Satire and Politics by Jessica Milner Davis

Author:Jessica Milner Davis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer International Publishing, Cham

Political Cartoons as Cultural Mirrors

Koelble and Robins’ (2007) view of satire as a moral mirror 31 is rooted in antiquity and shared by many scholars. Nearly 44% of the texts examined in this survey focused on the various ways in which political cartoons reflect individuals, audiences or society at large. Gail Dines (1995) draws on Carey’s (1977) criticism of simplistic communication models to argue for a more sociological approach that locates the production and consumption of political cartoons in the relevant social, economic and political contexts. She points out that sociologists are interested in how cartoons function as mechanisms for social control, reflecting conflict and maintaining dominant social structures. She critiques research from the 1970s and 1980s as focusing too heavily on statistical data without giving sufficient qualitative content analysis of the kind that would provide powerful insight into shared notions of social reality.

Streicher’s (1965) study of David Low’s cartoons exemplifies how cartoons “convey deeper meanings of social situations”. 32 Low is shown to deploy “fool ascription” through his fictitious “Colonel Blimp” character in order to destabilise social relations or political structures. Cartoons have also been seen (e.g. in the work of Thibodeau 1989) simply as reflections of the public’s (generally negative) impressions of the subjects depicted. Cahn (1984) views them negatively because the biases of cartoonists are clearly represented. Despite this, Kemnitz (1973) underscores that they can be an important historical source. Scholars such as Brabant and Mooney (1997), Chavez (1985) and Kasen (1980) point out that comics in general can and do reflect public beliefs and attitudes, making it possible to trace persistent or changing cultural patterns. Instances of this are the gender issues studied by Brabant and Mooney (1986), Manning (2008), Mooney and Brabant (1990) and Orbuch and Custer (1995). Charlotte Templin’s (1999) study of cartoon depictions of Hillary Clinton adds a twist to this gender angle. By dividing a large corpus into eight femininity and female role themes, she shows how cartoonists across the political spectrum depicted the then First Lady as transgressing conservative gender norms. Templin concludes that this reveals a persistence of traditional perceptions despite women's changing social position.

Cartoons can also reflect on issues of ethnicity, as shown in Soper’s (2005) historical content analysis of “complex patterns of identification, sympathy and denigration in cartoon representations” 33 of the Irish in America. Soper is interested in the effect of exaggeration aimed at a whole ethnic group and concludes that the loss of such ethnic comedy results in a masking of political purposes, which in turn sponsors the rise of more subversive forms of satire. Similarly, Conners (2010) uses cartoons from the 2008 US presidential campaign to investigate public opinion about race and gender, as does Gilmartin (2001) for that in 2000.

Press (1981) and Morris (1992) both use cartoons to gain insights into public perceptions of ruling figures. Danjoux (2005), drawing on Press’s four levels of understanding cartoons, puts forward the study of political cartoons on international disputes as a way “to provide insight into interests

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