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Why does the NRA use so much modern architecture in its latest ad?

United States Architecture News - Jul 06, 2017 - 15:44   13438 views

Why does the NRA use so much modern architecture in its latest ad?

A NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch says "the left uses their media to assassinate real news, and their entertainers to repeat the false narrative over and over again. The only way to save our country and our freedom from their lies is to fight the violence with the clenched fist of truth," in a newly-released NRA video - by using a series of modernist buildings including Frank Gehry's Disney Concert Hall, Renzo Piano’s towering New York Times building, John Portman‘s postmodern Westin Bonaventure Hotel, the Art Deco Los Angeles Times building, and Anish Kapoor‘s reflective Bean sculpture. 

"They use their schools to teach children that their president is another Hitler. They use their movie stars and singers and comedy shows and award shows to repeat their narrative over and over again."

But, why does the NRA use so much modern architecture in its latest ad? Is this a new threat for intellectualism through modern architecture? 

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But what’s less clear is why these modern buildings are featured. Architecture has a long history of functioning as a symbol of power–but how, historically, did modernism became a political target? It’s complicated.

Unsurprisingly, authoritarian regimes have typically looked to emulate the architecture of monarchs. Commissioned by men who held absolute power, these buildings and their lavish ornamentation were symbols of their wealth and strength of their empires. Stalin, Mussolini, and Hitler all used overt classical references in the buildings they commissioned...Continue Reading


Top image screenshot from the video

> via FastCo Design