The Scream

:For the 1990s hard rock band, see The Scream (band).

Role in popular culture

In the late 20th century, The Scream acquired iconic status in popular culture. In 1983-1984, pop artist Andy Warhol made a series of silk prints of works by Munch, including The Scream. The idea was to desacralize the painting by devaluating its originality and making it into a mass-reproducible object. However, as remarked above, Munch had already begun that process himself, by making a lithograph of the work for reproduction.

Related Topics:
1983 - 1984 - Pop artist - Andy Warhol - Lithograph

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Characteristic of post-modern art is Erró's ironic and irreverent treatment of Munch's masterpiece in his acrylic paintings The Second Scream (1967) and Ding Dong (1979){{ref|ref5}}.

Related Topics:
Post-modern - Erró - Ironic

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The work's reproduction on all kinds of items, from tee shirts to coffee mugs, bears witness to its iconic status as well as to its complete desacralization in the eyes of today's public. In that respect, it is comparable to other iconic works of art, such as Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. The Scream is an emotionally very potent work, and the banalization of the image in popular culture can be interpreted as an attempt to defuse the feeling of unease it inevitabily provokes in the viewer, though some would say that this interpretation is overcomplication, and that the makers of merchandise are simply trying to make money off a well known image.

Related Topics:
Leonardo da Vinci - Mona Lisa

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An American muralist, Robert Fishbone, discovered a gap in the market when in 1991 he started selling inflatable dolls of the central figure in the painting. His St. Louis-based company, On The Wall Productions, has sold hundreds of thousands of them. Critics have observed that by taking the figure out of its context (the landscape), Fishbone has destroyed the unity of Munch's work, thereby neutralizing its expressive force.

Related Topics:
Muralist - 1991 - St. Louis

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As one of very few works of modern art that are instantly recognizable even to people who know very little about art, The Scream has been used in advertising, in cartoons and on television. In one of her chat shows, Dame Edna Everage appeared in a Scream-patterned dress. The work has also fascinated film makers. Ghostface, the crazy slasher in Wes Craven's Scream horror movies, wears a Halloween mask reminiscent of the central figure in the painting. Child actor Macaulay Culkin's pose in front of the mirror, in Home Alone by Chris Columbus, also refers ironically to Munch's work.

Related Topics:
Advertising - Cartoon - Television - Dame Edna Everage - Wes Craven - Scream - Halloween - Macaulay Culkin - Home Alone - Chris Columbus

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