Political Cartoon Artwork
The use of cartoons as a communication tool in the mass media has a significant impact on society. With each community interpreting the artwork differently, political cartoonists make the drawings less complicated by distributing ideas across their pictures. The prime role of political cartoonists is to expose social injustice propagated by most powerful administrators. While it is crucial to expose political injustice, cartoonist artwork should be influential, persuasive, and not biased.
Political cartoonists use their artwork to portray political injustice in society. For example, Rayma Suprani, in the Ted Talk video, explains how Cloe Shasha exposed the life of a certain woman who was a political prisoner (Suprani, 00:12:06). She used creativity in artwork to reveal the hidden truth to the world. Furthermore, her experience demonstrates how dictators respond to critics from cartoonists. For instance, Shasha lost her job after intentionally drawing Hugo Chavez’s signature in the form of a cartoon (Suprani, 00:02:25-00:03:37). This act shows how leaders misuse their powers to intimidate those who correct their administration. Therefore, satire is a useful communication tool that many politicians may hate.
In some cases, cartoonists use pictures to spread propaganda. For example, a tattooed caricature resembling James G. Blaine, who contested for the presidential post, is believed to have contributed to his loss (Nelson 6). These drawings changed people’s perception of a politician. Therefore, artistic works by cartoonists can largely influence the political decisions of citizens of any given country.
The author was persuasive in the manner in which she revealed how artwork could influence one’s career. For instance, she became an editor for her work after deportation to Miami (Suprani, 00:03:37). In essence, it is unlikely to prevent political cartoonists from exposing evil in the community. They engage readers and viewers in their observation about justice. They use pictures to publicize vices practiced by the government while ensuring fairness is administered (Mackay 2). These drawings help readers to discover various forms of injustices and provide them with the basis for questioning their governments. Therefore, balance should be maintained while drawing and revealing the truth.
There are no biases in using cartoons to communicate, as demonstrated in the Ted Talk video. For instance, Shasha used a real example of a political prisoner by drawing the face of a woman that people did not know (cite). This artwork enabled the Venezuelan community to understand who the woman was. Besides being neutral, good artwork from cartoonists should be useful. According to Srivastava, if the cartoon contributes to a change within administrative systems, the success will be attributed to the cartoonist’s creativity (par. 5). This achievement portrays how powerful the creativity of cartoonists can be. Hence, there should be a balance between neutrality and agitating for change.
In summary, cartoon artwork can be an effective way of exposing infringement of people’s rights. Cartoonists should reveal more evil through their creativity. These drawings can break the communication barrier, which often leads to ignorance. Society lacks the power to question if it does not understand how the government infringes their rights. All people equally have the freedom of expression, and the government should not intimidate cartoonists who expose its unlawful act.