Blog 6: Political Cartoon Analysis

This political cartoon plays on the ongoing unrest with Wall Street among the American public. At this time many people are participating in the Occupy Wall Street protest which have caused the debate over Wall Street’s participation in the American economy to come to the forefront.

The cartoon depicted above contains elements of indexical signs, substitutions and superimposition. The man, seen as being Wall Street, is an indexical sign for the system of corporations that make up Wall Street. The woman in the cartoon represents the American people. Substitution is used to show the growing unrest with Wall Street. The printing of “Wall Street” on the businessman and the printing of “Bonus” on the moneybag is showing imposition.

The giant businessman has many attributes that represent some of the atrocities that many people have spoken about in regards to Wall Street. The most obvious attribute is his size. He is very tall and fat, especially in comparison to the woman that he is holding. His overall largeness is a representation of how much power Wall Street has been able to obtain. It shows that the corporations, which the businessman ultimately represents, has gotten to the point where they are out of control and unable to be stopped and that they can walk around destroying the smaller business and households around them. His suit and glasses give off the stereotypical image of a corporate businessman. In comparison to the rest of his body, his head is small. This may represent the idea that those that run corporations are not smart or do not have any idea as to the problems that plague the rest of the country.

In contrast with the giant businessman, there is the small woman that he is holding. She is much smaller than him, thus representing the small amount of power that average American households have over corporations. She is also screaming, showing that she is scared or horrified by the image of or by the pain that the giant businessman is inflecting on her. He is holding her like King Kong held Ann Darrow, as if he is searching for her love. With the expression that she is giving off it also appears as though she is be chocked by him, that Wall Street is cutting off average American’s air by putting regulations and causing economic strife. These two images together is ironic because the corporations need the average Americans to continue to survive, yet their need to be dominant is hurting their consumers.

One of the less prominent images in the cartoon is the large footprints placed through the houses. The footprints represent the left over mess from the giant “Wall Street” businessman. The houses are quaint and have the image of a stereotypical American suburb. These houses are destroyed and the giant footprints ruin their manicured lawns. This is symbolic of how the overarching power of Wall Street has hurt the homeowners, seemingly the middle class, of America. This plays on the controversy in the news over Wall Street, which typically represents the top 1% of the population, using their power to control the economy and cause problems for those in the lower 99%.

Other images in the cartoon include the moneybag that the giant businessman has in his jacket pocket. This represents the controversy that arose over corporate heads getting bonuses when they were accepting government bailout money. Another image is the phrase written off to the side that says, “Why don’t you love me?” This is a play on the corporations and Wall Street being detached from the average American household. They are unaware of what is going on with the majority of Americans and they are unwilling to figure out how to help them. They feel that the majority of people should essentially get over whatever problems they have and continue on with their lives, as the corporations have been able to do.