Cult of Personality

[mark_asphodel]

I wanted to write something about leader cults and the twisted relationship that citizens of Western democracies have with the concept of monarchy, but I'm stuck for words right now, so have a picture of North Korea's dynastic founders instead.

Actually, I think that picture sums up the whole attraction/repulsion dynamic in a suitably banal way.

Comments

[amielleon]

Lately when I think about democracies, I think about the later days of the Roman senate.

People can be remarkably arrogant when it comes to their own country.

[wolfraven80.livejournal.com]

Wow. Don't they look happy. O_o

Mind you isn't there a painting in one of the US state building called the Apotheosis of Washington? That sort of weirded me out the first time I hear about it.

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. That's a great example. There's more US-centric bizarro art out there, too, both the big paintings and smaller commemorative cartoons.

[writerawakened.livejournal.com]

Wow. A modern-day Napoleonic family.

Blech. XD

[mark-asphodel.livejournal.com]

I love the way that this painting uses both artistic tropes that seem to evoke Western royalty and distinct Communist tropes (like the role of Kim Jong-suk).