Comedy and Critical Thought by Iain MacKenzie Fred Francis Krista Bonello Rutter Giappone & Fred Francis & Iain MacKenzie

Author:Iain MacKenzie,Fred Francis,Krista Bonello Rutter Giappone & Fred Francis & Iain MacKenzie
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781786604088
Publisher: National Book Network International

Chapter 8

First World War Cartoon Comedy as Criticism of British Politics and Society

Pip Gregory

For most people, the cartoons in newspapers are a form of light entertainment that relieve the more serious comment and tone in the publication. Freud suggests that entertainment or laughter comes as a form of relief.1 When cartoons depict political content, this can be more effective: cartoons serve as a relief from the struggles of everyday life or a particular period of crisis but also challenge the status quo and give voice to critical impulses. In this chapter, cartoons that represented aspects of society and politics during the First World War will be analysed to illustrate how artists took different approaches to balancing criticism and entertainment in their uses of humour. The study will discuss and compare the socialist illustrator Will Dyson for the Herald, more conservative quick reads such as Percy Fearon (Poy) working for the Daily Mail and Evening News and the more centrist cartoonist William Haselden working in the Daily Mirror. Each of these artists relied on humour to create criticism in a process that resembles what Donald Grey terms ‘exaggeration for correction’.2 In this process, features are exaggerated to excess to make the fault of that person or item abundantly clear, which in turn casts it as foolish. This chapter will consider the legacy of this typically Victorian idea as a form of contemporary critical resistance during a moment of national crisis.

In its early stages, the war abroad was represented as a positive event in British discourse. Cartoons reinforced that national mindset with images of strong young men going off to fight, often sent away by Britannia as the universal or national mother to all.3 However, in cartoons oriented towards domestic affairs, the criticism of political and social life remained prevalent. For instance, issues of class and wealth were addressed comically, and gender became a developing issue in cartoons as men went away to fight and women took their places in particular jobs. Politicians and the policies that guided society were common targets for cartoon criticism, and there were many opportunities to maintain a critical stance towards domestic affairs. Sometimes, artists and publications represented objectionable policies humorously; alternatively, politicians themselves were depicted. In this chapter, the mid-war change in leadership between Henry Herbert Asquith and David Lloyd George offers a powerful example of the phenomenon of exaggeration for correction, as the two leaders face changing representations in line with their political fortunes.

Despite the generally positive representations at the time, since the 1960s much analysis of the First World War in Britain has focused on the senselessness of war.4 Futility was not a prominent theme during the fighting itself. Rather, sacrifice was emphasised far more regularly. The sacrifices made by all citizens drew society together under a shared moral compass of sorts, and a discourse of sacrifice was consistently reinforced by the press in articles and advertisements.5 Where articles praised the moralistic theme of sacrifice for citizens, cartoons provided a humorous outlet for challenges or less-positive reactions to this theme.

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