Vote for Spongebob

I found this comic by Mark Parisi while searching for political cartoons.  It portrays a popular character from a children's cartoon, Spongebob Squarepants, as a candidate for something.  Out of all the things this cartoon could be mocking, I think it is making fun of the media.  One of the reporters is asking Spongebob if he wears "squareboxers or squarebriefs?".  

This is poking fun at the fact that the media tend to make insignificant things a priority.  Not just for presidential candidates and celebrities, but for anybody in the spotlight.  Nobody really cares about the latest fashion or the affair that one actor had with another, the media just blows it up so big to make it seem like it is so important.  The reporter in the cartoon is a perfect example of this, because he is asking Spongebob what kind of underwear he wears instead of questions about his campaign or what he plans to do if he gets elected.  It also shows another reporter writing, as if they all think this question is important.

ObamaMan

Over the weekend I came across this man on Youtube pretending to be a ghetto art critic and connoisseur. It turns out hes actually a painter named Jayson Musson who invented this character called Hennesy Youngman. That in itself is a caricature but Musson's paintings have a lot of text and political personalities within them.

HENNESSY YOUNGMAN Link to his Youtube Videos

So this image clearly is about the Twin Towers but I'm thinking the artist was trying to imagine if had happened ten years later. Barack Obama has become a superhero figure saving the World Trade Center from the terrorist attacks. The speech: "Not on my watch!" refering to his term as his watch over the country, like a superhero protects his city Obama protects America. The caricature of Obama isnt an exact look alike but more of a representation, without the speech bubble it would be hard to tell who it was. Comparativley Obama is far too small and the airplane is too large where the buildings look small but I could say they were in the distance.
This image is in a series of Obama saving the world through time, making our president to be a great leader by taking care of the whole worlds problems but I cant tell if the artist is being serious or sarcastic.

Patrick Neel, a Los Angeles artist curated a show of his own in 2008, involving the prints of William Hogarth, and then adding some work of his own as well. "Through drawings, prints and installations, Neel examines leadership, ideology, allegiance and how the way we memorialize our presidents influences our national identity. The show was inspired by Neel's fascination with English satirical cartoonist William Hogarth." Although Neel used Hogarth's prints as inspiration, he still hung them up under his name in his show. I'm suprised that there is no legal issue here, considering how famous the peices by Hogarth are.

In this cartoon Rick Mckee from the Augusta Chronicle, has compared an event many look forward to; the Oscars, with one we suffer through everyday; the economy. In this cartoon Mckee displays an announcer giving an Oscar away for, "The Picture hardly anybody's seen because tickets are ten bucks, popcorn and a drink are fifteen, and there's usually some jerk talking through the entire movie." By utilizing this annual event to harp on the problems with our economy, Mckee has found an effective way to express his true feelings on the current economical state, while still being clever and getting his point across.
Like my other post, this one could be related to Mcdonalds reading called,"The Age of Character" Though the styles may have changed, our political cartoons of the time still hold the same importance of the eyes of many American's. After all the first step to trying to improve these hardships is showing people how bad they are.

On February 24, 2012, Dave Granlund posted a cartoon to politicalcartoons.com. This colored political cartoon puts a satirical play on the rise in gas prices over the last decade. In the cartoon Fuel prices is portayed by a giant dinosaur with an angry expression and a pointy tail. Stuck on his tail is a husband and wife stuck in their car as the dinosaur shakes his tail. The caption says,"Spiked right through the roof." Which, is representing the sky rocketing gas prices as well as what the dinosaurs tail has done to this person's car.
In this weeks reading by Diana Donald, they begin to talk about how the purpose of caricature is to represent protest. These often times, gestural drawing are meant to represent ones disagreement with our current governmental and environmental issues. She even begins to talk about Hogarth and his contributions to this theory. She states, "Hogarth's subjects demonstrated the dramatic narratives through constructed composition, gesture and facial expressions." Hogarth was able to educate his viewers through his detailed engravings produced during the late 1700's and early 1800's
In a way, I feel that caricaturist and cartoonists of the 21st century, find effective ways of producing these cartoons each and everyday. There is always a political issue one person is going to disagree with and like this dinosaur, gas prices have become an economical monster. maybe not Physically but, for many mentally and emotionally.

