Personification~

Ok, so. For this new module I've been looking at the "my dogs are barking" brief and the idea of stereotyping and personification hit me like a good idea does. I think it was the part talking about regional dialect and I suddenly remembered a very bizarre anime I came across last year. However, I'm jumping ahead of myself.

First of all, an explanation. Death personified is the Grim Reaper. The skeleton donned in a long hooded robe, carrying around a big old scythe.

Here he is:
Grim, from the Grim adventures of Billy and Mandy. Death itself isn't a person, it can't be a person. It's Anthropomorphism.

From good old wiki: Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to, or, some would argue, recognition of human characteristics in, non-human creatures and beings, phenomena, material states and objects or abstract concepts.

Examples include animals and plants and forces of nature such as winds, rain or the sun depicted as creatures with human motivation able to reason and converse. The term derives from the combination of the Greek ἄνθρωπος (ánthrōpos), "human" and μορφή (morphē), "shape" or "form".

The idea I want to look into is National Personification.
"A national personification is an anthropomorphization of a nation or its people; it can appear in both editorial cartoons and propaganda."

Examples Include:

Britania (UK) and Uncle Sam (USA)

1914 poster showing Marianne (France), Mother Russia (Russia) and Britannia (UK).

And good old Uncle Sam again.

I've always loved this idea of giving something a personality and beings that really has no reason for being other than to show patriotic pride to what ever country. It's a reason why political cartoons and strips are so popular and easy to understand.