Mahalia - Political Cartoon

Analyzing Political Cartoon

            Political cartoons have been around for hundreds of years; the reason behind them is to catch people’s attention. They try to make the cartoons funny while showing the purpose they are trying to send people. In this paper there is going to be analyzing of a political cartoon using five out of seven; they are context, iconography, exaggeration, caricature, and symbol.

             When taking a looking at the cartoon for the first time you see President Obama with milking buckets and a big smile on his face; he is carrying about a dozen buckets as he is walking to milk his supper skinny milk cow. The cow has a scared look on its face and Obama is oblivious to the look the skinny cow is giving him but when taking a closer look there is so much more behind the political cartoon. When taking a second look at the political cartoon it takes place in a barn where it features President Obama as a farmer. Obama is carrying ton and tons of buckets that represent debt he has put America in. He is chipper and is overly happy to be going to milk a super skinny cow which stands for the U.S. Treasury; Obama is glowing and shows no worry about milking a cow that has nothing left to give but the cow has a scared look on its face knowing Obama has nothing left to give it to make it grow (money). The cow (U.S. Treasury) also has a scared look because it knows it will not be able to stand on its own if Obama continues to suck it dry. Obama has taken everything that the cow was worth and now it is worth nothing; it also shows how Obama has run down the economy and he does not care. When describing the political cartoon it covered five the five traits.

Context stands for all the problems going on in the political cartoon. The problems betrayed in the political cartoon are Obama sucking the cow dry (U.S. Treasury); he is leaving no money left and he is doing nothing about replenishing it. While the cow is barely standing and is in bad shape he continues to be chipper.

Iconography represents the people, animals or objects in the cartoon that portrays different characters/ characteristics. President Obama is portrayed as a famer who is going to go milk his cow; the super skinny cow represents the U.S. Treasury; and the buckets he is caring stands for debts.

Exaggeration is used to make an overstatement; they make the cow super skinny and scared because Obama wants more for it and it has nothing left to give him. They also make Obama happy about getting more milk (money) for the debts (buckets) he has put America in.

Caricature is used to help people identify who or what’s in the cartoon pictures easier; when people draw President Obama they make sure the first thing they see is his ears. They make sure that they make them overly large so it helps people identify him easier.

Symbols are regarded as something like person or object; in the cartoon picture it has the super skinny cow symbolizing as the U.S. Treasury and the buckets stand for debt.

“It is essential in a democratic society that young people and adults learn how to think, learn how to make up their minds.”- (Institute for Propaganda Analysis. The Fine Art of Propaganda. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1939) When people draw political cartoons it is merely their own opinion and everyone has a right to agree with their opinion or disagree. People draw funny cartoons to get there voice heard. When people draw political cartoons they exaggerate and use caricature for example when seeing President Obama’s cartoon because it always has big ears. They like to use iconography to help people relate or to understand their opinion more. In the cartoons it shows a lot of context because no matter who is President there is always going to be some sort of problem; they like to use symbols to enhance the problem. We the people live in a democratic society and are raised to learn how to make up our minds; so when looking at a political cartoon people need to remember its one persons view and people need to learn to know that not everyone see the same thing when analyzing cartoons.