OUIL401 - Study Task 4

This illustration titled '$5 watches vs $5 coffee' by Andrew Rae juxtaposes the two ends of society, someone who can only afford a $5 watch and someone who is willing to spend $5 on a coffee. These two characters are communicated through a few different cultural codes that we can easily recognise. The left half of the image shows the poorer man, in the background we can see a plain pillar and light whereas and the right hand side there is a more decorative one, obviously showing the wealth that is present in the right hand image. We can see on the right hand side, people who look quite well dressed, suggesting to us that they are more wealthy, along with the fact that they are using expensive technology. On the left hand side we can see there are lots of the same watch and boxes piled up on top of the shelf suggesting that these are cheap and disposable products rather than the luxury items that the people on the right have. The clothes that the man on the left are wearing signify to us that he is less wealthy, his clothes are not as 'stylish' as how the man on the right is presented and his general scruffy appearance confirms this. Also, the fact that he is unshaven and appears to be overweight suggests that he can not afford to look after himself properly, whereas the man on the right is shown to be wearing facial jewelry, is clean shaven and has a styled haircut, he is also wearing clothes that seem to be quite expensive, and he is wearing a tie, which has connotations of wealth and the middle class. I believe that the image is meant to show both the differences and similarities between the middle and working class, we can obviously see the physical differences between them, the clothes they are wearing and what products they choose to consume, but the posture of the two men are meant to show the similarities between them also. Both men are slumped forward in exactly the same position with their hands behind their back, suggesting they are fed up with something, as well as their facial expressions, they both have furrowed brows and look as though they are confused or worrying about something. I think that this image is trying to communicate that even though people from different classes have differences, they are also very similar in the way that everyone is concerned about something in their life.