How to Decode a Political Cartoon

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How to Decode a Political Cartoon
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Definitions

• "political" that which is concerned with public
  affairs or government
• "cartoon" a sketch or drawing that interests or
  amuses by portraying persons, things, political
  events or situations etc. in an exaggerated way

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Definitions

• SATIRE - uses humor to lower something or someone
  in the readers or viewers estimation. It is not
  mean-spirited and its point is not to harm. It
  exposes human folly to make room for improvement.
  

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What are Political Cartoons?

• Political cartoons usually appear on the
  editorial page of your daily newspaper. They
  generally deal with events or issues currently in
  the news and are, in essence, visual editorials.
  Like the writer of an editorial, the cartoonist
  is trying to make a point.

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What are Political Cartoons?

• When you look at a political cartoon produced
  many years ago you are seeing it out of its
  original context. In order to "get it" you will
  likely need some background information from
  classroom discussion, a textbook or your own
  research. Once you have a general idea of the
  topic at hand you can start to decode the message
  the cartoonist is trying to convey.

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Tools Used By Cartoonist

• Exaggeration
• Allusion
• Analogy
• Symbolism
• Caricature
• Stereotype
• Humor
• Personification

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CARICATURE

• Exaggerates one or more features of a person or
  thing. It attempts to say something about the
  person/things character, beliefs, actions or
  significance.
• Makes them easily recognizable.

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SYMBOL

• Represents something else. It is a often a
  material object that represents something
  abstract or invisible (for example, the Statue of
  Liberty to represent freedom or the stars of the
  confederate flag as KKK).

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METAPHOR

• Uses an object to note a similarity to something
  else. For example,

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IRONY

• Expresses an idea through a contradiction between
  somethings literal meaning and the intended
  meaning. For example, picturing a U.S. president
  with a crown on his head.
• SARCASM- is a form of irony. The element that
  turns irony into sarcasm is the appearance of
  mockery, or bitterness.

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STEREOTYPES

• Works by taking a real or imagined trait of an
  individual to be true of the group to which the
  individual belongs. They express bias and can be
  unfair and harmful. The black man is sketched to
  look like an ape, with large lips and no shoes.

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Analogy Allusions

• Another very important technique is the use of
  analogy, in which one event is represented by
  another.
• An allusion is understandable only to those with
  prior knowledge of the reference in question
  (which the writer assumes to be so).
• A one-sentence or one-phrase (or image) reference
  to another event, character, etc. in the Bible,
  mythology, or current event

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Three kings follow star to Barack Obama, savior
of the Democrats.
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Personification

• Depiciting an inanimate object or abstraction
  with human qualities or abilities.

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Biases

• When you look at a political cartoon you should
  consider the biases of the cartoonist. The
  cartoonist, after all, is trying to make a point.
  When and where was the cartoon published, and in
  what type of publication? Who is portrayed in a
  favourable manner and who is not?
• Cartoons can display a number of other biases as
  well (such as political, religious, racial or
  ethnic, vocational, economic or gender biases).

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Decode the message by using the following method

• Background Knowledge
• Issue
• Devices
• Caricature
• Analogy
• Words
• Signs, symbols, stereotypes, size shading
• Biases of the cartoonist
• Interpretation