Political Cartoon Research Paper

Words: 1924
Pages: 8

Kaylie Stearns
Mrs. Rogers
Comp 2
16 April, 2018
Pictures are Worth a Thousand Words
Who would have guessed that a seemingly meaningless piece of art work can make or break a whole entire culture’s identity? In a day and age where our generations are losing the ability to read through news articles, the ability to look at a picture and make a snap judgement is increasingly prevalent. Political cartoons have been around since a person could pick up a pencil and write, but now more than ever are these tools of propaganda being used efficiently to relay a desired message to anyone who can see it. A common target for political cartoons has been on the religion of Islam, and how violent that the religion is seen based off of an increasing number
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An academic journal published by Carleton University discusses how strong of a “weapon” political cartoons can be and why. Author Rhonda Walker says, “One of the most powerful weapons that a cartoon has is its seemingly innocent humor whose message can be absorbed easily, without much reflection or resistance” (1). What is making these cartoons so effective to readers is that the humor involved or “the joke” is remembered and wired into the brain so easily that when people later hear of the topic of the cartoon, their biological response is to remember the joke and make the connection. Rhonda Walker explains this in her journal, “A cartoon can create what Greenberg refers to as, “metaphoric entrapment” where the cartoon image and the real subject are so closely linked that any other interpretation seem impossible” (4). By doing this, political cartoons are seen as lethal to many topics that may be depicted in a cartoon. The harm, or maybe the good thing about this is that political cartoons are not censored or even utilized by policy makers themselves, and the previously mentioned study explains, “Where once they were used to be members of political parties, now most are professionals, free to lampoon all politics, all the time, and not the business sector, to which they belong” (Walker 3). This is important to know because the opinions that cartoons sway you to feel, often times go against what is politically correct or desired. Knowing all of this can help one understand why the stigma of Islam is so negative since this religion often times fall victim to various political