Political Cartoons

From yesterday’s Upfront article: “Symbols have the power to represent so much in a quick visual flash.” We just participated in the Pledge of Allegiance, which asks us to consider a symbol--the American flag--and pledge our loyalty to it. What does the flag represent to you, both in general, and its specific parts?

Definitions Symbol: “a thing that represents or stands for something else, especially a material object representing something abstract”

Definitions Satire: “the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues”

Definitions Caricature: “a picture, description, or imitation of a person or thing in which certain striking characteristics are exaggerated in order to create a comic or grotesque effect”

Definitions Political cartoon: “an illustration that contains a social or political message, usually related to current events or personalities”

The first widely-disseminated American political cartoon: Benjamin Franklin, 1754 What is Franklin saying, and how is he saying it?

Your task for today: Create your own political cartoon! Choose as your topic a current political or cultural event or personality, and keep in mind the principles of symbolism, satire, caricature, and the genre-specific parts that make up a political cartoon (author’s name, usually a descriptive caption). Space is at a premium--your cartoon must fit within the box. So how can you best say something of significance in such a little space? If you can only draw stick figures, be sure to label whom you’re portraying. Below your cartoon, you’ll be asked to write a brief summary: what (or who) appears in your cartoon, why have you selected that topic, and how have you represented it visually? Bring your reader’s eye to specific visual details: make sure that the most important things pop out first. You will hand this in as you leave today (be sure your name is on it!).