Editorial cartoons have a long history of stirring up emotions by distilling complex societal problems and complaints for the masses. But are today's cartoonists adding to important political conversations, or just preaching to the converted? In this episode, JJ and Christine describe and discuss recent political and editorial cartoons, and discover that neither end of the political spectrum corners the market on hard-hitting, cringe-worthy, dark humour.
Editorial cartoons have a long history of stirring up emotions by distilling complex societal problems and complaints for the masses. But are today's cartoonists adding to important political conversations, or just preaching to the converted? In this episode, JJ and Christine describe and discuss recent political and editorial cartoons, and discover that neither end of the political spectrum corners the market on hard-hitting, cringe-worthy, dark humour.
Talk description to Me with Christine Males and JJ Hunt.
Christine Malec:Hi, I'm Christine Malec.
JJ Hunt:And I'm JJ Hunt. This is talk description me to where the visuals of current events and the world around us get hashtag in description rich conversations.
Christine Malec:Political satire is one of the things that I'm actually really grateful for, even if I don't consume it. I think that we are fortunate to live in places where we're allowed to have political satire. And so sometimes that takes the form of easily consumable things for blind and low vision people like personalities who do comedy and such. But there's a whole other realm that has been largely inaccessible, which is the the printed sort of political cartoons and such. And so we thought we'd talk a little bit about that. And, JJ, are they still in newspapers? Like on actual paper? how did how do people can consume them these days,
JJ Hunt:They are, ya know, the political cartoons are still found their mainstays in newspapers, they're often now referred to as editorial cartoons. Because they, you know, the the reach not only political topics, but anything that they would be talking about in an editorial context. And they are particularly good because they're for today, there's still viable in part because they're great for sharing, you can share them easily in digital form, not just in paper. So you know, a newspaper might print it in the hardcopy, but they'll also have them available on their website. And, you know, political cartoons, they've been around since, like the latter part of the 18th century in England, right, they've been around for a long time, in part because they are great for communicating with a broad audience that has a literacy issues. And I you know, I don't just mean illiterate people, although that has, you know, there have been times when having to communicate with an illiterate population has been important. But it's also they're good for when you don't have a population that shares a common language. Or if you have a population that has, that doesn't have a necessarily an academic understanding of a larger issue. It's not that their understanding is unsophisticated, it's just not academic. So if you've got an audience that is more inclined to see an image that that represents an issue or a cause that you already believe in that that illustration, is going to evoke an emotional response in a way that a piece of writing might not that piece of writing is good for eliciting an intellectual response from a certain, you know, part of the population. But if you want a really emotional response from a broader part of the population than you want, then you want a cartoon an image. That's really it's really good for that.
Christine Malec:What kinds of things are you seeing recently that have caught your attention?
JJ Hunt:So I scanned the web for examples throughout the year, right? I went on Twitter and and looked up specific illustrators, specific cartoonists, who've been posting their own material, as well as went to some publications where I know that they're doing good stuff. And I did my best to kind of scan to the right and to the left of the political spectrum, because I wanted to get a good range. And now, you know, I'm going to describe some of these images that I found some of these cartoons that I found, keep in mind, these are not necessarily ones that I thought were the funniest or the best, but I tried to pick images and cartoons that expressed a range of ideas, and that each one hopefully has something of interest in it. I should note that at the extreme ends of the political spectrum, the political cartoons get more unsophisticated and dull. And two basic form, I think, you know, they're not they're not worthy of conversation and, frankly, at the risk of, you know, showing my bias here, the images from the very far right, were absolutely intolerable, racist and ignorant. And in such a way that I thought, you know, peddling those theories and ideas I'm just not even interested in promoting them at all. So yeah, yeah, there you go. I also looked internationally to try and find someone, I found some international political cartoons that we'll talk about. But it's tricky, because in order to really appreciate these political cartoons, you have to have a fairly keen understanding and awareness of the social and political context. And, frankly, I didn't have that in some cases. So there were some a lot of great material from North Africa and the Middle East. There's a political cartoons and editorial cartoons are alive and well there. But I just didn't appreciate the the nuances of the of the characters of the situations to really get that so. But the one thing you will find all around the world, everyone's got a Donald Trump cartoon, because his politics are so extreme. And the importance, the you know, the current US political trends are so important to global politics. And everyone is watching, everyone is commenting. So some of these political cartoons I'll talk about, aren't there about US politics, but they're not necessarily from the US.
