Like an artifact from a Philip K. Dick novel, the "Keep Calm and Carry On" poster was printed during World War II to be distributed during the German occupation of England. After WWII, the poster was shredded. It became a rarity, and only seven copies of the original poster are known to exist.
The revival began in 2001 after
Barter Books (Alnwick Station, England) found the poster in the bottom of a box of books and began to sell facsimile copies. Sales escalated, and it eventually became the object of parody, such as "Keep Calm and Make Tea".
Now the poster's design and font has become influential. It's the apparent source for two film posters:
The King's Speech and
The Social Network. There's a shot in
The King's Speech that briefly shows a "God Save the King" poster in the same style. Since Google Image doesn't bring up that poster, could that mean it was created for the film?
I'd wonder "carry on" with what? -- like "pretend we're not occupied"? Perhaps this is self-evident to Brits.
ReplyDeleteThe graphics in The King's Speech are clearly derived from this poster, but I can't see any connection to the Zuckerberg book cover. That same sans-serif face can be found everywhere.
-Roger Reed
Actually it's not the same typeface anyway.
ReplyDelete-Roger