WRITING POLITICAL HUMOR

Poli 311.01 (W,IT)

Professor Sammy Basu

Political Cartoon:

- consisting of 1.caricature of individuals and 2. allusion to setting/event/context

- the convergence of several artistic and intellectual streams:

1. symbolic representation

2. relatively simplified two-dimensional art

1. http://bugpowder.com/andy/

3. the above but with voice balloons or thought bubbles

2. http://bugpowder.com/andy/e.speechballoons.evolution.html

4. picture Stories

eg Bayeux Tapestry (1066/77)

http://bugpowder.com/andy/e.bayeux.html

5. Educational sequences

http://bugpowder.com/andy/e.legal.procedure.html

e.g. Legal Procedure (circa 1600)

6. caricature and grotesque

e.g. Leonardo da Vinci’s caricatures and grotesques

http://www.drawingsofleonardo.org/

LEONARDO DA VINCI

http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/~ian.mccormick/images.htm

7. Visual propaganda

http://www.students.sbc.edu/mckinney03/gmm/propaganda.htm

A Brief History of Political Cartoons

http://xroads.virginia.edu/~MA96/PUCK/part1.html

The Protestant Reformation (1500s)

e.g. Lucas Cranach the Elder

depictions of the devil

http://dave.pluckerbooks.com:81/works/carusp/historydevil/chapter15.html

The English Revolution (1640s)

News and Images:

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In America

Early Political Caricature in America, by Joseph B. Bishop:
http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewer?frames=1&coll=moa&view=50&root=%2Fmoa%2Fcent%2Fcent0044%2F&tif=00229.TIF&cite=http%3A%2F%2Fcdl.library.cornell.edu%2Fcgi-bin%2Fmoa%2Fmoa-cgi%3Fnotisid%3DABP2287-0044-49

Our Political Drama - Conventions - Campaigns - Candidates By Joseph Bucklin Bishop
Edited by Jim Zwick. 1904 (2000)

http://www.boondocksnet.com/editions/bishop/index.html

Political and Editorial Cartoons In U.S. History

http://dewey.chs.chico.k12.ca.us/edpolcart.html#Overview

America in Caricature, 1765-1865: Lilly Library: Indiana University
http://www.indiana.edu/~liblilly/cartoon/cartoons.html

http://thegalleriesatmoore.org/publications/cartoons/politicalcartoons.shtml

http://www.angelfire.com/stars3/education/politicalcartoons.html

First political cartoon in America:

Benjamin Franklin's "Join or Die" (1754)

Author of Fart Proudly

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/089804801X/104-7565911-1687121?v=glance

http://earlyamerica.com/earlyamerica/firsts/cartoon/

http://www.ur.ku.edu/News/97N/AprNews/Apr17/cartoon.html

Though probably not really THE first.

[Self-caricature] detail, Harper's Weekly, December 2, 1876, cover.

The single most famous cartoonist in America:

Thomas Nast (c. 1870s) in Harper's Weekly

http://graphicwitness.org/group/harper.htm

http://www.lib.ohio-state.edu/cgaweb/nast/keller_web.htm

Political influence: popularized the elephant to symbolize the Republican Party

and the donkey as the symbol for the Democratic Party

Cultural significance: created the "modern" image of Santa Claus.

Exercise:

Examples of analysis of cartoon in historical context:
"Milk Tickets for Babies, in Place of Milk," by Thomas Nast 1876:
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/sia/cartoon.htm
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/mse/sia/omalley.htm

http://www.willamette.edu/~sbasu/polixxx/Nast%20cartoon.htm

Contemporary Political Cartoons

http://www.willamette.edu/~sbasu/polixxx/cartoonsources.htm

http://www.cagle.com/

http://cagle.slate.msn.com/politicalcartoons/

http://www.markfiore.com/

http://www.un.org/events/aids/2006/exhibit.asp

Cartooning

http://www.willamette.edu/~sbasu/polixxx/portraits.htm

http://thegalleriesatmoore.org/activities/goo/politicalmascots.shtml

http://www.un.org/events/aids/2006/exhibit.asp

Alcaraz and Migra Mouse

http://www.cartoonista.com/

References and Sources

http://microsites.provisionslibrary.org/cartoons_site/res_polbooks.html

BOOKS about POLITICAL CARTOONS

Thomas C. Blaisdell, et al.  The American Presidency in Political Cartoons 1776-1976  University Art Museum Press, 1976

Mark Bryant Dictionary of Twentieth-Century British Cartoonists and Caricatures Ashgate Publishing, 2000

