WP2 Statement of Purpose

Comics are written to provide entertainment to people. Sometimes it can be viewed as humorous, but other times comics are written thoughtfully and can have a lot of meaning behind them. No matter what the comic is written about or for, it always has a purpose.

In the comic above, two older aged people are seen wearing nothing but undergarments in a convenience store where they are clearly out of place due to the fact that they are not wearing proper clothes for going shopping in. The audience can tell from what the woman is saying that there is clearly no evidence of her being aware of the fact that she is completely out of place in her environment. The audience is also intrigued by the partially clothed couple solely because of the fact that in our society today, it is not acceptable to go out in public when you do not have “proper” clothes on. In almost any convenience store today these kind of people would be either arrested, asked to leave, or thought of as senile for so casually walking around in public.

We are able to tell that the lady on the left is being serious but doesn’t understand that no one else is able to take her seriously because of her physical appearance. She is given a goofy persona by the way the text is written, the curly, unkempt hair, and because of the clueless look on her face. The man on the left adds an incredible amount of character to the comic. Although he doesn’t say anything in the comic, he is clearly just as oblivious to being out of place as his wife is.

Most people would find this comic to be humorous, however an older audience may take offense to this kind of comic. Here, the older people are portrayed as being ignorant and senile. This puts old people into the stereotype that all older people are ignorant and dumb. Although this comic is humorous it is also very ageist. Ageism is the stereotyping and discrimination against individuals or groups because of their age.

This comic is saying that technology is making people more isolated. People forget how to act around others because technology is slowly making things easier and easier to do daily things. The people in this picture are used to shopping online “in the comfort of their own home,” but when their computer crashes they go to the store while they are still wearing the same clothes that they would normally wear, oblivious to the fact that that is not the way they should be dressed in public. Technology has taken us farther away from people. Take fast food for example. When you order from a place like Jimmy John’s, you have the option of calling for delivery and getting a sandwich within the next fifteen minutes of your phone call, or you can get on the internet and type in what you want without talking to a single employee. Technology is slowly making people become less social and takes us out of reality to get through life.

WP1

Photography is something that, when analyzed can be incredibly insightful. There are several ways that you can look at photos that can make viewing them much more meaningful, rather than just judging it based on whether or not you like the picture. In the photo “new labour” there are certain aspects that are truly meaningful and do a good job of capturing the overall theme of the picture. It is a good idea to view pictures from different viewpoints and be able to fully understand what the photographer is trying to relay to his audience. The most easily understandable theme in this photograph is the idea of resistance and defiance, most easily comprehendible by the the large

arrows pointing in the opposite direction of the immense crowd.

"New labour” was taken in London, England in April of 2003. At the time, the governing party in was called “The Labour Party,” which explains the pun in the title of the photograph “new labour.” It was taken right in the heat of the invasion of Iraq, which was led by The United States of America, but was backed by British forces. Although the United States was the main force in this war with 248,000 troops, Great Britain had the second most with 45,000. The leaders of these nations claimed that the reason for the war was “to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people.” Several

countries in Europe were opposed to the war. The main counter argument to George Bush’s stance on getting weapons of mass destruction out of Iraq was that the Iraqi people in fact did not even have weapons of mass destruction and that the only reason we were going over to Iraq was to drill for oil. People called Bush a power thirsty leader and viewed him as more of a dictator than a president. Opinion polls taken in Spain and Italy revealed that upwards of 90% of the population opposed the war. In London, it is estimated that between one and two million people marched in the streets to protest the war. There were over 600 cities across the world that marched during the time of invasion, which The Guinness Book of World Records estimates as the largest mass protest movement in history. Police said that in February of 2003, the biggest demonstration of protesters in the history of London took to the streets to shows their anti-war feelings. (BBC) Europe in general was incredibly upset with the Iraq war. It wasn’t just a few countries whose citizens turned out to show endorse the protest of the Iraq war. According to Dominique Reynie, a French academic, between January 3 and April 12 of 2003, thirty six million people worldwide took part in around three thousand protests.

There are many ways that the picture has characteristics of anarchy. Typically, streets are a place to drive automobiles and this street in particular appears to be a one way street. The group of people here refuse to follow the social norm of walking on the sidewalk because they have decided that what they believe in is more important than following typical social norms. The street is a place where people on foot are usually not welcome except for when given the go-ahead to cross a street. Growing up, we are told to never cross the street without looking and definitely not to be congregating in the street.

Pathos can be found in this photo, however, you would need to know the background of this photo to be able to make a knowledgeable, educated summary of it. This picture is trying to bring out the idea that the Iraq war was unnecessary. The people walking away from the arrows could put a “cause” in to play that says they are defiant towards the United States’ position in the war. The effect here is that you may have many people who are for this and many who are not. This means that this photo is not just a photo to look at and say “Oh, that sure is pretty!” Rather, it sends a message and the audience who views it can either be for it or against it. It divides the audience in half, just as it has done with the arrows on either side with the street line going down the middle.

viewing this photograph, it is important to take into account three very important aspects; The hue, brightness, and contrast are three elements that make this picture so powerful. There is in fact, very little brightness in this picture since it was taken in black and white. The black brings out a sense of focus, darkness, and anger. Being black and white gives this photo a sense of gloom. It seems as though the colors very closely represent the feelings of not only the United States at the time of the war, but the entire world. Growing up during the Iraq war, I don’t recall a single time when I would turn on the news and not see news anchors and politicians arguing over what was right and wrong in the war. The fact that this picture, along with every other picture in the album is taken in black and white gives it sharp detail especially on the main focal points, the arrows, but makes sure that the highlights of the photo are not completely blown out. There are smoother transitions from shade to shade and it is overall, a lot easier to view. The crowd is only seen on the top half of the photo. The bottom half is extremely easy to view because of the fact that there are only two colors on it. There are also two vectors of attention that catch the eye. The two arrows pull the viewer much closer to the photo because they point directly at them. The photo is also slightly tilted, which makes it seem like the viewer is part of the crowd and not a third party viewing it. This photo really makes the viewer feel like he/she is a part of what is happening. When I viewed this photo, I felt an immediate connection. I felt as though I was being pulled into the picture. It was as if I was walking behind the crowd of protesters. I felt a direct connection with the people in the street. After doing more research and learning that the picture was taken during the Iraq war, I felt closer to the crowd. Being raised in a Democratic family, I was never as ambitious about showing my thoughts on the war as these people were, but I still never thought the war was a good idea and would consider myself to believe some of the same things that these people do.