Political Cartoons

    Political cartoons are one of the oldest forms of propaganda.  They can be funny or serious, either way the artist is trying to convey a message to her or his audience.  The goal of the cartoonist is to share their opinion on a particular topic to the people. In order to really appreciate the cartoon the audience must have some basic background knowledge of current events. That will help you understand the cartoon.

   On of the most famous political cartoonists was Thomas Nast.  Nast worked in New York city over 150 years ago, and gained fame for his cartoons depicting political leaders of his time.  Nast often targeted Boss Tweed, a corrupt New York City politician who was in power for decades.  Tweed eventually gets arrested but manages to escape prison and flees to Europe.  He gets caught however, recognized by a European who liked Nast's cartoons. 

   If you are a fan of The Simpsons or Family Guy, you are watching two shows that make many references to other aspects of pop culture.  The writers of those shows will throw in refrences to movies or other t.v. shows that they enjoy and know the audience will understand.  If have not been to an Apple Store or not seen an Ipod commercial then you could not appreciate the episode where Lisa goes to the Mapple store. 

Like a carpenter, a cartoonist has several tools that they will use to achieve their goal.  These include:

Exaggeration: making the art and situation seem more extreme than it really is to emphasize an opinion.

Symbolism: use of commonly understood symbols to help you get the point more easily

Analogy: comparing one situation to another to make a point

Irony: Creating a situation where something is the direct opposite of what you might expect..

Some cartoons can use humor to prove a point:

The steroid exploits of A-Rod had provided us with a wide arrange of drawings and cartoons poking fun at the Yankee third basemen.  

Other cartoons can be more serious.

On Father's day of 2001, a fire in Queens killed three members of the FDNY.  Up until that point, it was the single most tragic day for the Fire Department.   This cartoon appeared in my local paper, Newsday the day after the fire. 

The fireman on the left is supposed to be Harry Ford.  Harry grew up on the same street as my dad and they both joined the fire-department around the same time.   The cartoon was later used on a t-shirt that was sold to raise money for the families of the firemen. 

How to read a cartoon: 

Background knowledge of current events helps!

People: Who are they? What are they doing?

Setting: Where is this? Why is it there?

Items: What are they? Why did artist put these in?

Put it together: Does this seem to be a positive or negative message about the person/item/event?

Finish the blank in one sentence: “The cartoonist thinks that..”

Tonight go to Dave Granlund's website and print out a cartoon and just briefly explain why you chose that particular cartoon Maybe you agree or disagree with Dave's opinion, or you remember that event that he was depicting.  I encourage you to scroll around and look at several cartoons, some of them are for a New England audience,   before you choose which one you want to print out.  Bring the cartoon to class.