Visual Art Rhetoric

Art can be interpreted in different ways; therefore, it can have many meanings. There is a very controversial topic of whether graffiti or street art can be considered actual art. People associate graffiti with gang bangers. Personally, I think, street art is only acceptable when it is delivering a political issue or an issue that needs awareness. The reason being is because street artist are not wasting their time tagging their name to gain recognition; on the contrary they are doing these pieces of art to inform people visually the problem they are raising awareness for. For example, Banksy has an interesting piece of street art that has Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald with an anorexic child in between them. Banksy's controversial art is significant because the art portrays underrated issues in society like child exploitation. The characters chosen, along with the juxtaposition of these characters between a malnourished child, add onto the issue of the falsification of a wonderful life by these corporations.

           The piece includes Mickey Mouse, Ronald McDonald, and an anorexic child. Mickey Mouse's bow tie and pants are yellow. The child has no type of color. Ronald McDonald's outfit is yellow as well. The rest of the colors on their outfits are black and white. The child is in black and white as well. Mickey Mouse is on the left and the child is in the middle, while Ronald McDonald is on the right. Mickey and Ronald are holding the child's wrists. It seems like they are all smiling, but the smile on the child looks more like he or she is crying.

           The artist of the piece is Banksy. He is an English street artist who is anonymous. He is known for making street art based off political issues or underrated issues. I think this piece is making a political statement of power as well as a social issue of child exploitation. Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald are mascots known around the world. Mickey Mouse represents Disney and Ronald McDonald represents McDonald's. Both of these major corporations are known to entertain children or feed children. Disney entertains children by creating movies, theme parks, television shows, and through a radio station. McDonald’s has happy meals targeting children; in addition to the meal the children receive a toy. This is portrayed by commercials shown on television. In the commercials they show how their products make people happy. Ironically enough, there is a child in between these two figures who does not look happy, even less enjoying himself or herself.

           I think the political message is that these multi-million dollar corporations are gaining money by giving a false image. According to the New York Times website, “In 2007, factories that supplied more than a dozen corporations, including Wal-Mart, Disney and Dell, were accused of unfair labor practices, including using child labor, forcing employees to work 16-hour days on fast-moving assembly lines, and paying workers less than minimum wage.” Disney claims to care about children when they show how their amusement parks make children happy, but abuse children overseas making their products. They over work children and other employees and do not pay them a fair hourly wage.

           In addition to Disney, McDonald’s exploit children as well. According to Hartford, a newspaper company from Connecticutt, “Children as young as 14 were employed to make promotional toys for McDonald's in sweatshop conditions in southern China.” Not only does this state the working conditions that McDonald’s provides, but the fact that they have children working for them in these conditions. These children are making toys used in happy meals that are targeted for children. This is ironic because toys aimed to be enjoyed by children, but are made my children who do not enjoy making these toys.

           In addition, Disney and McDonald’s faces on the art piece add onto the issue of child exploitation. The smile on Mickey Mouse's and Ronald McDonald's face is misleading. This smile represents their caring image about children, but the child in between them shows the sad reality. The child is naked revealing that children who work for these corporations live in poverty. The wages that these multi-million dollar companies pay these children working in the sweatshops are extremely low that they can not afford any clothing. This is all hidden from the public so they can keep a pure image.
            Along with child exploitation, this piece is also making the social issue of society being brainwashed through the media and big corporations. We as a society partake and support the cruelty these corporations are carrying out to children by buying their products. When we take children to McDonald’s we usually order a happy meal for them because it gives a toy they can entertain themselves with. Little do parents know the story of the person making the toys their kids play with. People are unaware of this issue because they do not care to know what these corporations are actually doing to keep children happy globally. People know that these issues exist, but pay them no mind because these corporations are not doing their dirty work within their own nation. There are no children in theUnited States who are walking around without clothing. There are no sweatshops that employ children under the age of 18. There are no poor working conditions where people have blisters on their hands due to the machinery they use. There are no children starving. If people saw this within their own society they would fight against these corporations. The mistreatment of children overseas is portrayed through the image of the skinny child whose rib cage is outlined. If these companies were really caring they would not force these children to work in their companies. In the art piece Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald are holding the child by the wrists. It makes it seem as if the child is being dragged. Because these children live in extreme poverty, they are in a sense forced to work in the sweatshops these corporations have establish near their towns. It is a sad reality that children have to work in sweatshops to help their family live.

           This piece evokes many emotions to me. I feel very angry towards society because we are fooled by big corporations. In the art piece we have Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald smiling. We see their commercials and we are brainwashed to think that their food and movies will make us happy like the people in the commercials. We support their mistreatment by buying their products and making them richer. I also feel like a lot of people in America disregard this issue because none of our children are being put into factories working unreasonable amount of hours for little pay. We do not see naked children walking around; therefore, we do not understand the issue because we are not experiencing it first hand. I also dislike the fact that these companies are taking their factories and providing employment for other people. Our own nation is suffering from a recession because there are not enough jobs for everyone. They are allowing other countries to become powerful instead of their own nation.

           However, I think that this piece is definitely art because it is portraying an issue. Sometimes, graffiti in particular, most of the artist who are taggers are only tagging places to get their name to be known around the area and eventually nationally or even internationally. I think in order for street art to be considered legitimate art it has to deliver a message or an issue. This art piece portrays a very underrated issue: child exploitation. Having internationally known mascots in an art piece is powerful because people are able to make quick connections. Unlike a tag there is no iconic image, thus does not portray an issue even less a connection. Like I mentioned before often times people think that street art is vandalism because they associate it with gang signs and gang bangers, but this image is definitely art.

           It seems like Banksy is against these corporations as well as the actions that are carried out. He does not give an actual solution or does not deliver an actual statement of what should be done to stop these actions. I think it is up to the consumer to make his or her own judgment about how they can contribute to stopping this child exploitation. He presents the problem; he lets people know what is really going on. I personally think that he presents child exploitation to me and depending on whether I buy Disney manufactured items or eat at McDonalds I decide how I will contribute to this dilemma. I do not buy Disney products, but I do eat McDonald's. Since I do eat McDonald's in a sense I am contributing to this corporation because I am proving that their food makes people happy. In addition, they will continue to exploit children since they believe they can falsify a wonderful life to the American people.
            I think Banksy did a nice job of portraying the issue of the exploitation of child labor. As soon as I saw this image I knew that it was portraying how multimillion dollar corporations exploit children through labor. The juxtaposition of these two highly recognized characters and their reputation helps portray the intended enterprises. We think of these businesses as bringing joy and happiness to our children, yet there are kids in other parts of the world who are not receiving joy and happiness by these companies. The child in this image is clearly suffering him or she does not have any clothes or shoes. The child hardly ever eats because he or she probably cannot afford to eat; this is clearly shown by how visible the rib cage is.

           Overall I think that street art is considered art while it focuses on a message and delivering an issue. In Banksy’s piece, there is a clear statement of child exploitation. Multimillion dollar companies are falsifying a wonderful life for children, yet have children overseas who have an awful life. The internationally known mascots help portray child exploitation, by these corporations, because we can make quick connections; it delivers the message smoothly by juxtaposing these icons. Even though these art pieces are put on the sides of buildings, people need to separate gang symbols and vandalism from street art. The work and dedication these artist put into their work is incredible. They do it in order to raise awareness and inform people like Banksy did through this piece. He reveals the sad reality of our world.