Transcript Do cartoons hinder democracy?

R10017 'St Kevin' cartoon by Simon Letch, 2007. With permission of Simon Letch. Artwork by
Simon Letch.
Politics with punch
Do cartoons help or hinder
democracy?
© Education Services Australia Ltd and the National Museum of Australia, 2010, except where indicated otherwise
Politics with punch
Do cartoons help or hinder
democracy?
Cartoons may appear simple and almost childish at
times, but each one is trying to influence your
ideas, and therefore your behaviour.
Each one may also have a major role to play in
influencing the way we think about, and respond to,
our democratic system of government.
Look at the following comments and decide how
cartoons might play a positive role in a democracy.
Identify the key idea/s in each quote.
© Education Services Australia Ltd and the National Museum of Australia, 2010, except where indicated otherwise
‘A cartoon is looking under
and behind the surface of
events, reading between the
lines, unravelling the spin
doctors’ spinning.’
Cartoonist Cathy Wilcox
Good weekend magazine
13 July 2002, p17
© Education Services Australia Ltd and the National Museum of Australia, 2010, except where indicated otherwise
‘[A cartoon] provokes
people into thinking again
about an issue … I am …
interested in affecting the
people in the middle, the
swinging voter if you like.’
Cartoonist Bruce Petty
Good weekend magazine
13 July 2002, p16, 19
R10223 'Explaining democracy' cartoon by Bruce Petty, 2006. With permission of Bruce
Petty. Artwork by Bruce Petty.
© Education Services Australia Ltd and the National Museum of Australia, 2010, except where indicated otherwise
‘Drawing a cartoon is a way of
expressing my anger and
hopefully at the same time making
other people angry about it.’
Cartoonist Phil Somerville
Good weekend magazine
13 July 2002, p17
© Education Services Australia Ltd and the National Museum of Australia, 2010, except where indicated otherwise
‘I don’t think it really
matters if you’re a left-wing
cartoonist or a right-wing
cartoonist, as long as you
make your point clearly
and in a hard-hitting way,
you’ve got the potential
there to make people
think.’
R10224 'D'ya'avagoodweekend?' cartoon by Bill Leak, 2002. With permission of Bill Leak.
Artwork by Bill Leak.
Cartoonist Bill Leak in ‘The people’s
choice’ by Claire McWilliams, The big
issue, July 2000
© Education Services Australia Ltd and the National Museum of Australia, 2010, except where indicated otherwise
Some critics, however, argue that cartoons
can in fact act as a destructive rather than a
positive force by ‘white-anting’ a democracy.
Read the following passage, identify the key
points and discuss the idea that cartoons
might actually harm democracy.
© Education Services Australia Ltd and the National Museum of Australia, 2010, except where indicated otherwise
‘The … nature of the cartooning medium ensures that there is a lack of balance in the
graphic comment on politics. Cartoons that praise politics, politicians or the political
institution do not appear because they would not be humorous … The problem is that,
if cartoons have any impact on public opinion … it is in the direction of increasing
cynicism about politics, politicians and the political system …
It is healthy in a democracy to make fun of people in power who take themselves too
seriously or who try to cover their inconsistencies with bluster or propaganda. The
best political satire … can cut to the core of political debate and highlights the real
choices available in a working democracy. However there probably also needs to be
some consideration of the boundary lines between healthy satire and a more
destructive cynicism.’
Michael Hogan , ‘Cartoonists and political
cynicism’ , The drawing board: an
Australian review of public affairs, Vol 2 No
1 July 2001, pp 47–48
© Education Services Australia Ltd and the National Museum of Australia, 2010, except where indicated otherwise