L'argent dirige-t-il le monde ?

The notion that I will present is « Spaces and exchanges ». To introduce my work, I can explain one of the keywords of my subject : the power of money. The word « power » can have various meanings but only one interests us « the ability or official capacity to exercise control or a circulation of exchanges of money ». Indeed, I chose three documents studied in class : a caricature entitled The puppet, a painting by Banksy and an extract of a website entitled Fairtrade improving lives. All these documents raise the following question. Can we say that money rules the world ?

The first document is a caricature showing a puppet made of wood wearing a suit, a white shirt, a tie and black shoes. It only has a note but no eyes or mouth as if hasn’t got any features. We can see a big hand holding the sticks. At the other end of these sticks there is the puppet with no features. The artist chose to represent it with no features to illustrate the fact that in our capitalist society, the most important thing is money, not individuals. Furthermore, it can represent everybody so that we can identify with the puppet. As the puppet is wearing a suit, it may be a representation of the world of politics. Moreover, the big hand can belong to a rich man. It may also be a banker’s hand. Indeed, it controls the movements of the puppet thanks to the strings we can see. As a result, money manipulates people, it rules the world. It can also represent a big firm which controls the world thanks to money. Therefore, the author uses no words because the viewer understands the situation quickly. He wants to show that society is ruled by money. The link with the notion is that in fact, the haves rule everybody like if we are puppet thanks to money.

Besides the second document is a stencil graffiti by an English artist, political activist and film director. In his work Feed the world, he denounces westerners’ exploitation of people living in developing countries. A shockless little boy wearing ragged clothes and a hat turned backwords is pulling a rickshaw; he looks miserable and really unhealthy. A couple is sitting in the vehicle he is hauling; they’re wearing sunglasses, shorts, sneakers. They are white and sightly overweight and seem to be in a relaxed mood as they are taking pictures of themselves (selfies). They must be on holidays. They also have an umbrella protecting them from the sun whereas the little boy is under the sun dragging them. Everything on the picture is black or white except for the couple : the colours hint at happiness, joy and pleasure. The author shows people who belong to two different worlds. There is a discupancy between wealthy people and destitute people highlighted by the contrast between the colours. Westerners exploit directly or indirectly the situation of needy people. Besides, he depicts selfishness, heartlessness and injustice in society. It is a shocking or outrageous scene all the more so since the couple doesn’t seem aware of the consequences of their actions the link with the notion is the fact that the picture shows the negative effects of globalization, child labour.

In contrast to previous documents, we can study a third document which is a text dealing with Fairtrade. Fairtrade is different charity in that it is based on exchange, while charity is about rich people giving money to developing countries. This means that small producers take their lives in their

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