Norman Rockwell

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Norman Percevel Rockwell (February 3, 1894 – November 8, 1978) American illustrator best known for his covers for The Saturday Evening Post. Often associated with children or idyllic American life. His paintings have been frequently homaged or parodied in popular culture.

References/Homages/ShoutOuts to his paintings in Popular Culture:

• "Freedom from Fear": Homaged in Empire of the Sun
• "Freedom from Want": Homaged in Lilo and Stitch, American Gangster as well as covers for JSA #54 and Fantastic Four #564
• "The Shiner": Homaged in Forrest Gump
• "Boy Discovering Santa Suit": Homaged in The Polar Express and a deleted scene from Secondhand Lions
• The setting of The Iron Giant is named "Rockwell" after the artist.
• Norman Rockwell appears as a character in the Young Indiana Jones episode "A Passion for Life".
  • George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are both fans and collectors of Rockwell's art; in 2010 the Smithsonian held an exhibition of works from their collections.
• Rockwell is shown painting the original Silk Spectre in the film adaptation of "Watchmen".

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Tropes associated with Rockwell and his paintings:

• Children Are Innocent
• Culture Equals Costume: "The Golden Rule"
• Creator Thumbprint: Children, animals, elaborate costuming.
• Eagle Land: Type I
• Embarrassing Tattoo: "The Tattoo"
• Everytown, America
• The Fifties
• Gone Swimming, Clothes Stolen: "Stolen Clothes" has a mild variant, with a dog making off with a boy's pants and leaving him in his swim trunks.
• Gossipy Hens: "The Gossips"
• Gossip Evolution
• Heroic BSOD: "The Discovery"
• Hey, It's That Guy!: Model James K. Brunt makes frequent appearances.
• Malt Shop: "The Soda Jerk"
• Marilyn Maneuver: "The Cave of Winds"
• Mood Whiplash: Look at a bunch of Rockwell's small town life paintings then see "Let’s Give Him Enough and On Time".
• Posthumous Collaboration: "Garfield Visits Rockwell," originally done for a Garfield calendar and now being merchandised.
• POV Cam: Subjects in Rockwell's paintings are often seen from behind in this manner.
• Recurring Characters: Willie Gillis during World War II on Saturday Evening Post covers; Cousin Reginald on The Country Gentlemen covers.
• Rogue Juror: "Jury Room"
• Scout Out: Averted. Rockwell was an official calendar artist for the Boy Scouts of America for fifty years.
• Slice of Life
• Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: His work has been criticized as too idealistic, but in response, he said, "I paint life as I would like it to be."
  • Even his civil rights paintings were optimistic that America was doing the right thing desegregating schools and neighborhoods.
• Something Completely Different: Rockwell did several April Fools' Day covers for the Post which were essentially visual puzzles inviting the reader to spot the many "errors" contained therein.
  • A number of his later Post covers were simple portraits of well-known figures including Richard M Nixon and John F Kennedy.
• Spiritual Successor: Alex Ross is cited as "The Norman Rockwell of Comics". Illustrator C.F. Payne's back cover paintings for Reader's Digest have also been frequently compared to Rockwell's work.
  • Thomas Kinkade, Painter of Light(tm) wants to be Norman Rockwell so very badly ("painting for the people"), but thinks that means painting landscapes with buildings so brightly lit that "seem consumed from within by raging infernos."
  • Frank Capra, though more a contemporary than a successor, could be seen as filmdom's answer to Rockwell.
• Sweetheart Sipping: This Orange Crush advertisement.
  • Also in A Day in the Life of a Girl.
• World War II: Rockwell depicted many soldiers during the wartime years. Most famously Willie Gillis.