http://www.metafilter.com/activity/22022/posts/mefi/ MetaFilter posts by Quietgal en-us http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 120 http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/60330 Innocence is constructed by disavowing things that are right in front of your face. Richard Halpern, professor of English at Johns Hopkins University, published a different take on Norman Rockwell's art in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0226314405/metafilter-20/ref=nosim/"><i>Norman Rockwell: The Underside of Innocence</i></a>. He looks below the idyllic surface of nostalgic Americana and sees <a href="http://www.goantiques.com/scripts/images,id,159812.html#image2">unwitting voyeurism</a> and <a href="http://www.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=300023">blurred boundaries "between asexual friendship and Eros"</a>. Naturally, many Rockwell fans don't want to hear this about their beloved painter of innocence: an <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2006/10/01/portrait_of_the_artist_as_a_dirty_old_man/">article</a> about this book in the <i>Boston Globe</i> drew quite a few <a href="http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2006/10/12/norman_rockwell_controversy/">scathing comments</a>. (<a href="http://www.bugmenot.com/view/boston.com ">BugMeNot</a> logins for the <i>Boston Globe</i> website) tag:metafilter.com,2008:site.60330 Sun, 15 Apr 2007 15:23:28 -0800 normanrockwell art Americana innocence nostalgia Quietgal