Creative Social Commentary

I realise that "social commentary" can include a lot. Especially if you're in your first year at university and have discovered certain herbs for the first time. Nonetheless I was interested to see how people have incorporated huge themes or issues into creative mediums - some with more success than others, speaking of which:

Monster X Strikes Back/ Attack the G8 Summit

Yes, I'm launching with the weird one. This movie came out last year, and basically uses the G8 summit as the setting for an epic monster/alien movie. If I understand correctly a Bill Clinton look alike makes an appearance. Produced by Minoru Kawasaki, a Japanese film maker well known for his sense of humour - the film arguably falls short of actual social commentary. I just had to include it. Read more about it at SciFi Japan. 

Sock and Awe

You've no doubt seen this Flash Game that was made after an Iraqi journalist threw his shoes at then president Bush. According to the blog Social Design Notes, sales for that particular type of shoe went up 4 times, to 120 000 shoe orders, after the "attack".

Subway Wall Design

The tunnel for one of the subway lines in Paris has been tiled with the text of the Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen, the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, which was a "foundational document of the French Revolution". I found this one via Social Design Notes too, and its effect is beautifully described by its author Jon Emerson, so I'm just going to quote him (awesome blog by the way).

"This works in so many ways: as a beautiful display of public typography; as a visualization of the correspondence between human rights and public transit, between policy and infrastructure, between theory, practice, and everyday life. In its deadpan presentation, there’s also something of a memorial to it which seems appropriate given its proximity to Place de la Concorde, previously Place de la Révolution, the site of the guillotine."

Visualisations of the Financial Crisis

A lot of people have no idea what actually happened to cause the financial crisis. A few people took it upon themselves to explain it to the rest of us.  Here's a list of 27 of visualisations (via Flowing Data).

Greek Riots - Memorial/Protest Posters

After a 15 year old was shot by a policeman during a protest in Exarchia in Athens, a few graphic artists got together to create posters expressing their thoughts on the killing. (There was a memorial held as well). You can check them out here. (via Social Design Notes).