The Two Illustrations and Its Personal Significance

It was the first day of classes for students attending CUNY schools. This also meant it would be my very first day as a student in college. The first class that I was scheduled to go to was a FIQWS class in where a focus was on Psychoanalysis, a subject that I did not know much about beforehand. We were introduced to our fellow peers as well as to our professor Ms. K, and we were given our first assignment. There were two pieces of text that the class received. They were two illustrations created in vastly different time periods, one being from the year 1964, while the second one was more recent being created in February 2017. We discussed the two images first in order to gain some context on what was occurring in the two images. As I sat and listened to the information being provided, I was able to remember some instances in my life and how one of these images still can occur in this modern-age. Norman Rockwell’s illustration can relate to how people of other cultures may still be able to face these discriminations while Glenn McCoy’s comic misses the mark and ultimately disrespects the original’s message.

There were two images that the class observed. The first image was one of a little African-American girl named Ruby Bridges who was receiving hate from others due to her going to a school that was previously “all white.” The image was illustrated in the year 1964 and it was called, “The Problem We All Live With”, illustrated by Norman Rockwell. It visibly shows how much people didn’t support her act of going to a white school, so much so that those who opposed her had thrown objects at her such as tomatoes. The illustrator here most likely intended to inform those unaware of what was going on back then, as well as to show how petty and unjust this hate was. This can be supported with how the illustrator depicts Ruby Bridges as looking rather saddened of what was going on, as well as the hateful word “Nigger” being shown in the background showing the audience the racism that this girl had to unfortunately face.

The second image the class viewed was of a cartoon depicting Betsy Devos in a nearly identical structure that the Ruby Bridges illustration had. The political cartoon was called “Trying to Trash Betsy DeVos” illustrated by Glenn McCoy. It depicts Betsy DeVos as somebody who is on par with Ruby Bridges in being discriminated against. The main purpose is for entertainment, as well as to victimize Betsy. The evidence for this claim is within the artist’s depiction of Betsy DeVos, as he makes it extremely clear that this is a homage to Norman Rockwell’s illustration, but he skews the main point of his illustration and uses it to depict a new idea. This new idea stating that being disagreed with is the equivalent of being oppressed isn’t the idea that the original illustration had.

The genre of the illustration “The Problem We All Live With” is based on an event that did occur, meaning it is a Non-fiction, historical illustration. The cartoon “Trying to Trash Betsy DeVos” is a fictional event, and satirizes Norman Rockwell’s illustration to convey the cartoon. I very much prefer historical paintings over political cartoons, mainly due to the fact that political cartoons are mainly used as a source of propaganda. The cartoon tries treating Betsy DeVos as some victim who apparently just because people reject her ideas, she is just as oppressed as a little African-American child. Being rejected for having ideas that many Americans do not agree with isn’t the same as being discriminated by others simply because of skin color. Betsy being in this victimized position doesn’t rub me the right way because of this unjust comparison.

The illustration “The Problem We All Live With” reminds of an animated series called “RWBY” in where a species of characters is consistently harassed for being different. In this series, there is a race of humans called “Faunus” or human-like beings who have traits of different types of animal species. Faunus constantly face ridicule and racism simply due to their unique features. As much as they would try to assimilate to society, they would constantly be oppressed by normal humans simply for a physical characteristic they could not control. The illustration “The Problem We All Live With” reminds me of a show that also depicts characters as being discriminated against despite having no valid reason to be discriminated.

The political cartoon “Trying to Trash Betsy DeVos” is an image I wholeheartedly disagree with and personally don’t find in good taste whatsoever. A majority of the hate and criticisms that Betsy DeVos faces is mainly in due to the fact that she is proposing ideas in America to try and make education a business, more than it already is. Her proposals can lead to a prominent boom in charter and private schools, while heavily damaging Public schools and destroying their reason to exist. (Olen 2018) These ideas are really controversial and as a result, face much criticism and backlash from people who oppose it. It isn’t the same comparing a person who is receiving backlash for legitimate reasons, to a little girl who is discriminated against simply for what they look like.

Seeing these images also have a significant personal value as well. Norman Rockwell’s illustration captures a clear picture of what racism can look like and how depressing it could be. Many may make the argument that America has cleaned up racism, and for the most part it’s true, but it is still out there. With the 2016 election as well as many statements stated by President Donald Trump, it seems now more than ever that discrimination is being popularized. Statements of his including, “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists.”(Newsday 2016) Such a stupid speech that told the world that my heritage and family were apparently on the same level as criminals, drug-traffickers and a rapist. That I’m a problem. Something that I can’t control is where I was born, and simply because of this, I am a horrible, degenerate lowlife individual who is ruining this society. Rockwell’s illustration brought me back to how a person’s ethnicity can be judged by others despite there being no reason to do so.

The two illustrations shown to the class are both important in what we as a society view. They were both illustrated for different reasons and for different audiences. An image of our society in a past time, and another of our society in the modern time. The two images are completely different, but are similar in the actual illustration. Despite this one similarity, it is all that there really is in the end. Visually they both look similar, but that’s as far as similarities go. Norman Rockwell’s illustration allows viewers like me to see how similar a depiction of an event is to some modern issues, while Glenn McCoy fails to capture where the problem lies.

This entry is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license.