“The City” by Eric Drooker portrays New York City with an industrial and somewhat desolate image. This cover features a bull at the highest point in the skyline, which represents who currently has the most power in the city. The dull aspects and pollution within the image represent the unrest and flaws that are presently burdened upon the city. Some problems that currently exist in New York City are the Wall Street protests and marches, political corruption, the state of the economy, pollution, the low employment rates, and the rising homeless rates. “The City” illustrates some interesting but hidden messages. The cover shows that there is a higher power over the general population, and this shows that the lesser people don’t have a voice in any of the decisions that are being made.
On the cover of “The City”, we see a dark city that is extremely polluted and has industrial themes. The buildings all around have no lights on in them and they all appear to be factory like buildings with no one working or living in them. The smoke coming up from the buildings can represent how dirty the business world is becoming and how many people have no job or any type of steady income. In the picture we do not see anything living there, the only thing that we can see as a form of life is a bull that is centered and high up above all the other buildings on the cover. The stairs that lead up to the bull can represent how someone rises to power and becomes superior above everyone else, which then leaves everyone else at the bottom to suffer and fend for themselves. The area where the bull is located appears to be much brighter and cleaner than the buildings on the lower level. This can represent how someone of a higher class has a better standard of living than people of a much more lower class. This cover to me represents how the world is slowly becoming a corrupt and industrial based society.
The Occupy Wall Street campaign started just over three weeks ago and has grown in mass numbers since then. Protests all over the country soon began to rally after the demonstration in New York began to grow numbers. People gathered together to object how money is being spent for company bailouts rather than to satisfy the needs of the general people. Occupy Wall Street represents the general people, the population that does not own most of this nation’s wealth. However, gatherings do not go unnoticed. The location of the congregation is under strict supervision of the NYPD. Any signs of disrespect or anything that displeases the NYPD will result in arrest. Since the campaign began, the NYPD has arrested over 800 protesters; most of which were completely innocent. This shows corruption in the form of police bestiality. The protesters are being discriminated against for simply showing their opinions, but the NYPD is merely taking away their voices. The general people are demanding a “reset” on the banks and loan systems, proper health care benefits, and money to fund the various efforts in the country to help lower the standard of living. The campaign is also against the corruption among the politicians of our country as they continuously make decisions that benefit only those of higher wealth.
New York City seems to be heavily affected with the state our economy is in. The prices for pretty much everything has definitely gone up since 2000 and New Yorkers especially are having a hard time managing our funds and having a good standard of living. Taxes have also gone up and the banks have begun to limit their loans to the citizens. The general population has a much lesser amount of money to spend than the previous decades. This leads to the homeless rates being on the rise in New York City, and the unemployment rates support this. People are losing their homes and jobs constantly and this ultimately is bringing our economy down. On top of this, rent has gone up as well as real estate and mortgages which make it extremely difficult to find housing in New York City for those with low incomes.
The New Yorker features covers from various artists in which they illustrate their personal view on how New York City is at the time. The New Yorker is a magazine based on the opinions of the writers and artists as well as the articles in the issue. Any current event can influence the writers and artists to work on their own specific item in the issue. As the city grows and changes, it is the duty of the writers and the artists of The New Yorker to help create an issue that can be easily related to the audience. The readers can gain knowledge on current events within the city and even help create a larger community among the populace of New York City.
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