Christine Malec:So I want to interject an idea here just to sort of keep thinking about under the surface, which is that there's an idea, I think it was Malcolm Gladwell, who did a podcast about political satire. And he cited a few examples of people who did political satire. And he didn't want to call it that, because it was humor that appealed to everyone to both sides of an issue. And I took a bit of issue, I took a little issue with him here, because I think that's a genius level when you can amuse and engage people from both ends of the spectrum, and make them laugh using the same thing. And so I don't know if that's going to be relevant in what you've got to describe. But I just, that's something I think about often when it comes to this stuff. And so I, you know, we can set that aside, and maybe we'll come back to it. But that's an interresting thing to keep in mind,
JJ Hunt:I think you're right, there are some of these that might have a broader appeal or people from all sides of the political spectrum, I guess, would be able to appreciate them and some that will not be the case. For some they will infuriate one side or the other. So, yeah. So right off the bat. Let's go with an American political one. So here's a black and white sketch. I shouldn't say sketch, it's, it's a really intricate drawing the range of style, it really does vary. This is a black and white ink drawing, and it has Joe Biden as a snail, a huge snail and the shell is, you know, it's got stars and stripes on it and the Biden 2020 sticker. And he's looking over a fence inside like a corral area and there's a bowl of big barrel chested bowl with a floppy hair in its Donald Trump. Donald Trump is a bull. And he's and holding on, trying to stay on this bucking bull of Donald Trump, his uncle sam, with a goatee and the hat and he's desperately trying to you know, stay on top of this bucking bull that is Donald Trump and Biden the snail behind says, how's that ride working out for you?
Christine Malec:Yeah, I don't even know what to do with that might be one of those ones that does sort of have a broader appeal.
JJ Hunt:Yeah, might just might just. So here's one from the UK, lots about a Boris Johnson and Brexit in the UK. The way Boris Johnson tends to be depicted in cartoons. They his floppy blonde hair. And there's that there's this wonderful style of Brits in power, the way they are represented in satire and cartoons and puppets and whatever there's a floppy jolly pointy nose, the big open mouths with with large lips. It's a really interesting thing that gets this is this is a whole area of discussion in and of itself, how Brits in power are depicted in satire. And so you know, Boris Johnson has very much that he's got a pointy nose, full lips, but a big open mouth and the hair covering his eyes and he's got a miner's helmet on and he's in a mining he's in a mine. And he's got a shovel, you know, and they're, you know, people with picks pick axes behind him, and he's holding a cage a bird cage, and the bottom of the cage is just packed with little dead yellow birds packed and he's he's screaming over his shoulder. Get more canaries. Yeah. And then things get really very serious with Donald is like, again, you can express some things emotional things and very political things in political cartoons. So there was a lot of editorial cartoon work done around George Floyd, and different people with different takes on it. But there was something about the pose of the police officer kneeling on George Floyd's neck. That was that just really lent itself that image was so well understood. So here's here's a comic. In the background, there's a building that's on fire. And that in the fire are the words racial unrest, that's, that's often what's done. You can label things in political cartoons that you wouldn't do in other in other ways in other places. So the the building is labeled racial unrest, it's on fire. And there's a fire truck in the foreground at our left and Donald Trump in a firefighters uniform, but with a very long red tie is kneeling half behind the fire truck in exactly the same position that the police officer was behind the car in the George Floyd video and there's a fire hose that's pointing that's leading toward the burning building, but Donald Trump is kneeling on that fire hose so that the water can't get through.
Christine Malec:Oh my gosh,
JJ Hunt:No other, no other words expressing that. Here's one another. This one's a political one from Canada right now. We've got some serious issues in Nova Scotia with the Mi'kmaq lobster dispute. And this has led to serious violence against Mi'kmaq Fishers and community members. The conflict is raging out of control right now. And and one cartoonist Michael de Adder. Gonna have several comics from him because his his political stuff is very good. He does. He works in Canada. He works in the States. And so he's got a side by side, it's a two panel and the first panel, it says police presence in the lobster dispute. And it's a it's an image of a Tim Hortons donut shop with three cop cars pulled pulled up. That's the police presence in the lobster dispute. And then the second panel, it's increased police presence in the lobster dispute. And it's the same Tim Hortons. But now there are twice as many police cars. And there are as many RCMP cars as well.
Christine Malec:Oh my goodness.
JJ Hunt:Yeah, that's his response. So here's one that's this one's from the States. And it's an image looking down on a scene. It's a corner of a house or a brick building. And so you can see down into a basement window, and then there's a lawn on the outside. And so at that basement window, kind of looking up and out is a is a gray haired man wearing a mask. It's a dust mask. And he's got a sticker that says vote on his on his lapel. And there's a man on the lawn outside of the house. This is a man wearing a blue suit, and he's looking down into the basement window. And he's saying to this figure on the inside. Sure Trump's rallies are huge. But you are ahead in the polls, just like Hillary was. So essentially, this is Joe Biden, in the building hiding in the basement with his mask on Oh, while someone explains to him. Oh, yeah, yeah, sure. Don't worry. Trump's rallies are huge, but you're you're ahead in the polls, just like Hillary was. Uh huh. Yeah.
