POLITICAL CARTOONS - SATIRE - EVALUATING CARTOONS

Given that the simple definition of SATIRE is 'the use of ridicule to mock and expose, in particular, folly or falsity', analyse each cartoon in terms of this definition.

Examine each cartoon on the literal (what do you see?), inferential (what is the message?) and evaluative levels (what tools has the author used to send the message?).

The Australian, 26/5/2014

Behind the lines - the year's best political cartoons 2011

A P.E.E.L paragraph evaluating the above cartoon using the three levels of meaning.

POINT: This cartoon is an excellent example of satire using ridicule to expose a current issue in society. LITERAL MEANING: The Cox&Forcum cartoon has used the everyday situation of friends leaving the movie theatre after seeing a movie, one clutching a drink in his hand. INFERENTIAL MEANING: It is the movie itself, The Day After Tomorrow, Environment Apocolypse, that creates the central message for the reader, that environmental activists may be reaching their use-by date because of their flawed attitude to humanity. EVALUATION: The satirist assumes the viewer knows this movie with its apocalyptic ending - the end of the world. The humor is found through the symbolic T-shirts the friends are wearing - one proclaims 'Earth First' while the other states 'Green Peace'. Once again the satirist assumes that those reading this cartoon know that these are real-life names of environmental activist groups who fight people and groups who they believe are ruining the environment. Perhaps the Green Peace activist with his non-degradable drink container just adds irony to the situation of saving the earth. The use of reversal where both activists bemoaned the ending because 'the humans lived', creates a chuckle, while at the same time revealing the satirist's attitude towards environmental activist groups like those represented in the cartoon. By using a pun of the subtitle of the movie, 'Environmental Apocolypse', the satirist is suggesting that maybe environmental activists are coming to an end. The satirist is suggesting that deep down environmental activists hate human beings, seeing them as a problem that needs to be eliminated. The cartoonist obviously values human life above the environment, or perhaps sees that eliminating human beings won't solve the earth's problems. By the use of irony, the satirist has successfully sent a message to society that perhaps society needs to rethink environmental activists regarding their attitude to humanity.   

SATIRE - POLITICAL CARTOONS - DECONSTRUCTING A POLITICAL CARTOON

Deconstructing a political cartoon on three levels -- literal, inferential and evaluative.

IS SATIRE JUST TRIVIAL COMEDY?

This 2012  political cartoon, drawn by Pope, one of Australia's foremost political cartoonists, includes excerpts from a famous colonial poem, My Country, by Dorothea McKeller. It targets and criticises the then Queensland Labor Government using the Premier, Anna Bligh, who had just lost government in a landslide victory for the opposition, the Liberal National Party, headed by Campbell Newman. Both political figures are caricatured in the cartoon, with a backdrop of the recent Queensland floods. The cartoonist uses satire to entertain readers in what could be seen as a trivial way, but it is trivial comedy for serious people, as it portrays negative views about the results of Anna Bligh's policies which have left her with many empty seats (in Parliament).

Most political cartoons lean towards the bitter and cutting  Juvenalian style of satire, rather than the Horatian witty, gentler style.. The poem, caricatures and backdrop combine to lampoon Bligh's foolishness, strongly criticising her flawed policies.

Many satirical techniques can be identified immediately through the visual effects of the cartoon -- exaggeration, parody and incongruity. Anna Bligh, the figure in the tree clinging for dear life, is the caricatured figure of a woman who has lost her hold on Queensland. Her features are exaggerated and easily recognisable. The message of the cartoon is that she desperately wants to save the seats for her party from the 'flood'. representing the votes from the citizens, whereas Campbell Newman is portrayed as being as happy as a 'fish' swimming freely in the water after receiving a 'flood' of votes.

As Australians, we can definitely tell that the poem written in the cartoon is a parody of the colonial era poem, My Country, once studied by every Australian school student. The original poem eulogises Australian landscapes, and this excerpt is a reversal of the original. It obviously criticises Anna Bligh for the way she liked to 'spin' policies to the Queensland people, but now the people are 'spinburnt.' Instead of 'sunburnt', the writer uses the technique of parody and replaces this word with 'spinburnt', which refers to how much Anna Bligh has used spin in political speeches, lying to the people about the true state of politics and policies in Queensland. Satire here is used as 'an antidote to being lied to', as John Clarke, well-known Australian comedian says. So the purpose behind Pope's cartoon is to expose the lies and spectacular defeat of Anna Bligh's government: 'Her stuff ups and her sell offs' have left her 'up a tree.' 

Further reference to the political cartoon shows the exaggeration of 'groaning' infrastructure which portrays her failed attempt to repair the damage caused by the Queensland floods, even though she put a positive spin on the rebuilding program during the floods. 

The cartoon may make a serious situation look trivial, and the Brisbane floods were anything but trivial, but Pope was exposing what he considered vice and folly in Bligh's government. His use of satire reveals his desire to denounce the Labor Government's reckless policies and applaud the change in society which began with Bligh's defeat.

Satire is a lesson, parody is a game, but it is a serious game, and Australians are free to satirise people and events as we see them without punishment. Satirists write texts both to entertain and educate readers with their comments and opinions about people and events in society, hoping to bring about change. The two satirical texts share this feature although they were written in two different eras. This political cartoon shows how satire is not just trivial comedy, it continues to bring about change in society by its message, using wit as a weapon. 

SATIRE - POLITICAL CARTOONS - ANALYSIS

SATIRE is a term applied to ANY work of literature or art whose objective is to RIDICULE. From ancient times satirists have shared a common aim - to expose foolishness in all its guises--vanity, hypocrisy, idolatry, bigotry etc -- and to effect reform through such exposure.


POLITICAL CARTOONS

• Are a reflection and commentary on our DEMOCRACY.
• They provide a SNAPSHOT of major events and personalities, often capturing the complexities of political action and public perception in a single image.
• Serious subjects/issues are tempered by wit and wisdom of the cartoonists. (One definition of satire is 'wit as a weapon' which fits the political cartoon to a T.
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DECONSTRUCTING POLITICAL CARTOONS

When  you look for meaning in a political cartoon, you need to examine it on 3 levels -- literal, inferential and evaluative.

EXERCISE

Study the political cartoon below. Write a few sentences on each level of reading -- literal, inferential, evaluative.

LITERAL meaning -- What do you see? Who's in the picture? What are they doing?

INFERENTIAL meaning -- What do you INFER (understand) from this picture? What message is the satirist conveying? 

EVALUATIVE meaning -- Write your full evaluation/analysis of this text. What tools of satire/art has the satirist used to convey his message? What is the main message the author is converying and how does he/she do this? How has the satirist used position, size, colour etc to underline his message to convey who is powerful, who is powerless, who is marginalised, who is foregrounded?

Go here for more political cartoons featuring the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard as she goes about her daily business of governing Australians.

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=political+cartoons+julia+gillard&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=GU9_Ua6mC6uwiQeWwoHgCw&ved=0CDEQsAQ&biw=1024&bih=457

Remember that Australia is a DEMOCRACY (rule of the people by the people). We have the freedom to satirise anything. Not all countries are so generous with their freedoms.