As we have already reacted together in class to a few Nate Beeler political cartoons concerning USA primaries and focusing on the character of Donald Trump, I thought it could perhaps be more interesting to deal with some cartoons that have an aim other than to denounce Trump and his rising power and influence in the country. There are many controversies right now concerning not only the USA but also a great part of the planet and these cartoons aims to illustrate some of them.
The Apple company has a worldwide reputation for producing high quality phones, tablets and computers. This firm has, however, an agreement with the FBI which allows their agents to virtually break into a very specific person's device in case they believe this person has done something that goes against the law. To do this, they need the consent of the whole firm; but a few weeks a go the FBI asked Apple the right to break into anyone's electronic devices without having to ask for permission to the company; which Apple denied forthright. This cartoon illustrates the strength of the company (symbolized through the image of an iPhone) when facing the aggressive pressure of the FBI, who wants to symbolically break into that phone. There is a message on the screen, that says "Right to Privacy" along with the icon of the company: a bitten Apple. Still, the screen is starting to get damaged by the huge machine that represents the FBI: the cartoonist thinks that, eventually, the firm might succumb to FBI's pressure.
There is a massive problem in the United States that concerns all citizens (as long as they want to have an education): College Fees. In American culture, the college or university a person will attend is decisive for his or her future professional career, as a college is a symbol of social empowerment. Someone who will study at an Ivy League University won't have any problem when it comes to finding a good job later on in his life; whilst someone attending a random college will struggle a lot more. Colleges have become a symbol of the social elite; and a family often needs to save money for many years so their child can attend a good college. This cartoon shows a morbid obese man wearing a hospital gown in which we can read "Public Colleges" (hence the man stands for high colleges fees). He is supposed to weigh himself in a balance that says "State Audit"(In America, the State Audit conducts financial and compliance and performance audits, investigations, and special studies to provide the General Assembly, the Governor, and the citizens with objective information about the state’s financial condition and the performance of the state’s many agencies and programs). Public Colleges are supposed to show their fees are lower, or at least that's what the government wants to do in order to satisfy people, but somehow Public Colleges, that are supposed to obey the government since they are public institutions, always find a way to increase educational fees.
This cartoon was published by Nate Beeler on 03/09/2007
I) Here, we can see a stereotypical american show presenter or a reporter dressed in an elegant black suit and followed by a tv camera man. The presenter is smiling and holding a mic, and by his words we can see he's getting ready to interview the "300 millionth American". Still, by his side we see a quite poor man, barefoot and wearing stained clothes, who is holding on to his few belongings. He still has a piece of electrocuted fence at his feet, which shows he just crossed the border that separates Mexico and the United States. He asks "Qué?" to the presenter, as he doesn't speak english and therefore cannot understand what he's being told. There is a very strong contrast between these two groups of characters.
II) Every year, thousands of hispanic immigrants cross the border that separates Mexico and the USA as they crave the land of opportunity that country has become to their eyes; they see it as a possibility to escape the extreme poverty they are surrounded by in their home countries. The immigrants do not come necessarily from Mexico; they come from anywhere in Central and South America and sometimes they have to cross many countries in order to reach Mexico and reach the USA from there. Nevertheless, those immigrants once they arrive to the United States (if they do) must face the fact that they have become an ethnic minority and live in a country that is not theirs, surrounded by a culture they don't truly understand. They have become "foreign Americans"which translates in social exclusion and many difficulties when it comes to, for example, finding a job. This cartoon shows that, nowadays, Americans do not only come from America and that the country is forced to involve in their culture and society people who do not feel, in any way, identified with it.
III) This cartoon illustrates the notion "Spaces and Exchanges" by showing the crash between two cultures that are being confronted nowadays dure to the massive wave of hispanic immigration in the United States. This confrontation takes place within a limited space: the borders of the country. In this picture, that opposition is visual: the compere is dressed in a very elegant way that contrasts violently with the poverty of the clothes the latino immigrant wears. Also, they do not even speak the same language or understand each other: there is going to be an exchange, but it's going to be really limited since the contrast between the two groups each character represents here is huge.
