This visual text is built off the central theme of light, with the people that populate the image symbolized by candles and light bulbs. The people in this comic gather to watch the public execution of the only character unlike the others. The lone man is the only light bulb surrounded by candle stick people smirking as he is marched toward the gallows. This visual text is a depiction of racism, discrimination, and rejection of new ideas and fear, ironically in a world characterized by light, appearing everywhere from the sky to the people themselves. By careful and critical analysis of the world shown in this image and studying the use of color, shape, abstraction, direction, and symbols in this essay to provide better understanding of the message being conveyed by this visual text. By comparing the symbols in this visual text to social issues in our modern world a stronger understanding of the image can be discerned and reveal possible meaning behind the artist’s commentary.

Light composes everything in this image and represents a couple different ideas at the same time. The first thing about light that is worth mentioning is the portrayal of the citizens of this world as forms of light, whether candles or light bulbs. In the image, the race of candle headed men are gathered around a noose, watching smugly as someone different from themselves, the light bulb, is pushed towards the gallows. The candle men are all waxy round men, uniform in appearance to show the majority trying to snuff out the minorities, those different in appearance, culture, and beliefs then them which is represented in the light bulb. This scene is an abstract depiction of modern day persecution with the majority people replaced with the candles and the minority as light bulbs.  It’s important that one race is candle men and the other is the light bulb men because the two normally inanimate objects serve the exact same purpose, they are both forms for creating light. Race conflicts and religious persecution are essentially different peoples being intolerant towards anything different from themselves while overlooking the similarities. What this visual text is aiming to show is that these are two very different peoples aren’t different in nature, they’re both people. The artist chose to represent the candles and light bulb with bodies and faces, the personification of these inanimate objects is intentional to compare their conflict to our society. By choosing to represent people in this fashion, the artist essentially removes all race, religion, and any bias held again a certain group of people in order to depict one group of people being hateful to a person slightly different than them. Conflicts like this arise in real life when hatred for different belief systems, cultures, or appearances and ignorance cause people to forget that their enemy is their common man. To this very day scenes mirroring the one in this comic exist like the current unrest in the middle east and groups of terrorists like ISIS spreading death and despair to their common man over religious or political differences. 

It’s also very ironic that the artist chose to represent the men in this comic as beings of light, and show a great light in the horizon. When we commonly think of light or the color yellow in literature it is as a representation of hope for a better future, happiness, and warmth. This contradiction from the norm could possibly be done to show the situation from the point of view of only the crowd of candle men who believe their public execution is a step forward and a righteous cause. The mutual happiness of the candles also supports the idea that this is a better world for themselves, but at the cost of human life and diversity. The most famous example of persecution of a single race of people was during World War II, the Holocaust was the systematic extermination of German Jews. The Holocaust would never take place without the misguidance of their bigoted leader preaching lies about a superior race of people. The yellow setting and smug attitude of the candle men may be the depiction of a self-proclaimed superior race of people, and this comic shows them clearing out those deemed inferior by themselves, thus making the yellow represent enlightenment and moving forward. Alternatively, looking at the color from the light bulb’s point of view, paints an entirely different picture where the yellow definitely doesn’t symbolize hope, happiness, or anything positive at all. The specific shades of yellow used are all very dull and dirty meaning that the color might signify sickness, fear, deceit, and disgust. The way the artist uses the color in this image allows different interpretations of the same image depending on the point of view.This is an important message of the visual text because it shows that every story is told differently depending on who tells it and what is good for one person might be harmful for another.

The sky shines a bright yellow, which is a stark contrast the horrific events taking place before it. Since this comic seems to take place from the point of view of the candle men then it makes sense that the noose would dangle over the sunset like their salvation and hope for the future. Once again the yellow color is a dual meaning because when looked at from the point of view of the light bulb then the horizon looks very ominous instead and representing fear. Yellow representing fear could as mean two different things, fear of different ideas and cultures from the candles, or fear from the light bulb, fear for his life and fear of the unknown. The way the noose hangs in the horizon makes it a central part of the visual text and addition important to the image of light and the color yellow.

 The two different objects chosen to represent the people in this visual text also should be questioned. For most of the 1800’s and before people used candles as the primary method of lighting. Although in 1880 Thomas Edison famously invented another electric source of creating light, the light bulb. Studying the relationships of these two light sources reveals that the light bulb largely made the candle obsolete and replaced it as the primary source of lighting. Knowing this provides additional insight to why these images appear in the visual text and reinforce the claim that fear of change and different people motivated the execution. However, the invention of the light bulb provided many people with greater access to light and certain was one of the greatest technological advancements of the times. This image also conveys a step backwards represented by the primitive ideas trying to fight back against the modern times, an unwillingness to adapt. The message of the image is perhaps the older generations don’t want to adopt the new ideas and sentiments of the modern era, the candles being the past, and the light bulb the present. This can be seen in such cases as older generations disliking new media like music and television, or not adopting technological advances and being unfamiliar with modern culture. So the depiction the horizon could be representative of the future and moving forward but the noose represents denial of the future and the modern age. The shades of yellow used and the shading done to look very old fashioned does make the visual seem as though it is taking place in a different time period, decades in the past. Another important characteristic of candles is their limited life span; light bulbs eventually die out too but a candle’s wax literally melts away until there is nothing left. Traditionally candle sticks are tall thin pillars of wax but in this visual text the candle men are only tiny stumps of wax, indicating their life cycle coming to an end soon. As the older generations are nearing the end of their lifecycle they should be handing over control of society to the younger generations, allowing them to foster new ideas more appropriate for the new age.

This visual image is clearly designed to show multiple different meanings and uses many features like color, abstraction, and contrast to do so. The artist’s use of these elements creates an in-depth scene, while completely fictional, that still mirrors our world because the characters and settings are not uncommon in real life. Overall this visual does an excellent job of calling our attention to issues in our world like discrimination and prejudice toward our fellow man for small, insignificant details. It uses shades of the color yellow to tell two stories that are totally opposite depending on which pair of eyes you look through. The use of depth to show the horizon adds another element to the story because it depicts the future and going forward, coupled with the noose to create a hopeful future or a very sad and painful future. This comic also succeeds in telling another story using the same assets as the one before it. The second tale tells of aging generations that struggle to adapt to the complexities of living in the modern world which is true of real life as well. In reality older generations are assumed to be behind on the times, meaning not up to date on current and always evolving technologies or their political and social ideologies are not in line with that of younger generations. Overall this visual text warns against discrimination and highlights that small differences like belief system or nationality and that they truly are insignificant. Additionally, the image might suggest that older generations ought to step aside to allow the younger generations to take over. Whether a warning to never repeat past mistakes or the author spreading the transcendental messages of young over old this visual text is very effective at pushing it’s meaning on the viewer and leaving a lasting effect without the use of any words.
