This photograph is displayed in the Pier 24 Photography, San Francisco. The photographer is Paul Graham. The whole collection is called The Whiteness of the Whale and the series of this photograph is called American Night. Paul took this photograph in landscape with color. It is in the daytime and the weather is sunny and hot. A blanket of fog is on the sky from a distant place. A man who is around in the middle age is doing the lawn work. He dressed very simple. He is wearing a short sleeve t-shirt with horizontal stripes and a long pant. One of his hand is holding a red color grass mower and at the same time, he wiped the sweat from his forehead. His working environment is beautiful. There are a lot of trees along the mountain and besides …show more content…
The photographer captures the moment of life and the image reveals the life of American working class. All American need to work in order to strive for a better life, including the man in the photograph. As the saying goes, hard work pays off. Socioeconomic is all about trading. Working class regard working as a thing to trade for money. Doing lawn work needs manual labor and not many young people are willing to do such hard work. As a result, lawn work is most likely reserved for middle-aged work. It does not need high education level, but the technique of controlling the grass mower. Paul Graham leaves his initial impression of American working class in this photograph. The United States as a big and powerful country, people always see its bright side and neglect the life of poor people. The working class people are not always on the spot. Paul uses his art work to reveal the other side of America. When people are inherently thought about American people are living very well and placed in higher class, this photograph is able to show the disparity between what people thought and the reality. Working class people are around the world. They are all facing the same issue, which is working hard and striving for a better life. This photograph tells that the people in the world share the act of facing a deeply-rooted social …show more content…
I like how it is meaningful to express the socioeconomic issue and the way Paul photographed it. The content is so strong that the composition is relevant to the piece. Paul is good at selection of objects, the pose and the lighting in this photograph. Paul uses the grass mower as the subject to express that the man is doing a hard work and show it is one of the working tools for working class. Also, the man is wiping the seat from his forehead; this pose strongly shows how a working class use hard work to trade for a better life. This photograph is an overexposed image. Its saturation is using the lightness of a hue. The nearly invisible whiteness in the picture conveys the message that the fate of working class is not brightness and vibrant. They act according to the situation and their life are very simple. The emphasis of this photograph is visible. The man is on the middle of the paragraph and his pose is strongly giving the meaning to this photograph. The viewer can immediately assume that the man is dominant in the picture. Paul is controlling the composition very well to contribute the meaning to this photograph. Thus, the compositional strategy and design elements work effectively. However, the weakness part of this photograph is the contrast. It is rarely to see the degree of difference between the lightest and darkest part of the picture. While the man should be the focus point, the tone of the picture is the same. It leads to
Social and economic class is something we as Americans like to push into the back of our minds. Sometimes recognizing our class either socially or economically can almost be crippling. When individuals recognize class, limitations and judgment confront us. Instead, we should know it is important to recognize our class, but not let it define and limit us. In the essay, “Class in America”, Gregory Mantsios, founder and director of the Joseph S. Murphy Institute for Worker Education at the School of Professional Studies, brings to light the fact that Americans don’t talk about class and class mobility. He describes the classes in extremes, mainly focusing on the very sharp divide between the extremely wealthy and extremely poor. In contrast, George
Having such an image before our eyes, often we fail to recognize the message it is trying to display from a certain point of view. Through Clark’s statement, it is evident that a photograph holds a graphic message, which mirrors the representation of our way of thinking with the world sights, which therefore engages other
In the image, the box in the left bottom corner reads: Handle with Care. This ironically shows how uncared for this man is, as well as fragile. This also shows how he does not have family around him unlike the people in the back of the photo. Another satirical thing that can be observed is the name on the boxes which is Jerzees. This is a less expensive sports company. This shows how the man can not afford Nike, Adidas, or any other expensive name brand sports gear, which is a constant reminder of what he can not have. The viewer can also see a Burger King sign in the back of the image. The Burger King slogan does not apply to this social class at all. The sign incongruously reminds the reader how the homeless man can not “have it his way”. Peterson’s use of ironic statements makes the viewer think about every time they have walked pass a homeless person and didn’t stop to see if he or she was alright. On a daily basis, people are faced with challenging financial times and often people in prospering areas persistently neglect the unquestionable struggle of the less
Growing up in The United States, people are given this idea of an American Dream. Almost every child is raised to believe they can become and do anything they want to do, if one works hard enough. However, a majority of people believe that there is a separation of class in American society. Gregory Mantsios author of “Class in America-2009” believes that Americans do not exchange thoughts about class division, although most of people are placed in their own set cluster of wealth. Also political officials are trying to get followers by trying to try to appeal to the bulk of the population, or the middle class, in order to get more supporters. An interesting myth that Mantsios makes in his essay is how Americans don’t have equal opportunities.
