Political Cartoons
I started looking more and more into political issues at a young age
after having my interests peaked by these simple political cartoons in the news
papers. Being young, the only thing I liked about the daily paper was the funny
pages in the back, but looking through; I often stopped to look at these other
comics to see what it had to say. I didn’t understand it at first, but it had me
ask questions, taking it to my parents, to my teachers, or looking it up on the
internet. This was my first step to learning about what was happening in our
government. While most of it was bias pictures, and my papers mostly only gave
me only a skewed, republican, view; it had me look deeper and deeper into the
issues. What I would like to learn from this is the different interpretations
of the cartoons and what the artist actually intended for his work.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This is a very true
statement for political cartoons. Beginning in 1754, when Benjamin Franklin’s
“Join or Die” cartoon appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette, political
cartoonists have long used their skills to praise, attack, caricature, and
otherwise express their opinions on the most urgent political issues of the day
“Political cartoons in U.S. history.” What do these drawings show or present to
others? Can one of these drawings be misinterpreted? Political cartoons can be
used to simplify very complicated problems going on in the world. They are used
as a tool to show either a republican or democratic view on an issue. And they
give a sense of a child like look into these issues by using satire to simplify
the problem in a way that looks like something for children.
For over two hundred years, whenever a debate breaks out in the
U.S. or even around the world,
political cartoons are there to take part in the argument in some way. While
today’s political cartoons are an expression of the artists opinion,
historically, they were also used as a powerful symbol. In the beginning of the
seventeenth century, these cartoons started appearing as street phenomenon often
posted on walls or passed from person to person, as well as being published in
public newspapers. One of the most famous during this time was Benjamin
Franklin’s “Join or Die” cartoon appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette. This
picture, a simple drawing but with a powerful message, join together as one
nation. The picture of a snake cute into eat pieces with the initials of the
thirteen colonies above each, with New England
representing 4 colonies at this time. While this picture was made during the
French and Indian war, it was later used as a symbol during the American
Revolution.
During any election, political
argument, or crisis, one thing a person may find in a morning newspaper is a
drawing intended to express the opinion of an artist on this matter. While it
may be a simple picture with some text or labels, it can say so much more. One
example would be one of Richard Nixon pulling apart a tape. This was meant to
symbolize the altering of the water gate tapes and cleverly placing in his
saying “I’m not a crook” so that by changing the tapes, he is being a crook.
While this one has a clear meaning and little to misunderstand, other pictures
can have unknown meanings. One example of an unclear message would be the one of
the police shooting the chimpanzee in Stamford,
Connecticut. This picture could mean several different
things, but the author, Sean Delonas, has not commented so it is left to the
people to come up with there own conclusion. The picture features two
dumbfounded police men standing over the dead chimp that attacked a woman.
“They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill," says one of
the police men. This could be read as a very raciest attack on President Obama
by implying that they thought he was the chimp, or this could have been a simple
implication that the artist disagreed with the stimulus package and was simply
using some recent news to show it. Depending on your political position, it can
be any number of interpretations.
Sean Delonas had announced some time in June, 2013 that he was taking a
buy out and leaving the New
York
Post’s after 23 years and almost 6,000 pictures for the paper. Sean
continued posting more pictures for sale on his own website and after viewing
Sean Delonas other artworks after leaving his paper; he appears to be
more republican based in his designs and in his ideas. Most pictures including
drawings against Obama, such as a then and picture comparing him to Kennedy.
Using Kennedy’s quote “I
am
a
Berliner”
and having Obama say “I am a fool” instead. Other pictures include many
interpretations of Anthony Weiner, using all kinds of interesting puns such as a
bar graph off his approval by the public going down with the arrow coming from
his pants.
Whether you look at political cartoons from today’s paper, or from over
two hundred years ago, you can interpret these pictures and identify almost any
political problem happening at the time. Depending on the artist, these pictures
can have a clear message or can be open to interpretation for the public.