Action Comics-Derek Georgia

This week i decided to look up a few old superman comics since for my paper I wrote about the comic "The Death of Superman". I was looking through the list of Action comics and just so happen this one caught my eye. There are two other issues that involve the Nazi party. The presence of superman signifies our participation in the effort against Hitler. The war effort is often related to superheroes in their comics. I mean there are even comics that are born from war such as Captain America. Any serious world event is usually relayed back into video games media images such as cartoons and literature as well as comic books. I think the best part of this is how Superman in every comic is always doing something heroic. The classic scene on the front page of Action comic additions with Superman show him lifting something of great mass. The classic pose any hero should take. I mean back in the day you could get these action packed comics for only ten cents while now they are about $3.00 just for one.

Lemonade?

In satirical humor, I think it is best for the artist to have some sort of connection with the person or stereotype that they’re mocking. It triggers a specific knowledge and power over the viewer, the power of laughter. I think perhaps the power of humor oftentimes goes underestimated when it comes to politics. Yet, caricatures have access this freedom, the freedom of the press. Even in current times, the Internet is flooded with caricatures, enabling them to gain even more viewers and followers. In the article, The Age of Caricature, Donald talks about the emergence of Gillray and the time period in which he was producing work. “ Their success was closely linked to the growth of the press, the development of parliamentary reporting, growing familiarity with the personalities of leading politicians and political consciousness among the people at large: they were the materialization of opinion without doors, and their graphic stereotypes must in turn have profoundly affected the thought patterns of those who saw them.”

Similarly to Gillray’s prints, this political cartoon from the New York Times approaches the current data-mining situation with satirical humor. Data mining is one of the most controversial topics- social websites like Facebook, etc. implicitly use your personal information to personalize advertisements, basically selling your information. In this cartoon, it shows to kids, appearing innocent (much like Facebook) and offering lemonade, like most kids do during the summer. It looks as though a man has gotten a lemonade, and in passing, offers advice to the next customer, saying, “it’s free, but they sell your information,” poking fun and satire at the large social networking corporations. Much like the article, “The French Revolution and the propaganda War of the 1790’s,” which emphasizes the need for political dissidence, and propaganda cartoons, because it is partially the society member’s fault for ignorance of politics. Maybe if we didn’t ignorantly sign up to give away our personal information, we would have no one to blame for the selling or commoditization of our information and possibly, our rights. The light shadows and innocent look of the children’s faces is also another appeal, the children look very inviting, while the parents, have a dark cast shadow over their bodies, as if doom and gloom took over their physical features.

A face within a face

This week I really wanted to focus on realistic drawings. Green Makes up these portraits of people that make up a figure. As you look closely at the image you begin to see smaller faces and expressions of others within the piece. I found this really fascinating, because it is almost like the artist incorporated every emotion within one face. You see these exaggerated facial features through out the piece, the proportions of the actual faces are fairly stretched and manipulated. Each of the faces within the main face seem to have this playful use of line. Within this piece you get a great idea of line quality and with that you get these amazing shadows and textures within the face. These drawings remind me of the way Hogarth articulated his prints, with deep lines and expression. Though the style is very different the quality of line and texture within is very similar. You also begin to relate how Hogarth plays with expression and adds this twist to the piece sort of like Green, he takes realistic faces but twists them into something more than meets the eye. I enjoy the fact that these smaller images do not take away from the main image, in fact it adds a really nice feature to the piece as a whole. It begins to create a sense of meaning and gives the work a uniqueness about it. I also enjoy that some of the faces are different sizes so it gives the work a diverse scale and different kind of range within. Comparing this to one of the readings I would have to say this work is unlike anything we have really discussed except for the readings that define what a caricature is.

