Here is comic drawing. The artist who drew this is unknown at this moment.
In this drawing you have four large men playing soccer with what seems to be a bomb. They are playing this "game" on what appears to be the ruins of a city. There is a man in Arab garb as goalie, an Arab in terrorist garb going face to face with an Israeli soldier and the referee, which is the United States. It is safe to say that these Arabs are in fact, Palestinians. The world knows about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The world watches them kill one another, like watching a football game. The world stands back and pretends to mediate. The world is owned by The United States of America and its affiliates (Europe and the U.N.). We see the faces of the Palestinians in this game, we see them bomb, we see them suffer and we think they deserve this. We don't see the Israeli soldier, who is playing the same game. The men going face to face is Israel's army and Hamas (government of Gaza which was founded on "terrorism"), the goalie is just a Palestinian civilian who has to make sure he catches the bomb because if not; Israel AND Hamas will go after him. We see the referee doing nothing because there is "nothing to be done". According to the referee, Israel has the right to exist. There is no doubt that Jews deserve a homeland but do they deserve the support they receive for creating an apartheid state? Do they deserve billions of dollars worth of weapons to "defend themselves" against rock throwing, home-made EID making, Muslim AND Christian Arabs, who were living on the land before it was claimed by the Israeli's in 1967? After all these years, we just sit and watch the game. Israel is the referees hugest ally in the West. The game is unfair but if anyone speaks out about it; they will be labeled anti-semitic.
Analyzing this comic using structuralism is easy. Since we can define structuralism as using and interpreting signs from text, literature or art in general, we can clearly see the sign of the Star of David on the back of the ball player with a helmut, which can easily be identified as a soldier. Last I remember, we don't wear helmuts in soccer or football. We can also identify the other players in the game by the way the artist has drawn them, their facial expressions, their clothing attire and the label on the referee's jersey. We can identify the Arabs from the soldier and even the referee (dressed in what we would most identify closely with). While one would automatically assume that the message being sent here is that; Americans are just watching the Israeli's and Palestinians destroy themselves, it is not the entire story. Take a look at the faces in the drawing, you only see the two Palestinians and the referee, we don't see the Israeli soldier. Does this drawing imply that Israeli is sneaky? What does it mean? One can assume that this drawing was not done by an Israeli. One can also assume that this drawing was not done by an American either, look at the expression of the referee. Does he look happy? Does he even look like he is doing anything? It appears that he can not do anything because the will of the Hamas individual and the Israeli soldier are intent on getting the bomb on each others' side. We can safely assume that this is not drawn by a Palestinian either because the goalie does not look very nice. The guy's nose is large, he is largely shaped and his eyes are protruding as if he is confused or scared. However; we can safely say that the artist is neither for Palestine or Israel and doesn't agree with the United States interference with the conflict.
I can come to a different conclusion of what the author truly thinks because I am familiar with Palestinians, Arabs, Israeli's and Americans. I know what they wear, eat, consider art and think politically. Because of my knowledge, I can assume more than what might have been intended by the artist. Here is where structuralism and semiotics takes place; the knowledge of what these individuals wear and represent in real life, can make my definition of the drawing much different than someone who sees this through the lens of just being American and not really knowing Palestinians or Israeli's. One who would only receive their news from U.S. media would think that Palestinians are bad. Or that the U.S. is doing right by standing in solidarity with Israeli policies in Gaza and The West Bank. The artist of this drawing seems to be looking through one lens; that of the West. There is always two sides to a conflict, even three or four or five. At the end of the day; it is what we are familiar with in which we can identify and define what we see through pictures, drawings, literature, etc. It is our perception and ours alone that would affect the way we interpret a certain drawing like the one above.
What do you think?
