With the decline and rapid fall of the economy, many different places have to reap what they sow, and sow for a cheaper price.  Throughout history, trading and exchanging have been very prevalent as it was a way for humans to support each other while getting something in return.  The trade system is still intact, just now the one who wants a product always hands over money also known as currency.  However currency is used to get an item of more value and currency also can be worth more or less in different countries.  If there is more of that currency printed, its value goes down, just like if an item is common then the value goes down, A law of economics.

However when an item is not very common but still goes down in price, that means that there is low consumer demand, either due to the product being disappointing or that the overall economy has gone down.  The picture essay’s main goal was to prove that the overall economy has been declining as of late using Gamestop’s game trade in system to present its case.  First the person in the picture brought a game that was no longer desired to Gamestop.  The person then entered the store and went to the cashier to trade in said game.  The exchange was made and the person walked away with two cents.  While Gamestop’s trade in values have always been notoriously low, two cents is low even for Gamestop.

The nature of the essay is to show that when low goes even lower, then the economy begins to decline.  This is mainly because all businesses have to make their money somehow to continue to stay in business.  If the business drops their overall sale prices then the overall buying prices also have to decline.  And Gamestop is known for their used game sales which is where they make pretty much all of their profit due to how they buy for a low price and sell for about a hundred percent or more of how much they originally buy.  Therefore if the game prices for sale go down dramatically, so will the buying prices.

The other theme this essay is trying to prove is just how cheap Gamestop is in general.  In a sense the essay is a satirical piece that is also trying to show a deeper meaning in the decline of the economy.  At first the deeper meaning is really shrouded in how humorous the entire piece is.  For the few that do not know of Gamestop’s trade in system, they will mostly just laugh at the small sum that was given for giving something in.  For those that have heard of Gamestop, they will laugh at how exaggerated the piece seems to be with displaying the fairness of Gamestop trade ins.  But there is truth in the pictures or rather the last picture as all the of the pictures before lead up to the final one.  For the people who take a moment to think about how miniscule it is, they may realize that it seems abnormal and figure out the true meaning of the essay.

What each image is meant to instill is really a sense of build up to the final image.  For gamers that see the game, Metroid: Other M, they know that its notorious for being bad and that there is no wonder that the person wants to get rid of it.  For normal readers, they will just see an item that’s being held up by someone’s hand.  The next part is Gamestop and most will infer that the game is being taken there to be sold or was just an image with no real purpose, however that seems to be unlikely so it’s being taken to be sold.  At this point it seems like the game has no value to the current owner so that’s why they are bringing it to a game store to be sold at.  While inside the store we see from the eyes of the owner the desk with a cashier nearby it.  This infers that the owner is going to sell it to the game store for whatever money that can be retrieved.  The next image shows a money sign and an item sign, signifying the exchange of money for the item that was brought in.  This gives the reader confirmation that the item is being traded in for money.  The final image shows two pennies inside of the previous owner’s hand.  This is really a shock factor form of humor where we assumed that at least some value was given but in the end two pennies is all that was given.

Most who don’t think any further will just believe this essay to be a work of satire or something comedic overall but those who look for the deeper meaning will find how our economy is in a state of downfall.  That being said, there is a requirement from prior knowledge on Gamestop’s trade in policy and rates but most of the current people today have some knowledge on the policy with all said “memes” out on the web.  The essay holds merit to how the actual funding of games can actually equal out to two cents with the proper video game being sent in.

In all sense of the overall essay, there is something to be taken away from these set of five images displayed to the reader.  One is that Gamestop is a rather cheap company that has to live purely off of buying and reselling games like a company with little to no options.  Two is that you won’t get much money for trading in games to the company for anything since the company seems to be already in a bad spot.  Three is that the economy is going down anyways so bad becomes worse.  Overall what is taken from the essay is what is interpreted by the reader.