Christine Malec:Um, okay.
JJ Hunt:Ya, 'cause Biden's hiding.
Christine Malec:Right.
JJ Hunt:And his mask, and all this. Michael de Adder, another one from him. Here he's comparing racism in America to racism in Canada. And so racism in America is represented by a black man in a suit and glasses, holding a briefcase standing on a sidewalk next to a puddle. And there's a taxi driving right by him just driving past him not picking him up. That's racism in America. racism in Canada, the exact same man standing in the exact same sidewalk. holding his briefcase puddle beside him and now the taxi whips right past him. But the driver leans out the window and says sorry. Yeah, in both Yeah, that's that's his take on that one. Here's one from a an American political, an editorial cartoonist with he's talking about the Minneapolis effect. That's he tweeted this out with the #Minneapolis effect, #murders spike. And so this is a hot air balloon rising up into the sky and you're kind of looking at it from below. And the balloon itself looks like a giant skull like a really gnarly white skull that's kind of, you know, the big eye sockets in the teeth, and it's labeled homicides and the basket underneath labeled cities and falling from the basket labeled cities are sandbags, but they're each labeled. And so one is labeled police. Oh, they're all labeled police. So in the basket they're cutting off these sandbags labeled police so that the hot air balloon labeled homicides can rise. And one of the people cutting off the balloon or cutting off the sandbags says, Let's cut a few more, shall we?
Christine Malec:Oooh.
JJ Hunt:Yeah. Mm hmm. Interesting. Another Michael de Adder. This one I found really interesting, because this one is very expressly paid for by the Lincoln project. And so they hired the Canadian Michael de Adder to do this image, which is Donald Trump with his blond hair flopping in the wind, with that posture that we talked about. So he's pitched forward at the waist blue suit, long red tie, and there's a flag wrapped, flag draped coffin being wheeled away by an honor guard. And Donald Trump says, what a sucker? Yeah, ouch. Yeah, yeah, ouch. Indeed. Here's one where there are two figures. Both squat figures, a man in red and a woman in blue. And the man in red has a magga hat on and he's holding a sign that says no masks. And his cross his t shirt is are the words my body my choice. And he's staring at a woman who was looking at him and she's, she's got a blue t shirt on. And her blue sign reads pro choice. And her shirt also says, My body my choice. And these two figures are glaring at each other. This was this was one I found kind of interesting. This was by a cartoonist named M. Worker, WUERKER - worker. Okay. And this is a bit of a complicated image, it looks almost like a cartoon from a kid's book, there's a there's a real childlike quality to it's very colorful, very bright. So in the background you have a city, a bird, a city that's on fire burning, plumes of black smoke coming from the the yellow flames. And there's a group of protesters with an American flag. And they are about to charge into a police who are in formation with shields and sirens and police cars. So that's in the background, as well as a hospital in the background surrounded by ambulances with flashing lights. And there's a sign that says COVID pointing to the hospital. And behind that are mountains, a mountain range that's also on fire. So all that's going on in the background. In the foreground, there's a cartoon, pink elephant dressed like a clown, and a cartoon blue donkey, also dressed like a clown. And they are running in circles chasing each other. So this, this, like clown elephant and the clown donkey are chasing each other. And they both each of them has a bucket of paint. And the donkey is painting a swastika onto the back of the pink elephant. And the elephant is painting a hammer and sickle onto the back of the donkey. And they're going around and around and around and around in this circle, while all of this other activity is happening behind them.
Christine Malec:Whoa,
JJ Hunt:Yes, a lot. A lot going on in there.
Christine Malec:I'm starting to get how layered these are and how informed you have to be to understand them. And the level of visual iconography being used. So does I think a pink elephant symbolizes something. Or am I wrong there?
JJ Hunt:Well, the pink elephant does. But just the elephant in and of itself does. So you've got the elephant in the and the and the donkey representing the two political parties in the state. Yeah, but the pink elephant also is its own thing. Like there's a drunkenness to seeing one. You see pink elephants when you're drunk.
Christine Malec:Okay, so it had some meaning I couldn't remember what. Okay, that's the cultural meaning.
JJ Hunt:Yeah. And of course, they're dressed like clowns, there's so much, so dense. So here's another one on the different kind of, you know, part of the spectrum. This is again to adder. And this one is a beautifully rendered lots of cross hatching a muted colors in this image. It reminds me of the drawings in the Maurice Sendak kids books. It's just the lovely, lovely piece of art. And it's a representation of the Last Supper and it's Donald Trump in the middle and surrounded by various members of the of his party and his his groups of people, so he's got members of his family, his kids are in there. Fauci is in there as well. Dr. Fauci is in there, and Donald Trump is pouring, he's filling a goblet with a bottle of bleach. And all of and you know, his son Eric is holding his hands in prayer, and they're all gathered around. And there's no text to this at all. And Dr. Fauci is in the background, covering his, his face with his hands, as all of these republicans and Donald Trump insiders are, you know, turned toward the middle where Donald Trump is calmly filling a goblet with bleach.
