ABSTRACT
In this chapter the author analyses how Life's juxtapositions of image and text conformed to certain formulae in order to achieve an apparent coherence. Life, launched in 1936, marked the real coming of the picture paper to America. But Life was very different from its European counterparts; instead of British liberalism or the leftish anti-fascism of French and German photojournalism, its ethos was conservative, handing the nation a mythic version of itself bound within a tight set of ideologies. The majority of pictures taken for Life were made to be seen or used in a multi-image context supported by written material. Life’s first issue was dated November 23, 1936, and it promptly sold out the entire press run of 466,000 copies. Because of mistakenly low advertising rates and its expensive, heavy, coated paper, Life produced an astonishing $6 million loss before it paid back Time, Inc.’s investment.
