For many years, editorial cartoons have been a good source to state opinions about political, economic, and social issues. One thing in common among all of them, is their use of symbols, or situations that seem familiar to us, which offer insights into our national, local, and international cultures. An editorial cartoonist has an advantage that other journalists, including editorial writers, do not share. Cartoonists are able, if not encouraged, to voice their personal biases in their work. The cartoonist’s reliance on caricatures and exaggerated features creates an artistic license that is not shared by those that work with the written word.
Effective symbolism works its way from editorial cartoons into the mainstream American culture. For example, the donkey and the elephant were first used to represent the two major U.S. political parties in the cartoons of Thomas Nast. Mr. Nast is also credited for giving us our modern day depiction of Santa Claus. Other cartoons have created symbols such as a dragon for China and Uncle Sam for the United States. This editoiral cartoons have become beyond popular in the past couple decades, cartoonists come up with some of the craziest, and random things, which makes it interesting to read. But according to a study by Carl (1968), he found out that 70% of newspaper readers were unable to identify the meaning of which the cartoonist intended to communicate in an editorial cartoon.
I never understood what they were really trying to say when I read this editorial cartoons, that's why I never bother reading them, because I will literally sit there and try to find the meaning of it, and in the end I never do. Before, back in the days when I used to read the comic ones, with Charlie Brown, now those I did get most of the time, and were quite funny. An editorial cartoonist should have a clear message for each one of his or her cartoons. Each cartoonist has a different style, a different technique and a different viewpoint. However, each cartoonist should try to clearly and concisely communicate his or her ideas on one topic for each cartoon. The goal should be to make the reader think about an important social or political issue of the time. An effective political cartoon is truly a work of art. It requires a balance of art and politics that is subtle enough to make the reader think yet obvious enough to be understood by the intended audience. A good editorial cartoonist is capable of striking the right balance and creating cartoons that are enjoyed and admired.
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Your opinion is very interesting. I’ve never thought about that political cartoon should be “obvious enough to be understood by the intended audience” as you claim in the blog this week. After reading your opinion, I was thinking about advantage of drawing clear political cartoon versus obscure political cartoon. Since political cartoons are usually consisted by only one frame, and it immediately catch attention to the readers, it would be beneficial to convey the idea clearly; otherwise readers may lose interest in searching the meaning of the cartoon as you suggested as “. . . I will literally sit there and try to find the meaning of it, and in the end I never do.” I mostly agree with your idea, because I usually try to understand one of the political cartoons, but I end up not understanding it; it is upsetting experience. Your way of not reading cartoon to avoid such situation sounds very smart. However, when I get the meaning of the cartoon after thinking a while is a wonderful experience as well, this kind of experience may make readers to be addicted to political cartoons. So I believe having implicit idea in political cartoon may attract some small amount of readers while discouraging others. But I believe conveying implicit meaning or obscure meaning in political cartoons may benefit cartoonist as a protection against their expressions; by not stating idea clearly, cartoonist can avoid harsh blame made by readers but still be able to express controversial issues, because the idea is not obviously stated. So if we think about cartoonist point of view, stating their idea clearly may be hard due to their hesitation or consideration toward their readers. However, I believe your idea would be ideal for political cartoon. It just may be hard for cartoonists to accomplish that way. So when we see cartoonist expressing their thought explicitly, we can praise them for their braveness to confront the reaction. Overall, I totally agree with you that cartoonists have privilege to express their biased view in their work. I admire their braveness. Good job expressing your point of view!
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