Christine Malec:And so when you say that it's a rendering of the Last Supper, how do you conclude that?
JJ Hunt:Ah, so well, the the basic format, the all of the different characters are in position -
Christine Malec:From Da Vinci's painting, that painting
JJ Hunt:Yes - it's not exactly Da Vinci's painting, but there are a number of these images that are essentially from the same from that scene that is reenacted or reenacted. And and and drawn and painted over and over and over again, that represent that picture has been represented so many times in so many different ways. Okay. And then some of the iconography in terms of the the goblet and the table with the tablecloth and there's a there's an arch behind Donald Trump in the background, so everyone else has darkness behind them. They're in the in the dark shadows of the room are behind them, except Donald Trump, he's got an arch with white light behind him. So there's a very, there's the the artist is able to convey the scene based on the iconography based on the layout based on the you know, the scene is one that that we've seen so many times before,
Christine Malec:I feel like I'm going to be tossing and turning in bed tonight, still thinking about that image and trying to figure out exactly what it's conveying.
JJ Hunt:Yeah, all the different all the different people and again, the nuance in this, like the way his children are looking at him. The way some of the other political leaders are looking at him. Yeah, you again, if -
Christine Malec:Some of it's obvious, but some of it not so
JJ Hunt:Yes. Though, there's nuance there is there is nuance. much. And then here's one where there is no nuance. This is one that was on the edge of I thought Am I gonna describe this or so this is kind of on the on the far edge of this. So this is Biden's brain trust. This is what it's called bright Biden's brain trust. And it's a cartoon of Joe Biden, balding, white haired guy with a very high forehead, and his nose and mouth are covered with a mask. And then you get to see the picture inside of his brain. So there's a like a cutaway and you get to see inside of his brain. And inside of his brain are three figures Ilhan Omar, the Congresswoman Bernie Sanders and AOC Alexandria, Ocasio-Cortez, and they are each holding a sign so Omar is holding a sign that says remake America. Bernie's holding a sign that says socialism. And AOC has got a sign that says the green New Deal. And this is an idea that is put forward a lot in political cartoons, that behind Joe Biden are these other characters. So Joe Biden, who is depicted as he is a, you know, So it's a caricature meant to evoke that. older, an older white guy. Behind him are other people. And Omar who is always in these images. She's a brown woman in who wears a headscarf. Bernie Sanders, he's depicted here as he'ss often depicted, you know, jowly, white haired guy with a great big nose. And AOC is strangely - so she's a dark skinned woman. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is Latina. But she's drawn in these pictures, these cartoons, she's always got big buck teeth, and pointed eyebrows. And her dark hair is pulled back in a ponytail in such a way that is, to my eye, clearly referential, of the kinds of political drawings that were done of Squaws - which is an offensive term for native women. Native Canadian, Native A erican, Indigenous women. B t it's so offensive, these bu k teeth and the little ponytail It's a caricature. Exactly. And so who's behind Joe Biden who looks like this, you know, this grandpa like white guy? These radicals. This is something that is expressed all the time and that's the this is the this is the one I felt comfortable talking about. There are versions of that that are far, far worse.
Christine Malec:More extreme?
JJ Hunt:Yeah. Far worse. And and Hey, there are lots and lots and lots of images where Donald Trump looks. I mean, god awful there they he is being made fun of in a way that is absolutely cruel, for sure.
Christine Malec:Right, right.
JJ Hunt:His image is, the look of this man, the one where he's kneeling on the on the fire hose. He's jolly in his eyes, you know, the shape around his eyes, pink pink circles around his eyes, but his face is orange and his mouth is hanging open in a way that is entirely unflattering. But the the, the way race is depicted in some of the in some of these I find really uncomfortable.
Christine Malec:Yeah, yeah. caricature is a big part of cartooning, is it not?
JJ Hunt:It is for sure. And that, you know, it's a fine line, right? Caricature is a really fine line. Like, here's one again that this one would be I think it's by the same artist who did that last one. And so he's caricaturing. He's got a caricature of Donald Trump in this, where Donald Trump has the you know, the funny pouty lips, and he's got the long red tie and his hair looks kind of funny, but in this one, he's a huge character, and he is shining a flashlight, and the flashlight is labeled declassified documents, and he's shining that light on a cauldron of green cauldron that's that's labeled Russia hoax. And there are cockroaches with the faces of of Trump's political enemies. Obama Biden, Hillary, Comey and they are represented as cockroaches stirring the pot. Hillary is stirring the pot of the Russia hoax. While Donald Trump - who is caricatured - is shining the declassified documents light on Hillary the cockroach.
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