Spaces and Exchanges : Outsourcing and Offshoring: Two Cartoons

In this cartoon, we see a man, who looks like of the grandfather of the two children seated on the edge of a boat, giving them a lecture on the difference between Outsourcing and Off shoring. The kids seem amazed by their grandpa's talk and even push him into becoming a president, and if the hint of his name was not enough already, we quickly understand by looking at the man's face that the political figure humored in this cartoon is Mitt Romney, a republican candidate for the presidential in the United States back in 2012. Mitt Romney is standing on the Cayman Islands and we can see how he is trying to dig his money on haven islands in order to gain more benefits, and it does sound like a low blow because all these acts help him to not pay his taxes. In the background of the cartoon we can also see Switzerland and the Bermuda island, two places also known for their off shoring and outsourcing history.

Finally, the boat on the far left of the cartoon is obviously American because "belivin' in America" is writing on its side. All this little hints show us how much of a satirical critic this cartoon really is about off shoring and especially, on Mitt Romney. Sarcasm is really present in the message the artist tried to give us. We can relate this cartoon to Spaces and Exchanges because of how money can travel from different places and affect the world that surrounds it.

In this cartoon, we see two men having a conversation, and judging by what they are saying, we can assume that both of them are business men. The cartoon was made by Geek and Poke and these two men are talking about how they want to relocate their companies because of some issues going on in the country they are already settled in. The man wearing a tie tells him the reason behind his action : apparently his workers wanted to get paid and that's why they need to relocate so they can deal with more reasonable persons. Usually businessmen place their companies in less fortunate countries so they can earn less expensive workers than the ones in their home countries, but in this cartoon, they sound outraged and amazed by how their workers want to get paid for their hard work. Finally, the relation this document got with the notion Spaces and Exchanges is the idea of how people are ready to relocate their companies from a country to the other just for the sake of saving up more money and paying less.

Post 1 : A Cartoon by Chappatte

This drawing is a cartoon published in the International Herald Tribune and drawn by Chappatte, a rather famous cartoonist. The exact date of its publication is unfortunately unknown.

This cartoon which seems like an innocent attempt to provoke laughter in the audience actually holds a striking and important message that tackles a really important issue going on nowadays in our media-obsessed world. It is a much debated topic because the theme of pirating movies or music (in this case : a movie) is tackled and so frequently used that some people even consider it as "normal" thing when it should be illegal.

This cartoon is made up of 3 main characters that catch our eye from the start, it also includes a dialogue bubble, a red carpet and a huge sign that reads "Cannes". Among our main characters, we have a young a stunning lady, standing next to a young man who looks like a movie director and that said man is signing an autograph for a young teen who says "I love your movies, I've pirated them all". On his t-shirt, we can see the "@" sign, and that tell us that the blond boy is the representation of the internet.

The Cartoonist Chappatte is aiming to tell us that people nowadays tend to download movies on the internet instead of purchasing them. This cartoon raises our consciousness because it makes us aware of how deep we are in the pirating world because downloading movies illegally is an act of thievery towards the people who spend their gaining in other to achieve their goals.

Overall, this cartoon is trying to show us the way our century works by reminding us that we can find everything on the internet by "stealing" it from their rightful owners. To us, it doesn't mean anything, but for the ones who made those things, its a whole new story. It is amazing how people can download illegally and still get away with it (most of the time).

This document is not really original but at least, it gives us a simple but accurate summary or this situation. I personally find it convincing and effective because things pretty much work like this nowadays.

I have to agree with this message even though i tend to download movies from the internet most of the time (but i also go to the movie theater 99% of the time!) and i think that the cartoonist was right to choose this topic because i'm sure a lot of people will feel concerned when they see it.

This whole subject and cartoon makes me think that the progress of the internet and our technology are going a little too far. Now, people can download those movies, put them in CDs and then sell them in their shops.  I hate it when people do that because its like they are claiming all the rights of the movies for themselves, and it pains me to know that some people to these kind of pirating conspiracy in my home country. People should stop doing that and start respecting other people's hard work instead.