What’s Wrong With Today’s Society Captured In 58 Though-Provoking Illustrations By Al Margen
We all know that nothing is perfect. Our modern society included. Many things are problematic and troubling, and even though we notice them, we are not too fast to work on fixing pressing social issues.
Al Margen, an illustrator from Buenos Aires, Argentina, creates depressing drawings pinpointing the world problems of our times. He creates dark drawings that are sometimes louder than words and are extremely thought-provoking. The author himself is very critical about his works and talks about them in a really artistic manner: "They are children of boredom, nonconformity or anger. <...> They are the representation of discarded ideas. They are the garbage of the subconscious. But they are more visceral and sincere than other sad drawings because they have no obligation to please. <...> Because they were born only by an impulse and nothing more. Because they were born to annoy because they show the problems with society."
Take a look at some of his satirical works on social problems below and let us know which one was your favorite.
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I know how it feels to walk up dollar stairs and be met with a dick to the face
When the mind's defense mechanism is to drown the possibility of thoughts in music.
Peace does not always bring about freedom. And not hard to become a prisoner of peace. Bane said it best, victory has defeated you.
I think , socety tries to make you look mad if you have different opinions ...or ideas
It's hard to be a kid in a money-less family, when the parents won't change their lifestyles to the lesser amount of money they now have. You have to give up so much of yourself to try to make things better, as far as money goes, and it all goes down the drain anyway. It really, really sucks.
Look at that. He's only chained by his mind. His feet and arms are let free. And the chains leading to his mind are connected to negligible obstacles. It's the mind that's keeping you away from love...
Shackled to the internet. So true. So many people live their lives on the Net, they forget there's a life away from it.
I think it's more to do with stereotyping and how we view people based on a few arbitrary "defining" characteristics. Rich people are greedy, fat people only think about food, police officers are just out to stop people from having fun, and a beautiful woman is just a beautiful body. Flawed thinking.
The one think too much of the past, the other one is embarrassed by the future and the third one can't live the present day, so they all come here to take their "carpe diem" pils...
Turn off consumer mentality. We're supposed to care for the earth, not consume it.
With these drawings, as I believe most of us get what the artist is trying to say here, its clear that we really are in a dystopian society and we just don't see it because we don't want to see it. sigh...
Really? I see power stripping away dignity, strength, and freedom from helpless individuals & obliterating them
Love is blind. You will open the door to your heart and let them walk right in if you don't know the person and only go by appearances, and they could be hiding their intent to do you harm.
She graduated and now she's in deep shit? In the real world? This one is lost on me
Dude takes pills either for drug addiction or Rx and it alters his state of mind so that he is unable to write. Everything that comes from him goes to waste hence the trashcan
Finger nails have a nail bed, so the roses under the nail of the fingers with wedding rings are "a bed of roses". The barbed wire represents a prison you can't escape from. What they though was bliss when they got married turns out to be a life sentence. The man and woman are popping up from a toaster. They are done, dry. Their love has dried up. From her head is a spool of silk. A spring silkworm produces silk until it dies. There is a Chinese thought that likewise, giving one's thought to another person is like a spring silkworm producing silk until it dies. He has a banana on his head. There is a book called Mr. Bananahead at Home about Mr. Bananahead who tries hard to do all the chores on Mrs. Bananahead's list but can't get them right. So the symbolism on their heads means even though they both have tried to to please each other, in the end it is no good, if that is all they do. It is too consuming and they dry up as people.
The life of social media. Everyone posts looking for validation via likes. Only to find opposition from people close to them.
She is a prostitute. Her tongue holds powerful men in her prison. Bc with the ability to blackmail she has power over them with the words she speaks. The only one who pleases her is her drugs where she can find escape from what it is she does.
Ayer means yesterday in Spanish and his mind is a pencil being shaven (wasting away) because all he can focus on is the past.
She looks at him as her knight in shining armor. She sees the man as her warrior, her savior. People generally look to other people to complete them.
"What's wrong with today's society". Are you kidding? This has been around since the dawn of man. Parents arguing in front of their kids? People lying to others? Smoking is bad? If you think working 9-5 in a computer chair sucks, then imagine working five in the morning until seven at night in a coal mine during the 1800's with no safety regulations. Oh yeah #5? What's that about? Going to college destroys ideas? Nah going to college is a means of expanding your knowledge in a particular field. /rant
Exactly. It should be "What's wrong with an industrialised society".