For this weeks post, I wanted to focus mostly on how series of cartoons are often times more effective than single cartoons. Everybody knows the Peanuts cartoons by Charles Shultz, and there's reason behind this fame. One of the reasons I'm thinking of is because it's a continuation of a cartoon, otherwise, a comic strip. There's a plot for each cartoon, as well as one for an ongoing collection of these cartoons. Readers get to know the characters for comic strips, and therefore become engaged with it more. With something to look forward to next week, or whenever the comics come out (Sunday comics in mind) readers will read and enjoy the comic as a storyline.

Exxon/Mobile Man

This grotesque image combines an inanimate object with people traits to make this corprate caricature. Here the exxon/mobil man is being sworn in by the judge in front of a jury to tell the truth and nothing but the truth, probably about how they will TRY not to keep rasing gas prices. It looks as if they are in front of the white house because of the colums and long exterior. However for some reason I think its another building because of the hanging flags and that area where the colums are higher and more seperated then the others.

The commentary is enough to cue you in on whats may be going on at the trial. Its also a comment to how big corporations becoming a person is potentially a threatening situation. By the way the exxon/mobile man is holding up his had he has a pointed finger when generally you have an open palm. The exxon/mobil man looks as if he is speaking and making a point over the judge.

Also the colors in this cartoon are red, white, blue, and black which makes me think the exxon/mobile man is all for America when hes probably politely saying hes raising gas prices for the good of everyone.

The reason for a Hero

Last week we spoke about how very real and serious world events are the inspiration for characters. I never realized what this meant and how it was done. I questioned what could the public feel if there were some comic book character made after such a certain situation? After some research I learned that lots of heroes and characters were made for the same reason political comics were. Changing minds or empowerment seemed to be the reoccurring subject of the creation of these heroes. Names such as Black Panther , Captain America, Wonderwoman and much more are an example of these. Captain America though pretty obvious stood as a symbol for the fight against the axis powers so did Wonderwoman. Soon these characters became symbols themselves. Wonderwoman still stands today as a feminist symbol. This is how something impossible or unreal can be a response for something so current and serious. It seems today its a bit harder for some new ideas for heroes to stand out and act as something to empower again. Nowadays do we need more heroes?

You're making us all look bad...

This is a cartoon about one of the presidential candidates, Mitt Romney.  He is being confronted by four extremely rich characters: the Monopoly man, Richy Rich, Scrooge McDuck, and Mr.Burns.  These characters are looking at Mitt Romney angrily as if he had done something wrong.  These characters are insanely wealthy and are known to be pretty selfish, especially when it comes to money.  They don't care about other's well being unless it will negatively affect them.  (This description mostly applies to Mr. Burns and Scrooge McDuck.  I think Richy Rich and the Monopoly man are just there to get the point across.)  To have these characters who are so selfish telling Romney that he's making them look bad, then there has to be something wrong with him.   
After a little research about this cartoon, I found out that this was in response to what he said in an interview.  "I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I’ll fix it. ... I’m not concerned about the very rich, they’re doing just fine."

What I understand from what he said, he's mostly concerned with the middle class who, according to him, were hit the hardest with the economic downturn.  Which means that he will be focusing most of his attention to the middle class and leave the poor and the rich in the dust.  Now, he did mention that only the ones who were in that "safety net" he wasn't worried about, which could mean that he would help the people who weren't in it, but even so I think the people who are either rich or poor won't be too happy about his response.

