Amazing Stories 1950s

The issue October 1933, volume 8, number 6 was illustrated by Ed Valigursky. The style started to change with the times and thus, there seems to be more influence from comic books and pop art styles. With bold colors and dramatic shadow. 

In this particular issue, it seems to be set in a city on the roof of a tall building, based off the view of skyscrapers in the background. There is a monster leering over the side of the roof to view onto it and discover the woman laying on the floor of the roof. The woman appears to be laying on a sheet, naked except for the white sheet that she is clutching to her chest, covering her torso and gentials. She is frightened by the creature, indicted by her body language of leaning away from it and clutching the fabric in her hand as well as the wide eyes and mouth open as if she were about to scream. The creature looks like a gigantic insect, maybe a praying mantis. It has huge antennas as well as black and beat red eyes staring directly at the woman or viewer, it's hard to tell which. The monster looks like it wants to open its mouth and eat the woman, based on the tongue hanging out of its mouth. 

King Kong was re-released a few times at the beginning of the 1950s, with the last time being 1956. After that, it was sold to television and played continuously. It was a fan favorite, with one channel reportedly having played it about seventeen times in one day. Also, the movie Gentlemen Prefer Blondes came out in 1953 and Marilyn Monroe was at the height of her career, she became the ideal. Thus, illustrated women took obvious inspiration from Monroe and the standard of beauty.

The rise of pop culture and media outlets marketing the ideology that women have to be sexually charged and hyper aware of their physical appearance or they wouldn’t be able to score a husband. There were hundreds of ads for a variety of products from makeup to household cleaning supplies, urged woman to look their best and act accordingly in hopes that a man would be able to tolerate them and take care of them. The damsel in distress archetype was also common in a lot of depictions of women. The women depended on men and were viewed as weak housewives while men were viewed as strong and the breadwinners.