VLVC wk 11 - Team Lesson A: Political Cartoons

For this week’s assignment, find a political cartoon that sparks YOUR interest. It can be from this week’s Economist or a newspaper in the 1950s. Once you have found a cartoon you like, analyze that cartoon by looking deeply at the images and text and prior knowledge. What do you think that the artist of the cartoon is trying to say? What point might he/she want a viewer to take away from that cartoon? Make sure to include the image of your cartoon in your post.
After you have made your analysis, please respond to several of your classmate’s cartoons, making comments about how your perceptions of the cartoons might alter their meaning. Be sure to include your own analysis of that image. 

      

My political cartoon is comparing the behavior of Kim Jong-Un to that of a spoiled teenager trying to impress others with his power, wealth, and abilities when in actuality all he is doing is looking a fool and bothering his neighbors. His threats of nuclear development, missile launches and general war mongering seem to be taken no more seriously than that of a rowdy teenager trying to prove themselves in an adult world, everyone hoping that he will hurry up and grow up already. Unfortunately this political cartoon does little to address the seriousness of his potential behavior. The world threat of nuclear bombings reawakens an eighties-like fear of the Soviet Union and their potential actions. An additional detail of him driving with a beer in his hand might provoke the image of a potential tragedy brought on by careless and irresponsible behavior such as driving drunk which may or may not impact others in a devastating way.

Classmate Responses:

Amy: How right you are.  Having grown up in the 80's, the feeling is all too familiar.  I dont like it. That cartoon is disturbing.  :(

Sara: This is great. What an excellent comparison. I definitely understood what this cartoon was trying to say the moment I looked at it. And the kid yawning! I'm wondering if you showed your students how they would feel, and react to this. Oh wait, the kid isn't yawing, my bad. Second look, he's not impressed, and seems to be holding his ear from the noise. Either way, it's still funny.