Comic feed-Derek Georgia

I was browsing for image sources the other day and my attention got preoccupied with a comic site. I had found this image and was taken in by the imagery. It simply reminded me of every single old Kung-Fu movie. The rivalry and constant tension of the first fight scene in the movie. The stern face of both the fighters as they wait for the mark from nature to start the fight. The face in the first panel has that intensity to bring the dramatic feel to the piece. It's distorted face gives it such a strange unique feel to it. Certain comics continue to peel away a persons features by simply distorting it and giving it a nice sense of dramatic lighting. In reality nobody unless holding a flashlight under their face could bring such lighting then the drawn image. The pen and pencil allows to create anything you want

Rooster

I thought this comic was pretty interesting because they are using pick up lines to try and get the attention of the "chicks." They replaced the typical men and women with sketches of chickens and roosters. I find kind of ironic that the rooster is hitting on the chickens, yet you are considered a chicken if your to scared to go up to talk to a girl or guy. Not only is this just a typical situation where a man will hit on a woman, it is stereotyping how men treat and talk to women. The use of bad grammar is also hinting towards that the type of men who go after women don't realize its not attractive and that it is degrading. You see this because the chickens end up walking away towards the last slides. In the first slide they are looking at the rooster and as he keeps talking they slowly move out of the view of the slides. I often wonder if this cartoon is suppose to play off how cocky some guys can be? Which would also play into why they are seen as roosters, I'm not really sure what to think of this cartoon. I feel that this cartoon could be related in a child like sense or could also be taken more literally. I feel that the way the sketch is drawn it is suppose to be more playful than harsh and critical, but I could be wrong. Comparing this to what we have been talking about in class and how Hogarth played with say the good looking lady who comes to town. As the panels move forward you see how bad things just begin, which is kind of seen here the rooster shows up in hops of getting the attention but left all alone. It is a similar story board yet made in less steps and details.

Obama Season

I found this image that was said to be drawn by a middle school kid for a history assignment. Whats so impressive about this picture is the likeness and exaggeration of obama's face is quite burlesque. The use of familiar cartoon characters helps convay the joke about hunting Obama, especially being Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck which are usually the characters being hunted. Although I have a feeling most of this image was traced seeing that Obama and Mitt Romney are so well caricaturized and familiar looking. It amazes me that a middle schooler put this together.
Romney being the republican candidate is laughing next to the sign and oddly enough the look on Obama's face seems to be looking at him with a look of confused fear. The other two grotesque characters face's are evil and looking for their prey. Parents of the middle school children were concerned and distured by the image saying it was violent and hateful, I have a feeling that this kid is a politcal cartoonist in the making.

the hierarchy and pop art

While I was looking for an artist to right about I found Susan J. Napier. I remember during last class we spoke of comics not being taken very seriously and I still can't really understand why. In greek mythology aren't the stories fantastical and maybe even hard to believe. How is that any different from and action comic from marvel for example? Even anime which is what my main focus will be, share and have adopted many of the greek or roman styles of exaggeration. Yet people call anime and comics alike, pop art. Will these two worlds ever be meshed? I can't even begin to fathom what would happen if someone had made a life size spiderman sculpture out of marble. These great stories and these great characters which have been a part of our history for 70 plus years deserve that kind of respect. Or maybe its just something not enough people understand. What do you guys think ?

For this week's post, I found this compilation of presidential caricature's drawn by Mike Barnett, an amusement park caricature artist. Last class we were talking about the processes and decisions that the cartoonists must go through in order to make these drawings. We all know that the drawings are emphasizing on a few select features, exaggerating them for humor, however we also know that none of these presidents actually look like these drawings. Sure, there are similarities between the presidents and their caricatures but not enough to recognize the characters if we weren't familiar enough with the presidents through photographs. Yes, George Bush' ears might be a little larger than some of the other presidents, Abraham Lincoln has a long, skinny face and George Washington's hair was an outstanding feature of his, not enough to recognize the caricature's based solely on those, yet somehow we can still figure out who they're depicting.

