Aids and political cartoons: a case study

Wigston, David

doi:10.1080/02500160208537944

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…Editorial cartoons (also known as newspaper cartoons or political cartoons) are persuasive visual summaries that intelligibly condense and simplify a current issue into one depiction in a form that is easily understood by the general public [Medhurst and DeSousa, 1981;Wigston, 2002;Giarelli and Tulman, 2003]. Cartoonists get their ideas and inspiration from the daily flow of news, events and issues in the political, economic, cultural and societal arenas [Wiid et al, 2016].…”

Section: Defining Editorial Cartoons As Well As Their Roles and Relevance To Science Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Editorial cartoons can communicate issues that would be difficult to articulate in written texts. Previous experience in South Africa, such as during the HIV/Aids struggle, showed how cartoons can play a vital role in combating disease [Wigston, 2002;Horne, 2011]. Globally, comics and graphic novels have offered pathways to improve health literacy [e.g.…”

Section: Analysing the Socio-cultural Meaning Of South African Cartoons On Covid-19mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Spikey blobs with evil grins: understanding portrayals of the coronavirus in South African newspaper cartoons in relation to the public communication of science

Joubert¹,

Wasserman²

2020

JCOM

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This study explores how South African newspaper cartoonists portrayed the novel coronavirus during the initial months of the COVID-19 pandemic. We show how these cartoons respond to the socio-economic and cultural contexts in the country. Our analysis of how cartoonists represent the novel coronavirus explain how they create meaning (and may influence public sentiments) using colour, morphological characteristics and anthropomorphism as visual rhetorical tools. From a total population of 497 COVID-19-related cartoons published in 15 print and online newspapers from 1 January to 31 May 2020, almost a quarter (24%; n=120) included an illustration of the coronavirus. Viruses were typically coloured green or red and attributed with human characteristics (most often evil-looking facial expressions) and with exaggerated, spikey stalks surrounding the virus body. Anthropomorphism was present in more than half of the 120 cartoons where the virus was illustrated (58%; n=70), while fear was the dominant emotional tone of the cartoons. Based on our analysis, we argue that editorial cartoons provide a useful source to help us understand the broader discursive context within which public communication of science operates during a pandemic.

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Section: Defining Editorial Cartoons As Well As Their Roles and Relevance To Science Communicationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Analysing the Socio-cultural Meaning Of South African Cartoons On Covid-19mentioning

confidence: 99%

Spikey blobs with evil grins: understanding portrayals of the coronavirus in South African newspaper cartoons in relation to the public communication of science

Joubert¹,

Wasserman²

2020

JCOM

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“…Subsequent studies focusing on political cartoons have been carried out. Instances of such include: Wigston (2002) who worked on a case study on Aids and political cartoons examining the role political cartoons in Aids struggle in South Africa; Baldry and Thibault (2006) based his research on political cartoons and public representation; Moris (1992) took a look on the power of political cartoons in the democratic process and in (1993) he further researched visual rhetorics employed in political cartoons using a structuralist approach; Seymour-Ure (2001) on the other hand examined the future of political cartoons in British; Olaniyan (1997) worked on cartooning traditions in Nigerian media prints; Refaie (2003) focused on the use of visual metaphors in political cartoons in Australian newspaper; Edward and Ware (2005) examined how political cartoons represent public opinion in campaign media. In the Nigerian society, Udoaka (2003) looked at the perception of audiences on Nigeria political cartoons.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

A semiotic study of political cartoon strips in The Nation National Daily

Tyumbu¹

2018

AFRREV LALIGENS: Int J. Language, Lit and Gender Stuadies

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Communication is a very important means of exchanging ideas and the ability to communicate effectively is necessary to carry out the thoughts and visions of every individual, group or nation. Consequentially, communicators especially cartoonists have made vigorous efforts to portray the society by familiarizing people with ongoing events in the societies through cartoons. This paper explores the sign of cartoon strips and examines how they are used in communicating message(s). Using a semiotic frame work, it presents a method of interpreting and gaining meaning into cartoons. The purpose of this paper is to help people who have great interest in cartoons to better understand cartoons and also answer questions raised in the paper which include; Are cartoons a true representation of current political parties, personalities and situations?, Do cartoon strips like other signs have both denotative and connotative meanings?, Do cartoon have the potentials for more than one interpretation/meaning?, can cartoons be understood better using the semiotic frame work?, The paper also presents the semiotic codes used in cartooning. Finally, the paper advances the analysis of verbal and non-verbal codes like cartoons as important medium of communication.

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“…For instance, Streicher, (1965, as cited in Benoit, Klyukovski, McHale, & Airne, 2001) examined the communicative function of political cartoons where they explored the influence of political cartoons on public opinion concerning Clinton-Lewinsky-Starr affair about the impeachment trial proceedings of President Clinton. ; Morrison (1969) investigated the unique features of political cartoons; Medhurst and DeSousa (1981) focused on the rhetorical form of political cartoons; Wigston (2002) conducted a case study on Aids and Political Cartoons, where he examined the role of political cartoons in Aids struggle in South Africa; Cahn (1984) studied political cartoons as tools for communication; Bivins (1984;(Bormann, Koester, & Bennett, 1978) concentrated mainly on content analysis of political cartoons; Baldry and Thibault (2006) focused on political cartoons and public representation; while Handl (1990) examined political cartoons in Australian newspapers and identified the central themes which represented the typical Australian citizens and the political parties.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Political Cartoons as a Vehicle of Setting Social Agenda: The Newspaper Example

Sani¹,

Abdullah²,

Abdullah³

et al. 2012

ASS

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In recent years, the cartoons genre has gained considerable research interest across disciplines; for example, communication, media studies and health sciences. More so, cartoons serve as potent source of data used to study social phenomena. This paper aims at illustrating how political cartoons are used as a vehicle of setting social agenda in Nigerian newspapers to reorient and shape the public opinion through recurrent depictions mirroring current socio-political issues at a given period. The cartoons texts were excerpted from two major Nigerian newspapers, Daily Trust and Vanguard during the period 2007-2010. One-hundred cartoons were selected using purposive sampling technique. Fifty cartoons were taken from each newspaper magazine. Specifically, content analysis was used to identify the themes contained in the cartoons depictions. Qualitative method was used to analyze the cartoons through semiotic analysis. The analysis is mainly concerned with the interpretation of the sign system based on the connotation and denotation elements in the cartoons. The results indicated that 80% of the themes focused on substantive issues through which social agenda is set to reflect social practices in the Nigerian social political contexts. Also, the results showed that Nigerian political cartoons set social agenda by mainly encapsulating current and sensitive issues that people are much concerned about. Finally, the study has identified the lack of supportive and clearly defined theoretical background in analyzing political cartoons as a major problem in previous cartoons research. Thus, this paper contributes to the cartoon research by offering theoretical insight to the cartoon genre through agenda setting theory of media effect.

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Aids and political cartoons: a case study

Cited by 6 publications

References 15 publications

Spikey blobs with evil grins: understanding portrayals of the coronavirus in South African newspaper cartoons in relation to the public communication of science

Spikey blobs with evil grins: understanding portrayals of the coronavirus in South African newspaper cartoons in relation to the public communication of science

A semiotic study of political cartoon strips in The Nation National Daily

Political Cartoons as a Vehicle of Setting Social Agenda: The Newspaper Example

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