the rise of the American Market Empire that encouraged people to all want mass produced goods in the name of social equality. I think as economies became more similar and people began to have similar ideas on social equality through the market place, the concept of Europe as a singular identity emerged. Europe after World War II started to become “common.”
In reference to the question of identity, do you think Spain benefit from being excluded from the Marshall Plan?
A Kojève, Outline of a Doctrine of French Policy, Policy Review, 126 (August 2004), 3-40.pdf
I like your comparison between the American “Market Empire” and Kojeve’s proposed Latin Empire. It shows the different mindsets after the war, one being the spread of capitalism/consumerism in an attempt of keeping communism at bay, and the other being the fear of the rise of the German empire once again. The Marshall Plan did seem to give America substantial economic control over the Western part of Europe, and it is still seen today.