Sweater Vests

This week, I came across a political cartoon designed by Joe Heller, of the Green Bay Press-Gazette. This cartoon displays the new republican presidential candidate Rick santorum sporting one of his most famous sweater vests at one of his public events. It is interesting that this candidate of the 2012 presidential election has already acquired a means of being made fun of by the press. It seems that his sweater vests have become more well known then him at this current time. Not to mention it is brought up in a satirical/joking mattern.
The first caption on this cartoon reads, "Ever wonder what happens to the sleeves from Rick Santorum's sweater vests?" When the viewer proceeds to the second panel one sees, the elephant, that is known as the republican symbol with sleeves stuffed in his ear. The speech bubble reads, "I don't want to hear it. What I found most interesting in this cartoon was, Mr. Santorum is the Republican candidate and the symbolic elephant doesn't even want to listen to him. Wouldn't this give off a negative reaction from the voters if other Republicans don't even want to listen to him? So not only is he already being made fun of but, it seems that his own people dont believe in his beliefs. At least that's how I see it.
More so, it is interesting how relative this and all other political cartoons are to Messerschmidt's reading, Contemporary Art. In this reading, Xaver Messerschmidt talks about how the face is the way into a person's soul. That you can tell a lot about a person just by seeing their face. He goes on to create art work in which he calls the character heads, to show expression and emotion and how you understand so much just by one glance.
I felt this was so related because, when making a caricature an artist rely's so much on the facial features of the model sitting before them. Yes, they can incorporate other features into them as well like Santorum's sweater vests but, without a likeness, people who aren't in tune with the news would never know who was being portrayed in these cartoons. Facial features are so important to this kind of art. Each must be carefully considered and carefully crafted

Kim Jong Il

Much like Hogarths experimentation with the pictorial genre, Mike Luckovich is also delving into graphic satire. “ Satirical engravings and etchings combined witty, vitriolic or propagandistic commentary on contemporary social and political life with a highly eclectic formal character as assemblages of very different kinds of pictorial and literary materials… they were often densely allusive and technically sophisticated, and appeared with particular frequency at times of crisis.” Much like Hogarth’s prints, Luckovich’s caricature is specifically making a social commentary about the current news of the South Korean “supreme leader,” Kim Jong Il’s death. A ruler of one of the world’s most repressive governments, people were both excited as well as terrified over his death, much of the anxiety was attributed to the anticipation over his successor.

In this caricature, many of Kim Jong Il’s physical features were exaggerated, such as his hair, skin, eyes, and mouth, to match the general physical traits of the iconic cartoon figure, Bert from Sesame Street. Along with the elementary “identical” characteristic and physical traits, the style of the caricature itself is also quite rudimentary, using minimal and stroke-like lines to draw the outlines of the figures. Unlike what was described in Hogarth’s prints, this imagery is seemingly underdeveloped formally speaking. Yet, we can still understand the concept of the piece itself. Because of the contrast of Kim Jong Il’s successor with Bert from Sesame Street, there is a bit of humor evoked in seeing the piece, especially if the viewer is informed of recent news events. Mixed with humor, is also darkness, for we know the character built around Bert was not only lighthearted in the setting he is placed in, but we also know that Bert was the one who didn’t laugh, the serious character when Ernie was being silly, Bert, oftentimes had an austere disposition.

In the article it mentioned that Hogarth was commissioned to make book illustrations. It said that the publishers as well as consumers saw these works as a pictorial relay, “ something that successfully passed on an extant image, than as a self-sufficient work of art.

I wonder if the same holds true for today’s standards, or is it merely contextual? Does Mike Luckovich’s caricature stand as a self-sufficient work of art?

Controversy-Derek Georgia

I had found this wandering the internet the other day. I couldn't help but to laugh at this old comic strip. The text easily makes the article. I posted this mainly from w hat we were doing in class last week, it simply seems like somebody had just thrown in some crazy text according to their perspective on empty word bubbles. The part that intrigues me is that the comic strip kept an old style look yet that could have easily been edited by Photoshop or various other programs. The main theme to this article caught my attention by using the words "devil" and "kick-ass". A lot of old strips would not have said anything of the sort so its taking an old image and throwing in a modernistic twist. Especially the part about the devil, back in the day nobody would say that due to religion etc these days nobody really cares what has been said. This could also be playing off a young child's imagination etc. The only offensive comment they would have made then would have generally been about race or disliked authenticity.

