Political Cartoons: How it Affects Society
“…we are making serious commentary on serious topics but we’re doing it not so seriously…”
— Matt Wuerker, Pulitzer Prize-winning American Political Cartoonist
As stated in Britannica, political cartoons are drawings that are made for the purpose of conveying editorial commentary on politics, politicians, and current events. These cartoons depict the freedom of speech towards political discussions in today’s society. With the freedom of speech that was foremost mentioned, some communities could get offended by the satire that the cartoonist drew. The occurrence in 2015 in which Islamic terrorists attacked the office of French political cartoonist, Charlie Hebdo after publishing a hideous depiction of the prophet Muhammad explains how some communities get offended by the art. However, there’s also a chance that a political cartoon impacts positively. It has been said that a good political cartoon not only makes you laugh but also makes you think. Even though some cartoons illustrate a more grim image of a situation, the ridiculousness of the illustration makes it humorous. As it was previously mentioned, the purpose of making political cartoons is to convey editorial commentary meaning that it has a certain message that it wants to disclose. After noticing said message people could connect the cartoon to a certain situation that is going on and they could be aware of the situation and act upon it. To do an in-depth exploration towards the world of political cartoons, an illustration made by Junco Canché that has been circulating online will be scrutinized.
Observation
In the original art, at the first glance, you can clearly see that a Black man and a White man are sitting side by side inside a police car, hence the luminous red and blue lights at the back. Focusing on the White man, you can see how he’s given a burger and on his upper sleeve, he has a confederate flag badge on it. In comparison, the Black man’s clothes are ripped, he has blood and bruises all over, and not to mention that he’s handcuffed. Then an anonymous user on Twitter posted the illustration with an edited caption to further exemplify the situation. The caption that was added was the White man saying that he committed a church massacre, asking the Black man what he did, and the Black man answering that his right blinker was out. The comparison shows how mistreated the Black man is. First, the White man was well-taken care of whilst the Black man was restrained because he might be a threat. Second, the White man is wearing a confederate flag badge which symbolizes white supremacy. Third, the crimes that both men did are to a different degree. The White man was guilty of doing a church massacre, meaning that there could be many victims. The Black man on the other hand just violated a road safety measure.
Reflections
The political cartoon illustrates how mistreated Black people are or people of colour (POC) in general by the police. This cartoon correlates with the issue that has been talked about numerous times which is the Black lives matter movement. The Black lives matter movement has been brought up to the attention of a lot of people because people have been noticing how Black people are always treated unfairly. A lot of Black people have been accused wrongly and killed by the police. One of the cases that made the movement reach its peak was George Floyd’s incident. He allegedly tried to use a counterfeit $20 bill yet he got handcuffed on the ground and an officer knelt on his neck for eight minutes. At that moment George Floyd kept on pleading that he couldn’t breathe but the officer ignored resulting in his demise. During this Black lives matter movement, the cartoon targets the people that are still in denial of the existence of the mistreatments towards black people. These people need to be enlightened of what has happened in the simplest way possible and that is by making this political cartoon. The cartoonist persuades the audience by adding small details like the confederate flag badge, the burger, the bruises on the black man, and others. The edited version attracts audiences by adding more contrast to the situation.
The depiction that was made by Junco Canché illustrates the situation that has been talked about multiple times in the media which is the Black lives matter movement. One of the cases that have brought this movement to the public was George Floyd’s. It gained attention but some people still didn’t get the meaning of the movement. The aforementioned illustration further signifies how a political cartoon affects society. A simple drawing could deliver a big message about the underlying issues within a society which result in evoking a certain emotion that might propel a concrete action to change the status quo.
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