Re: Have A Nice Day (Query, not greeting!)
PNFPNF (PNFPNF@AOL.COM)
Sat, 14 Mar 1998 18:00:45 EST
Whatever its origin, that smiley face seems--and seemed in the late '60s--far
closer to "middle America"/corporate America than to the serious interest
among parts of the radical movement and counterculture movement in altruism
and love, an interest which was a major point where the movements intersected,
affected by the (serious) anarchist movement, non-violent action, etc., too.
The smiley face was, to my knowledge, even less than a joke, to those on the
Left and/or the counterculture. Its specific origins may be whatever, but in
many ways it owed its existence to the good ol' American "Smile!" greeting,
which, whatever ITS origins, certainly expressed the EVERYTHING'S FINE
mentality/propaganda of the 1950s.
I distinctly remember coming out of seeing "The Seventh Seal" ca. 1959-60
with a friend and, walking across campus in clench-handed silence (the film,
after all, did , like Tillie Olsen's stories that came out about then,
confront issues of death and catastrophic depopulation--i.e. parallels to
nuclear holocaust--that nobody in American culture dared approach in the
'50s); walking toward us was a fraternity-style freshman in the then(and now)
popular short short haircut--with jacket, slacks, etc. "Smile," he beamed.
Paula Friedman