Week 3

I laughed when I saw this, because I find myself saying, "Aw this sucks" when i'm doing my own work. This caricature is comical yet ironic with its use of line on the figure and the line used to for the bird drawing. This is one of those drawings that I can imagine a young child drawing. The drawing marks, proportions and scale are not really taken into a realistic style. The way the tree is treated is very childlike, you see the pointed roots and the quick use of line for bark and squared off tree branches. The cloud and bird are also childlike, of course the big puffy clouds that every child draws. You see the connected triangles for a bird beak which is also a childlike detail. The part of this sketch that really caught my eye was the realistic drawing of the bird, because it really adds that ironic characteristics to the piece. Your eye is drawn to the thought bubble and then you see this very sophisticated drawing that does not fit this style of drawing. In the article last week it talked about characterizing cartoons and how it disassembles each aspect of them how some consist of morals and narratives. The essay even mentioned children's books which I feel this piece goes along with, minus the content of the thought bubble. Looking at this piece you begin to take apart each aspect of the drawing and try to understand what the artists thought process as to why they chose these certain marks and lines. Over all I find it to be an interesting piece very clever sense of humor.

Party Boat!

This cartoon is an advertisment for the re-election for Obama! From the recognizeable image of the Titanic, a classic film, I expect Obama's cruise to be luxrious and a fun filled trip for the whole family........ My favorite part of this cartoon is Obama leaving all the dead bodies behind as he happily reaches dry land with his extreemly happy floaty device, as if just coming from the most wonderful vacation.

The components of this cartoon that work well and are most recognizable are Obama's huge ears, nose and long skinny head. It looks as if his skull is so small, that he might not have room for a real brain in there. Also the Titanic as a symbol of the country is an interesting choice because we all know it from the movie but in terms of history and relating it politically, the ship coming from Britian to America but never making it, seperates the connection to Obama for me. However without the orange band of color on the smoke stack it would just be some boat.

The text in this piece is said like and advertisement, and with everthing else going on in the background I'm not all that tempted to hop on that party boat.

The Male and Female Handshake

Brett and Kate McKay  August 22, 2011  A Manly Handshake: An Illustrated Guide

Ted Slampyak

http://artofmanliness.com/2011/08/22/manly-handshake/

The female handshake resembles the male in many regards.  However it lacks the moustache.  That’s the best way to tell. 

This image is from a website that I follow called The Art of Manliness (http://artofmanliness.com/).  I strongly recommend giving it a check-see sometime.  In the image a diagram is given demonstrating how to give a proper, masculine handshake.

 Moustaches. Gun. Cowboy hats. Vest. Holster. 

The imagery used is meant to convey a traditional, conservative Americana of masculinity. It’s safe to assume the intended audience is men, yet that the advice provided can be universally applied.  I’m edgy enough to suggest more smiles and eye contact might be the right course of action for everyone. 

The intended message from this diagram is probably not humor, yet I do believe that some fun can be poked at anything; it’s endearing.  I’m attracted to the website The Art of Manliness in the same way certain women read Vogue.  There’s a purported idol that is created through the images it gives.  The cowboy is a pop icon.  If a cowboy has a good handshake, I should do that too.          

I've chosen this cartoon because last class we focused on how a lot of artists use facial features and enhance them to look like features of certain animals. This one labeled "Party Animal" is a play on that idea. The part that makes this cartoon so funny is that a donkey really is skinny like Barack Obama, and an elephant is bigger, like John McCain, and of course because of the Democratic/Republican symbols.
It's interesting to look at the expressions that each politician is doing. McCain looks angered and upset about something, Obama looks very cool and calm. Do these have anything to do with their size/weight and is it a play on weight? Or was it done without intention? Both politicians have their hands raised at an awkward height, also making us wonder what intention was behind that artistic decision. Is Obama sitting and McCain standing for a certain reason? There are so many aesthetic choices to think about, it's hard to know the meaning behind them without knowing the artist's intentions.

