Ted Rall in News Story About Editorial Cartooning
There’s an article containing my quotes about the editorial cartooning profession by Medill Reports:
Rall and many modern political cartoonists have also moved away from the use of symbolism in their work, something that marked nearly all historical editorial cartoons. Typical images included the use of the donkey and the elephant to represent political parties.
“No more labels, no metaphors, no cheesy Uncle Sam’s crying. It’s dumb!” said Rall. “That imagery isn’t popular with readers. They don’t get it, they don’t relate to it.”
3 Comments.
Totally agree. We have in France a cartoonist called "Plantu", who is published every day on the frontpage of Le Monde, and that is his only language : labels, categories of people through stereotypes (for example : bulls and bullfighters whenever its about the Spanish elections, yawn), etc. It's just so simplistic and unfunny. He's very popular, but I feel sorry for the guy and his fans. The topic of the cartonn comes across a very heavy-handed and very often misrepresented. Sad.
The old symbols can be handled well, or badly. I don't know who the people are who "don't get" them, but I'll take Ted's word for it that they exist. I think Dave Horsey uses the traditional political symbols well, but anything that's used so often will be handled without imagination a good part of the time. It's fine by me if Ted prefers Hello Kitty to Uncle Sam.
Jana C.H.
Seattle
Saith Will Cuppy: I forget exactly why Rome fell. It was probably just one of those things.
Fun Fact: Rome fell because no one wanted to pay taxes.