New Yorker Cover: What Do You See in It?
- What was your reaction when you saw this cover?
- Are you familiar with the New Yorker and its covers? Do you think that influenced your reaction? If so, how?
- After further reflection, did you see something different than your first reaction, or did the details of the picture just reinforce your original idea?
- Please share any other thoughts on this cover that you may have.
I’m not going to get into my own opinion of it yet because I want your honest reaction not influenced by what I think. So, readers, I urge you to look at the picture and then comment without reading other comments or visiting the original post. Of course, if you want to make a second comment for after you’ve seen other people’s opinions, I think that would be awesome, too.
Via Alas, a Blog.
The guy on the far left is trying to grope the redhead.
I can totally see it. It really does look like he’s either trying to paw her ass or do that obnoxious thing where he encircles her with an arm to lead her away.
Honestly, the first thing I noticed was the darker-skinned man having this devilish look on his face while boxing the other guy out. Then I thought about what things I should be looking out for since I think most people would think I was crazy for seeing racial stereotyping in this. But I don’t think anyone would be dumb enough to consciously put something racially offensive in something so mainstream…but maybe just coincidence. Then I noticed what appears to be another dark skinned person, a woman, at the top fighting with another woman for a chair in the old “catfight.” Then I couldn’t tell if the music had stopped before the piano player looked back or if he had been looking back the whole time and then consciously stopped at a certain part. Then I realized that this was probably just a commentary on the cutthroat job market for college grads and how its just a giant crapshoot on who gets what job. Musical chairs I don’t think is a serious measure of talent…but maybe that’s the commentary, that college grad doesnt mean much? Probably not. I just looked again and visually the focal points to me are the two men up front and the piano player. I’m not familiar with New Yorker covers so I have really no idea what kinda tone they have. The longer I look, the less clear reading I have :/
Why do all of the minorities have devious looks on their faces and most of the visible white guys just look frantic?
Luke: Your assessment is basically what I saw, too. It really stuck out at me that the malicious looking people were the minorities. Amp, who I got this from, read it as a criticism on Affirmative Action. I can definitely see it, especially with the two women fighting in the back.
DS: Because obviously the poor white people are being unfairly targeted by the evil minorities.
Looks to me like the white guy and the black guy in the foreground may be playing something more than musical chairs…
Though yeah, putting the white guy front and center and making him look surprised (wide eyes, raised brows, small mouth) and the white woman and black man next to him look more malicious (white woman: looking askance, hands raised; black man: looking askance, eyebrows furrowed, sneering) seems to suggest (once again) that it’s the poor defenseless white guys getting victimized by affirmative action.