Roy Douglas, Liam Harte and Jim O'Hara.  Drawing Conclusions:  A Cartoon History of Anglo-Irish Relations 1798-1998 Blackstaff Press, 1998

Roger A. Fischer  Them Damned Pictures: Explorations in American Cartoon Art  Archon Books, 1996

Stephen Hess and Milton Kaplan,  The Ungentlemanly Art: A History of American Political Cartoons MacMillan, 1975

Stephen Hess and Sandy Northrop  Drawn & Quartered: The History of American Political Cartoons  Black Belt Press, 1996

Werner Hoffman  Caricature from Leonardo to Picasso  Crown Publishers, 1957

Morton Keller  The Art and Politics of Thomas Nast  Oxford University Press, 1968

Chris Lamb Drawn to Extremes:  The Use and Abuse of Editorial Cartoons in the United States  Columbia University Press, 2004

Lawrence W. Levine,  Highbrow/Lowbrow: The Emergence of Cultural Hierarchy in America Harvard University Press, 1988

Armand Mattelart and Ariel Dorfman  How To Read Donald Duck: Imperialist Ideology In The Disney Comic. Disney, 2003

Richard H. Minear,  Dr. Seuss Goes to War:  The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel.  The New Press, 1999

Allan Nevins and Frank Weitenkampf  A Century of Political Cartoons:  Caricature in the United States from 1800 to 1900  Charles Scribners' Sons, 1944

Charles Press,  The Political Cartoon  Fairleigh Dickinson, 1981

Ted Rall, ed.  Attitude: The New Subversive Political Cartoonists (vols. 1-3).  Nantier Beall Minoustchine, 2002

J.P. Trostle,  Attack Of The Political Cartoonists:  Insights And Assaults From Today's Editorial Pages.  Dork Storm Press, 2004

Trina Robbins  The Great Women Cartoonists  Watson-Guptill, 2005

Alice Sheppard  Cartooning for Suffrage  University of New Mexico Press, 1994

Paul Buhle and Nicole Schulman Wobblies! A Graphic History of the Industrial Workers of the World Verso 2005

COLLECTIONS by SUBVERSIVE CARTOONISTS

Seth Tobocman and Peter Kuper World War 3 Illustrated: 1980-1988 Fantagraphics

Ward Sutton Sutton Impact: The Political Cartoons of Ward Sutton Seven Stories Press, 2005  Lloyd Dangle,  Next Stop: Troubletown Manic D Press, 1996

Andy Singer

No Exit

Nantier Beall Minoustchine, 2004

Don Asmussen

San Francisco Comic Book of Big-Ass Mocha

Russian Hill Press, 1997

Tom Tomorrow  Hell in a Handbasket  Tarcher, 2006

Clay Butler (Illustrator) NO, George, NO! The Re-Parenting of George W. Bush Joy in Bloom, 2004.

Jen Sorensen Slowpoke: Café Pompous Alternative Comics, 2001

Scott Bateman Scot Bateman's Sketchbook of Secrets and Shame Word Riot Press, 2006 (forthcoming)

Aaron McGruder The Boondocks

Tim Eagan The Collected Subconscious: An Anthology of Subconscious Comics Grey Matter Press, 1990

Derf The City SLG Publishing, 2003

Lalo Alcaraz Migra Mouse: Political Cartoons on Immigration RDV Books, 2004.

Joe Sharpnack What America Wants, America Gets: Notes from the "G.O.P. Revolution" and Other Scary Stuff Ide House, 1996

Ruben Bolling Thrilling Tom the Dancing Bug Stories  Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2004

Stephanie McMillan Minimum Security Nantier Beall Minoustchine, 2005

Ted Rall America Gone Wild Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2006.

Matt Wuerker The Madness of King George : Life and Death in the Age of Precision-Guided Insanity Common Courage Press, 2003

Alice Sheppard Cartooning for Suffrage

John Hess The History Book

Alison Bechdel Dykes to Watch Out For

Matt Bors Idiot Box

M.E. Cohen HumorInk

Barry Deutsch Ampersand

Mark Fiore Fiore Animated Cartoons

Emily S. Flake Lulu Eightball

Nicholas Gurewitch The Perry Bible Fellowship

Brian McFadden Big Fat Whale

Eric Millikin Fetus-X

Kevin Moore In Contempt Comics

Eric Orner The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green

Greg Peters Suspect Device

Mikhaela B. Reid The Boiling Point

Ben Smith Fighting Words