Distinct characteristics

Last class we discussed in cartoons how usually the bad characters have distinct characteristics which make them look bad and or evil. We also tried to make caricatures of people , change them however keep them true to their counterparts. In cartoons usually they give the antagonist really darkly colored eyebrows also slight facial hair. Most of the time their grins usually are large and show lots of detail on the teeth. What interest me is the relation between the caricatures of people and the typical nature of characteristics in cartoons. How can I draw one of my friends as an evil character? How can one tell that the inspiration from the drawing is directly drawn from this specific person? What I also find interesting is the relationship between more round shapes versus the more angled shapes. Why is it that people are usually drawn to the more rounded characters? What do you guys think post a response explaining why you think, people are drawn to more rounded characters than that of more angled ones. The picture attached to this post is a two year old drawing of one of my friends and I want your opinion of what type of character the drawing gives off.

The new movement-Derek Georgia

The current movement in art revolves around street art. A movement that rushed into the larger cities around the world to use spray cans or paint markers to make a building into a form of artwork. Some artists are now starting to move street art into the gallery settings. This piece was found on an image hosting site searching street art. It was an interesting piece, taking our classic cartoon king Mickey mouse into a wild graffiti artist with a new face to back it up with. The piece gives the cartoon character a fierce attitude and brings an almost intensity to it with the redone face. In my opinion it gives a lot of beauty to the piece. The real meaning is not truly portrait by the artist. The face may be his own and signifies dominance in the graffiti world. It may be a caricature he made up of himself. Maybe the face is the face of another cartoon character. In my opinion it looks like another originally old cartoon character Astroboy. The possibilities vary from the real meaning but the piece shows quite a lot of beauty due to the content of this peace. The era in art also boasts the imagery because of the use of street art within the image. In 30 years another type of art will grow more well known and popular and send graffiti artists to shame.

Twitter

This is a satirical comic about America's obsession with documenting their every thought, desire, and action on websites such as Facebook and Twitter.  He is typing on his phone instead of driving, posting his complaints about how the oil drilling platforms ruins the scenic view.  This scene is all too familiar to me.  I often see drivers stalling at a traffic light when it is green, because they are playing with their phones.  People have become too preoccupied with their electronics.  They tend to put more important things (such as paying attention and driving) on the back burner.  It's to the point that they feel the need to update their status immediately instead of waiting for a more opportune moment.
The message this comic conveys is more than just people's obsession with updating their status.  Technology has taken over people's lives.  I know kids who prefer to be on their laptops instead of going outside and physically interacting with actual humans.

The American Political Process

This minimal comic definitely has a satirical element to it. In both the script, as well as the text. Handwritten, it automatically brings a sense of familiarity to the piece and character, where it feels as though your friend passed it to you during class. The title reads, the “American Political Process” showing an odd looking fellow, clearly in a voting booth setting, voting on what looks like, an iPad. (which reads, touch here to vote.) It is, the next presidential election this year. At the end of the checklist of seemingly boring things that happen during the presidential election the last numeral reads, “The American public elects the cuter one.” What is ironic about this comic, is the odd man himself, is not particularly attractive he is cross eyed with glasses and a little patch of hair. His appearance could be categorized as having a “nerdish” quality, making it seem as though he is informed of the truly qualified candidate, whereas the rest of the American public is only concerned with looks. We can find the humor in this “joke” because for the most part, a majority of society is self aware of the push on appearances, and aesthetics in the United States. The darkness this infatuation is that it may be affecting other sectors of our lives, like our political system.

