The Unity of The Students

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In mid to late 60’s China a movement was created. First by student from wealthy military families who did not believe in the teachings they were receiving in school, so they retaliated against their teachers and their principles. Soon students everywhere were refusing the teachings of the school and brutally beating their school administrators. These children labeled themselves Mao’s red guard and wore either their parents or homemade Mao suits, which were truly old army issued uniforms. The Red Guard linked itself to Mao at first but soon he saw the movement of children as a way to bring forth the cultural revolution.

The image above is an example how the Mao suit allowed the nation to be unified. Now with the suit there were no visible gender differences or economic differences, all were one. However there was a lost of personal identity or individuality and that is replaced by unity. nice description
Denotations: The image at fist glance just looks like a mob of hands and the color red. However  with closer examination these are all students probably both male and female, at a rally with their Mao suits on and their little red book with Mao’s words in them. In the background there is a political building with a very large image of Mao posted on it.
In half of the photograph it is a sea of green and red. In the upper half there is the red political building with Mao’s image and a brilliant blue sky above that.
Connotations: The mob of children that appear mohave no gender but seem to be passionately supporting a cause have completely lost their individuality. Instead of seeing individual students there is instead one group, one cause, one goal. The suit that each student is wearing itself represents unity and also power. Having been what military men used to wear the suit itself carries an “air” of power with it. Especially with such a large group of people wearing the suit it is almost like an army. The same goes for the abundance of the color red, which also represents power, just adding to the “army’s” status.
The political building (the gate of heavenly peace) in the background with Mao’s image, that is directly behind the students but also above shows how the students are ultimately under Mao’s control. He is further from the foreground of the picture but he the ruler, he is control of this united group. They have united under him and for him and for their country. The bright blue sky represents how the students believed that what the were doing, and even what Mao himself believed, that they were doing what was best for the country, so that it could be better. This bright blue represents the happiness that the Red Guard and Mao believed they were creating.
is it better to organize the denotation components and critical connotations in a side by side fashion?