The Political Cartoon.

The Political Cartoon.

The Political Cartoon has a long history and is still used today all over the world in newspapers and magazines. Over the years it has been used to lampoon the famous and notable people of the time. It often involves satire, caricature and contentious issues of the day. They are often humorous in the way they are drawn and they text they use. They deal with current issues of the day and larger political ideas that are prevalent within society.

Timetable

All sessions will be in Room: T401 in the Tower Block. All Students MUST arrive 10 minutes before the lesson starts

Week 1 Monday 29 September 2008 10am-1pm T401

Introduction to the course, myself. Lecture on Political Cartooning. Set brief: The Political Cartoon and Introduction to Blogger and BlogSpot Brainstorming exercise using Mind Maps.

Week 2 Monday 6 October 2008 10am-1pm T401

Group Tutorials/Workshops. Presentation of Draft Political Cartoons.

Week 3 Monday 12 October 2008 10am-1pm T401

Group Tutorials/Workshops. Presentation of Finished Political Cartoons.

Week 4 Monday 20 October 2008 10am-1pm T401

Finishing off and hand in Political cartoons to Mansion Site, with course header sheet.

Week 5 Monday 27 October 2008 10am-1pm T401

Introduction to essay/postcards and Time Travel and Wish You Where Here Briefs

Week 6 Monday 3 November 2008 10am-1pm T401

Lecture/Group Tutorials/Workshops

Week 7 Monday 10 November 2008 10am-1pm T401

Presentations of Time Travel research.

Week 8 Monday 17 November 2008 10am-1pm T401

Lecture/Group Tutorials/Workshops

Week 9 Monday 24 November 2008 10am-1pm T401

Lecture/Group Tutorials/Workshops

Week 10 Monday 01 December 2008 10am-1pm T401

Presentation of Time Travel performances.

Week 11 Monday 08 December 2008 10am-1pm T401

Presentation of Time Travel performances. Hand in course work and Post Card essay by 11 am on Friday 12th December 2008 at Mansion Site Architecture and Construction reception with course header sheet. A4 bound and CD/DVD to Mansion Site, with course header sheet.

Executive Experience

James Gillray (1756 - 1815)

James Gillray was born on 13th.August 1756 and was the only one of his parents' five children to survive childhood. Gillray's father, a Scot, had become a member of an austere and strict evangelical sect called the Moravian Brotherhood and in 1749 had been appointed sexton of the Moravian Chapel in Chelsea.

From: http://www.mostlymaps.com/reference/Caricatures/james-gillray.php

Gillray's best-known cartoon, The Plumb-Pudding in Danger, which shows Pitt and Nap carving up the globe between them has had many imitators in which the globe becomes a head, with such excellent ones as Nicholas Garland's Mrs Thatcher and David Steel carving up Denis Healey's head, and Richard Cole's 1996 version where Kohl and Blair carve up that of John Major.

From: http://www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/archives/001749.php

Political cartoons are for the most part composed of two elements: caricature, which parodies the individual, and allusion, which creates the situation or context into which the individual is placed. Caricature as a Western discipline goes back to Leonardo da Vinci's artistic explorations of "the ideal type of deformity"-- the grotesque-- which he used to better understand the concept of ideal beauty

Join, or Die is a famous political cartoon created by Benjamin Franklin and first published in hisPennsylvania Gazette on May 9, 1754.^[1]. The original a publication by the Gazette is the earliest known pictorial representation of colonial union produced by a British colonist in America.^[2] It is awoodcut showing a snake severed into eighths, with each segment labeled with the initial of a British American colony or region. The cartoon appeared along with Franklin's editorial about the "disunited state" of the colonies, and helped make his point about the importance of colonial unity. During that era, there was a superstition that a snake which had been cut into pieces would come back to life if the pieces were put together before sunset.^[3] [From^: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Join,_or_Die]

The Political Cartoon.

The Political Cartoon has a long history and is still used today all over the world in newspapers and magazines. Over the years it has been used to lampoon the famous and notable people of the time. It often involves satire, caricature and contentious issues of the day. They are often humorous in the way they are drawn and they text they use. They deal with current issues of the day and larger political ideas that are prevalent within society.

Political cartoons are for the most part composed of two elements: caricature, which parodies the individual, and allusion, which creates the situation or context into which the individual is placed.

Cartoon Analysis Guide

Use this guide to identify the persuasive techniques used in political cartoons.

Symbolism	Cartoonists use simple objects, or symbols, to stand for larger concepts or ideas. After you identify the symbols in a cartoon, think about what the cartoonist intends each symbol to stand for.
Exaggeration	Sometimes cartoonists overdo, orexaggerate, the physical characteristics of people or things in order to make a point. When you study a cartoon, look for any characteristics that seem overdone or overblown. (Facial characteristics and clothing are some of the most commonly exaggerated characteristics.) Then, try to decide what point the cartoonist was trying to make through exaggeration.
Labeling	Cartoonists often label objects or people to make it clear exactly what they stand for. Watch out for the different labels that appear in a cartoon, and ask yourself why the cartoonist chose to label that particular person or object. Does the label make the meaning of the object more clear?
Analogy	An analogy is a comparison between two unlike things that share some characteristics. By comparing a complex issue or situation with a more familiar one, cartoonists can help their readers see it in a different light. After you’ve studied a cartoon for a while, try to decide what the cartoon’s main analogy is. What two situations does the cartoon compare? Once you understand the main analogy, decide if this comparison makes the cartoonist’s point more clear to you.
Irony	Irony is the difference between the ways things are and the way things should be, or the way things are expected to be. Cartoonists often use irony to express their opinion on an issue. When you look at a cartoon, see if you can find any irony in the situation the cartoon depicts. If you can, think about what point the irony might be intended to emphasize. Does the irony help the cartoonist express his or her opinion more effectively?

 Once you’ve identified  the persuasive  techniques that the  cartoonist used, ask  yourself:

 

 What issue is this  political  cartoon about?

 

 

 What is the cartoonist’s  opinion on this issue?

 

 

 What other opinion can  you imagine another  person having on this  issue?

 

 

 Did you find this cartoon  persuasive? Why or why  not?

 

 What other techniques  could the cartoonist  have used to make this  cartoon more  persuasive?