People made it big without college.
No college is a way to indebt you to the systen so you have to fall in line. Having a professionals help can give you a big advantage, but theres no need to be indebted for life over it. Id rather teach myself than be indebted for life.
Squeaky Balls...btw, real mature name... #5 is talking about the terrible job that is American education. We do not really train students, high school age or college, to excel in their lives or careers. We teach them in a formulaic way irregardless of their intent, age, mental prowess, and natural skill set. We force them to learn subjects unrelated to their field or even their future. You know how many times I've had to figure out the dimensions of parallelograms in my life? Not one single time outside of that chapter in class. We are forcing kids to learn who was General of what army in 1502 in France, instead of teaching them how to code or fix machinery (actual things they would need to know in today's society). There is a reason we decline every year in education in comparison to the rest of the world. I think we are 18th now?? And our current leader in the Department of Education has ZERO experience or training in the field of education and is even against public schooling!
Nah buddy you wrong. There are alot of people who made it big to success without college.
Just because we've improved as a society (massively in my opinion, just for the record), doesn't mean that we now have it right and are above parody.
You're a dumbass, you clearly don't get it...you sheep. I assume you work a 9-5. You're not unique. You're like the rest.
You're very ignorant i assume you work a 9-5. Peasant
Not the Dawn of man but dawn of money and Religion in the English Enterpretation lords of the Temple of the Gross
No, even before we used money people have been greedy.
Incredibly deep, reflective, and scary. Applause to the artist.
Word!
They're really thought provoking drawings. Would make a good discussion for a college lecture
So none of the subjest depicted had ever occurred to you in some form? The mention of college is peculiar in that you say good discussion for a college lecture. Lecture is not a discussion and why college anyway. It is not a magical think tank of drunken teens away from home, it is only half that. Some of the drawings are variations of images with messages I saw years ago. Odd that this link was sent to me by a person who is always promoting "think positive"!
That was definitely NOT my college experience. I went to one party in 4 years, worked full time, and never missed a class.
"What's wrong with today's society". Are you kidding? This has been around since the dawn of man. Parents arguing in front of their kids? People lying to others? Smoking is bad? If you think working 9-5 in a computer chair sucks, then imagine working five in the morning until seven at night in a coal mine during the 1800's with no safety regulations. Oh yeah #5? What's that about? Going to college destroys ideas? Nah going to college is a means of expanding your knowledge in a particular field. /rant
Exactly. It should be "What's wrong with an industrialised society".
People made it big without college.
No college is a way to indebt you to the systen so you have to fall in line. Having a professionals help can give you a big advantage, but theres no need to be indebted for life over it. Id rather teach myself than be indebted for life.
Squeaky Balls...btw, real mature name... #5 is talking about the terrible job that is American education. We do not really train students, high school age or college, to excel in their lives or careers. We teach them in a formulaic way irregardless of their intent, age, mental prowess, and natural skill set. We force them to learn subjects unrelated to their field or even their future. You know how many times I've had to figure out the dimensions of parallelograms in my life? Not one single time outside of that chapter in class. We are forcing kids to learn who was General of what army in 1502 in France, instead of teaching them how to code or fix machinery (actual things they would need to know in today's society). There is a reason we decline every year in education in comparison to the rest of the world. I think we are 18th now?? And our current leader in the Department of Education has ZERO experience or training in the field of education and is even against public schooling!
Nah buddy you wrong. There are alot of people who made it big to success without college.
Just because we've improved as a society (massively in my opinion, just for the record), doesn't mean that we now have it right and are above parody.
You're a dumbass, you clearly don't get it...you sheep. I assume you work a 9-5. You're not unique. You're like the rest.
You're very ignorant i assume you work a 9-5. Peasant
Not the Dawn of man but dawn of money and Religion in the English Enterpretation lords of the Temple of the Gross
No, even before we used money people have been greedy.
Incredibly deep, reflective, and scary. Applause to the artist.
Word!
They're really thought provoking drawings. Would make a good discussion for a college lecture
So none of the subjest depicted had ever occurred to you in some form? The mention of college is peculiar in that you say good discussion for a college lecture. Lecture is not a discussion and why college anyway. It is not a magical think tank of drunken teens away from home, it is only half that. Some of the drawings are variations of images with messages I saw years ago. Odd that this link was sent to me by a person who is always promoting "think positive"!
That was definitely NOT my college experience. I went to one party in 4 years, worked full time, and never missed a class.