1. Description
To start with, i would like to present the document. We have a cartoon by Nate Beeler done in the year 2007. Its title is ¿Qué?.
We can see three people on this image. On the left, we can notice a cameraman, and a journalist. The journalist is holding a microphone in his hand, whereas the cameraman has a big camera with a fluffy microphone on his shoulders.
The camera has a sticker, where we can read in capital letters "TV NEWS". On the right of the cartoon, we can see a man. He has a moustache. This man is not wearing fancy clothes, as opposed to the two others, one of them even wearing a suit.
The man on the right has no shoes on. His clothes look all dirty and full of sweat. He carries luggage in both hands. Next to him there is what is believed to be barbed wire form a fence. The journalist is making his introduction sentence, to start his show "We're here live with the 300 millionth american! How do you feel about this milestone, sir?". To which tho other man answers with "¿Qué?".
2. Interpretation
First and foremost, I would like to point out that this drawing illustrates the arrival of the 300 millionth American. Which is a satire if we look at it closely. It is a well-known fact that when the United States hit 300 million american in 2006, the 300 millionth that was born, was hispanic. As the parents of the baby didn't wanted his identity to be public, they kept silence. As a consequence, many demographer experts affirmed that it is "a Latino baby boy born in Los Angeles to a Mexican-Immigrant mother’’.
On the whole, I would go so far as to say that it's from this point that this cartoon is born. The cartoonist had portrayed the birth of the 300 millionth American, with the arrive of an immigrant, who by having his american citizenship will become the 300 millionth American. The person being interviewed is surely a Hispanic, and more precisely a Mexican immigrant. He answers the journalist's question with a "¿Que?". Which is the Spanish word for "what". This leads the viewer to conclude that this person does not speak English nor understands it. Thanks to the barbed wire clinging to his pants, we can deduce that he is somewhere next to the borderline between Mexico and the United States. There is no doubt whatsoever that the Mexican-American borderline is both the most illegally crossed one and the most controlled one.
The truth of the matter is that 17,4% in 2014 of the us population right now is hispanic. The 300 millionth American is Hispanic. This is a highly controversial issue that has attracted a lot of public attention. That is why the two journalists are interviewing him on that occasion. In America, race is a burning issue. So the fact that the 300 millionth American is not actually American is giving food for thought. Whereas race normally should not be considered as important as it is in the USA.
3. How far does it illustrate the "Spaces & Exchanges" notion ?
The cartoon shows the American population nowadays. In deed, we can see how immigration has affected American society and even its population. This cartoon illustrates the notion "Spaces and exchanges", and more precisely, the impact of years and years of immigration on the American society.
Generally speaking, when someone emigrates somewhere, he has to go along with the « new » country’s traditions. Without a shadow of doubt that is not the case in the United States where Immigrants bring with them their traditions and continue to live as they were living in their country.
There is a contrast between european immigration and American immigration.
To cut a long story short, it all comes down to saying that this cartoon exemplifies the notion of Spaces and Exchanges. We have an exchange of culture. Due to the hispanic immigration. But also an exchange of information, through Tv. Immigration represents Space. Because they cross a lot of « spaces » to get to the USA
OK Lamiae.
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