I got this comic from the site, Toothpaste for Dinner where I am a frequenter. It is here, everyday, that a new comic is posted. Oftentimes it involves the artist himself, Drew taking a humorous approach to the trials and tribulations of today’s modern society. His works range from a variety of topics from the social to the political. Meskin, in his article about Defining Comics? Discusses comics as “very often serialized: most comics we encounter are extended narratives that are designed to be encountered in the same publication in daily, weekly or monthly installments.” It is true, that the popularity of the site, and the anticipation that there will be a new one up every single day, leads me to the Toothpaste for Dinner site. Even though most of the comics are imbued with a cute and dark satirical humor, there is a slight moral reflection that takes place when viewing these pieces. Much like what Kunzle suggests in that within the narrative condition, comic strips must not only tell stories, they must tell moral and topical ones. Is it necessary for us to be so superficial as a society that it is impacting our political and governmental process? Is a moral narrative necessary with the emergence of comic books being studied in the educational system? Like what Tabachnick suggests that the attention span of a book is becoming proceeding more difficult to grab the attention of readers, so teachers are now using graphic novels. Shouldn’t we take morals into consideration in this case?

Class Envy

The rise of poor/homeless, though it has grown to be a problem world wide, has increased greatly in the united states over the past several years. In the political cartoon above, Pat Bagley of the salt lake tribune satirically plays on the contradicting lives of both the homeless and the well off.
In this image, what we believe to be a business man has sat down and begun to converse with the homeless man next to him. the caption under the cartoon reads, ".... No minders scheduling your every waking minute.... free to come and go as you please. Yes, friend, I can tell-You're living the dream." It is funny that in this particular cartoon the artist in implying that the working class man is upset with his current life situation. Not being able to take any time for himself, while he is bettering him and his future loved ones lives. Not once does he notice the bad that goes on around him. The fact that the homeless man is sleeping outside using an old newspaper to cover himself with. Probably cold and mal-nourished.
This cartoon is only one example of how wrapped up current day America is in their own worlds. Not even noticing all of the problems others around them live through each day . Instead of seeing how well they have it, they would rather complain about how they work themselves so hard, whether to buy an i-phone or a blackberry and the fact that they weren't able to take some vacation time. Mean while, In new york alone, people are sleeping on the streets picking up change and eating out of the garbage just to keep themselves alive.

Irony- Jacqueline Jacob Week 2

As I was searching for a cartoon to submit for next weeks discussion I stumbled upon this very ironic cartoon. Not only does this comic scream irony, it’s a true fact. People today are all about “being your self” yet really they still revolve around the same materialistic image. You see people who say, “I’m an individual” yes, maybe physically but not mentally. I find myself sometimes falling into this similar category. Why? Because as humans we follow trends, we want to be successful, and in order to do that we find that things or top trends will make us happy or look cool. Within this image is the “non-conformist” air bubble coming from the group of people who all are wearing the “be yourself” tee shirt. When viewing this image I begin to see more than just the group trying to persuade others to be more “individual” but I begin to see our media and government saying the same thing. Both parties say they are “individual” but when it comes down to the basics it all matters on who is following who. As ironic this is to see the fellow without a shirt and being told he’s a non-conformist he really is the only one upholding what is written on the groups shirts, “ be yourself.” You see a huge group of people all for the same thing yet its all for the wrong reasons. Being yourself is what makes people unique and original. Last week in class someone was mentioning how humans really are the only mammals that has disguising physical attributes. For example someone mentioned the zebra and how they may slightly vary in their stripes but they still resemble the same pattern. Which makes a perfect example to this comic the “be yourself” crew all look like the zebra but the guy standing alone is sticks out like a sore thumb. Within the reading for this week I was eager to begin to understand the comic and the narrative, they mention how it is moral and topical based. Seeing as this particular comic is about being your self I feel that it is a good example of being a moral type comic. Your morals are what make up you as a person. As the guy seems to have morals and not act upon and joining the group even though he was being told he was a “non-conformist.” This was an inspiring and interesting comic that I enjoyed stumbling upon.