I started looking more and more into political issues at a young age
after having my interests peaked by these simple political cartoons in the news
papers. Being young, the only thing I liked about the daily paper was the funny
pages in the back, but looking through; I often stopped to look at these other
comics to see what it had to say. I didn’t understand it at first, but it had me
ask questions, taking it to my parents, to my teachers, or looking it up on the
internet. This was my first step to learning about what was happening in our
government. While most of it was bias pictures, and my papers mostly only gave
me only a skewed, republican, view; it had me look deeper and deeper into the
issues. What I would like to learn from this is the different interpretations
of the cartoons and what the artist actually intended for his work.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This is a very true
statement for political cartoons. Beginning in 1754, when Benjamin Franklin’s
“Join or Die” cartoon appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette, political
cartoonists have long used their skills to praise, attack, caricature, and
otherwise express their opinions on the most urgent political issues of the day
“Political cartoons in U.S. history.” What do these drawings show or present to
others? Can one of these drawings be misinterpreted? Political cartoons can be
used to simplify very complicated problems going on in the world. They are used
as a tool to show either a republican or democratic view on an issue. And they
give a sense of a child like look into these issues by using satire to simplify
the problem in a way that looks like something for children.
For over two hundred years, whenever a debate breaks out in the
U.S. or even around the world,
political cartoons are there to take part in the argument in some way. While
today’s political cartoons are an expression of the artists opinion,
historically, they were also used as a powerful symbol. In the beginning of the
seventeenth century, these cartoons started appearing as street phenomenon often
posted on walls or passed from person to person, as well as being published in
public newspapers. One of the most famous during this time was Benjamin
Franklin’s “Join or Die” cartoon appeared in the Pennsylvania Gazette. This
picture, a simple drawing but with a powerful message, join together as one
nation. The picture of a snake cute into eat pieces with the initials of the
thirteen colonies above each, with New England
representing 4 colonies at this time. While this picture was made during the
French and Indian war, it was later used as a symbol during the American
Revolution.
During any election, political
argument, or crisis, one thing a person may find in a morning newspaper is a
drawing intended to express the opinion of an artist on this matter. While it
may be a simple picture with some text or labels, it can say so much more. One
example would be one of Richard Nixon pulling apart a tape. This was meant to
symbolize the altering of the water gate tapes and cleverly placing in his
saying “I’m not a crook” so that by changing the tapes, he is being a crook.
While this one has a clear meaning and little to misunderstand, other pictures
can have unknown meanings. One example of an unclear message would be the one of
the police shooting the chimpanzee in Stamford,
Connecticut. This picture could mean several different
things, but the author, Sean Delonas, has not commented so it is left to the
people to come up with there own conclusion. The picture features two
dumbfounded police men standing over the dead chimp that attacked a woman.
“They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill," says one of
the police men. This could be read as a very raciest attack on President Obama
by implying that they thought he was the chimp, or this could have been a simple
implication that the artist disagreed with the stimulus package and was simply
using some recent news to show it. Depending on your political position, it can
be any number of interpretations.
Sean Delonas had announced some time in June, 2013 that he was taking a
buy out and leaving the New
York
Post’s after 23 years and almost 6,000 pictures for the paper. Sean
continued posting more pictures for sale on his own website and after viewing
Sean Delonas other artworks after leaving his paper; he appears to be
more republican based in his designs and in his ideas. Most pictures including
drawings against Obama, such as a then and picture comparing him to Kennedy.
Using Kennedy’s quote “I
am
a
Berliner”
and having Obama say “I am a fool” instead. Other pictures include many
interpretations of Anthony Weiner, using all kinds of interesting puns such as a
bar graph off his approval by the public going down with the arrow coming from
his pants.
Whether you look at political cartoons from today’s paper, or from over
two hundred years ago, you can interpret these pictures and identify almost any
political problem happening at the time. Depending on the artist, these pictures
can have a clear message or can be open to interpretation for the public.