From propaganda to cultural industry: Recontextualizing socialist visual symbols in Vietnam
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.48048/ajac.2027.194Keywords:
Socialist visual symbols, Cultural commodification, Political imagery, Popular culture hybridization, Creative resourcesAbstract
This article examines the transformation of socialist visual symbols in contemporary Vietnam, focusing on their shift from instruments of political propaganda to resources within cultural and creative industries. Since 1945, symbols such as the red flag with a yellow star, the hammer and sickle and revolutionary posters have functioned as key vehicles of socialist ideology and collective mobilization. In the context of economic reform and globalization, however, these symbols increasingly circulate in commercial and urban everyday settings. Drawing on Stuart Hall’s encoding/decoding framework, the study employs qualitative visual and discourse analysis of approximately sixty photographs and related materials collected in Ha Noi between March and September 2025. It identifies three interrelated tendencies: i) the commodification of socialist symbols as expressions of patriotism and national identity; ii) their aesthetic hybridization with globally circulating retro styles; iii) and a functional shift from ideological communication to cultural consumption. The article argues that Vietnam represents a distinctive trajectory in which socialist imagery remains politically authoritative while simultaneously operating within market logics, mediating memory, identity and commercial value in contemporary Southeast Asia.
Highlights
- Examines the transformation of socialist visual symbols in contemporary Vietnam
- Analyses the shift from political propaganda to cultural and creative resources
- Explores the commodification of socialist imagery in everyday and commercial contexts
- Demonstrates how visual symbols are recontextualised within Vietnam’s creative economy
- Contributes to debates on visual culture, ideologyand socialist transformation in Asia
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