DISCUSS THE ONLINE PRESENCE OF ONE OF THE ABOVE FIGURES- HOW DO THEY APPEAR ICONIC ON THE INTERNET, WHAT ARE GOOD SOURCES FOR UNDERSTANDING THEIR ROLE IN AMERICAN CULTURE? (THINK ABOUT WHAT MAKES FOR A GOOD WEBPAGE).
Amelia Earhart is one of the most iconic figures in American culture and a Google search of her name provides over three million results. The official website www.ameliaearhart.com is an obvious starting point for a discussion of her online presence. From the homepage, we can detect that her legacy is still very strong through the link to the 2009 Hollywood adaptation of her life starring Hilary Swank and Richard Gere. Her name has become heavily commercialised and visitors to the site can purchase everything from modern replicas of her clothing (costing into the thousands, in some cases) to other various merchandise. A Korean company has even used Earhart in their advertising campaign showing us that she is an internationally recognised and respected figure. The BBC article and audio slideshow place emphasis on her role as a “feminist celebrity” despite the gender inequalities of the 1930’s and we hear how, on arrival in Derry in 1932, people were pointing up to the skies to see her “falling from the heavens,” not unlike a God.
Also found on the first page of Google results is a National Geographic news article entitled Where is Amelia Earhart? (http://news.nationalgeographic.co.uk/news/2012/07/120724-amelia-earhart-google-doodle-fred-noonan-115th-nation-science/). It puts forward three theories about the circumstances of her disappearance in 1937 which are portrayed as being extremely mysterious and intriguing. Reading about the expedition which cost $2.2 million and the project which intends to collect DNA from personal letters to identify potential remains, it is obvious that Earhart still holds a place in the hearts of the nation. The elaborate conspiracy theory devised by Rollin Reineck (that she was taken hostage by the Japanese and returned to the U.S. under the alias of Irene Craigmile- a real woman whose life was turned upside down by the bizarre accusation) shows the lengths people are prepared to go to in order to unearth the mystery surrounding her fate. The article ends by questioning why the U.S. government is holding secret documents about her disappearance and this invites even more public speculation.
While both of these sites are certainly interesting, better sources for understanding Earhart’s role in American culture would be http://www.biography.com/people/amelia-earhart-9283280 or http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/earhart/ as they provide more detailed and realistic information. But whatever the source, she is consistently portrayed as a strong and ambitious young woman who was not afraid to go against the grain. She provides timeless inspiration for America’s youth and is more than deserving of her iconic status.
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