The media portrays the upper class as something to strive for. Obtaining wealth and material possessions will bring you a happy life. The only way to get ahead is to emulate the rich and powerful and to live vicariously through them (Kendall 316). The media’s emphasis on the upper class takes away from people living life for themselves. Instead, they are persuaded to obtain a lifestyle that is realistically out of their means. Kendall states, “Largely through marketing and advertising, television promoted the myth of the classless society, offering on one hand the images of the American dream fulfilled wherein any and everyone can become rich and on the other suggesting that the lived experience of this lack of class hierarchy was expressed by our equal right to purchase anything we could afford”. Exaggerated views of the rich and successful in America are largely portrayed via television. Which gives a false idea of what happiness, wealth and material possessions can bring (Kendall 317). The poor and homeless are at the bottom of the class structure and are often overlooked, ignored and only portrayed as deserving of sympathy. They are stereotyped to be people who have problems such as drugs or alcohol (Kendall 318). Kendall goes on to explain that the middle class is considered the “working class” and are
This photo had global ramifications, and as what is arguably the most famous cover photo in journalism, it opened the world’s eyes to the soul and struggle of the afghan people during a time of war and suppression. The young girl is the center of the frame. Her eyes are the main focus of the image, speaking to the audience about the horrific things she has been through during the soviet occupation. Her eyes are the primary center of the photo, dim green on the outside and blurring internal to a light hazel. Something is past her eyes; her intense soul appears to pierce through to your own. Her eyes look where it counts into your extremely center, requesting understanding. Those eyes are a cry for help to let everyone know what the Soviet Union did to her people. Her innocence, although damaged, can still be seen peaking through her bright eyes. A green foundation complements her green eyes. Her dark hair is brushed far from her eyes with just a solitary strand falling over her cleared out eye. Her skin is tanned from spending her days in the sun and is marginally grimy. The lighting is low and delicate, strengthening and bringing on her eyes to pop. The sun is behind the camera shedding her face for the most part in the light. The left half of her face is faintly darker than the rest, making one accept that the sun was to one side. The green working behind her serves as an edge that matches the external edge of her green eyes, adding to their
In "Class in America", Gregory Mantsios says that "when politicians and social commentators draw attention to the plight of the poor, they do so in a manner that obscures the class structure and denies any sense of exploitation." Based off our readings, class discussion and films, income inequality is known to be erased or ignore. Our society frowns upon the expression of income in our daily conversations, as it could be seen braggy or a complaint depending on your status of income. Because it's frowned upon to talk about, the topic of income inequality becomes erased or ignored. In addition, income inequality in America's class structure can affect people's ability to reach their American Dream.
... study for the overall concept they appear rather as abstract patterns. The shadows of the figures were very carefully modeled. The light- dark contrasts of the shadows make them seem actually real. The spatial quality is only established through the relations between the sizes of the objects. The painting is not based on a geometrical, box like space. The perspective centre is on the right, despite the fact that the composition is laid in rows parallel to the picture frame. At the same time a paradoxical foreshortening from right to left is evident. The girl fishing with the orange dress and her mother are on the same level, that is, actually at equal distance. In its spatial contruction, the painting is also a successful construction, the groups of people sitting in the shade, and who should really be seen from above, are all shown directly from the side. The ideal eye level would actually be on different horizontal lines; first at head height of the standing figures, then of those seated. Seurats methods of combing observations which he collected over two years, corresponds, in its self invented techniques, to a modern lifelike painting rather than an academic history painting.
middle of paper ... ... He attempts to convince the public that discrimination has gone on for far too long and it is time for a change. As for the photo, it mainly uses the appeal of Pathos, but it does not lack in power. The image is simple but communicates a powerful image revolving around discrimination.
...eer, musician, carpenter, street cleaner, farmer, office clerk, mechanic, housewife, stenographer, union organizer, bartender, truck driver... All of 'em! I'm the 'et cetera' and the 'And-so-forth' who do the work... I am... America."
We, as a society, feel the need to draw imaginary lines to separate ourselves whether it’s the line between color of our skin, our religion differences, our political beliefs, or the status of our class. As much as I wish there wasn’t a defining line between high class and the educated vs. low class and uneducated, there is. In Mike Rose’s narrative essay “Blue-Collar Brilliance,” he describes his mother’s lack of education and her hard labor work which is the quote on quote the blue collar working class.
Gregory Mantsios advocates more on the struggle to proceed from one class to another in his essay-“Class in America”. Mantsios states that, “Class standing has a significant impact on our chances for survival....
He shows us that every privilege, and attitude that the middle class have, is a direct result, of the exploitation of the working class; and their deplorable
...hese repeated vertical lines contrast firmly with a horizontal line that divides the canvas almost exactly in half. The background, upper portion of the canvas, seems unchanging and flat, whereas the foreground and middle ground of the painting have a lot of depth to them.
The poem, “What Work Is” by Philip Levine is an intricate and thought-provoking selection. Levine uses a slightly confusing method of describing what work actually is. He gives the idea that work is very tedious, however necessary. It is miserable, however, it is a sacrifice that is essentially made by many, if not all able-bodied members of society. Many have to sacrifice going to a concert or a movie, but instead works jobs with hardly a manageable salary. This poem seems to have a focus on members of the lower-class or middle-class who live paycheck to paycheck and are unable to put money away for a future for their children or for a vacation and how difficult life can be made to be while living under this type of circumstance. Levine