Cartoon Analysis
Analysis of Political Cartoon
Background:
Malala Yousafzai, a fourteen year old Pakistani girl was attacked by a Taliban gunmen on 9th October 2012 on her way back from school in Swat. Malala is known for her human rights advocacy for education of women in her native Swat valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. She used to write a blog for BBC telling about her life under the Taliban occupancy, the problems girls over there faced in getting education under the regime of Radical Muslims. Furious over her actions Taliban carried out an attempt for her assassination but fortunately she lived. The assassination attempt received worldwide media coverage and produced an outpouring of sympathy and anger.
Cartoon Analysis:
The cartoon was published on the eve of Halloween 2012 by Chuck Assay. He used to work as a cartoonist for Colorado Spring Gazette. Halloween is celebrated all around the world in remembering of the dead. This day is a symbol of horror.
The cartoon shows four figures including Ghost, Dracula, Zombie and a Taliban militant along with a pumpkin head hinting towards the Halloween eve. The cartoonist has used symbolism as a technique in order to persuade the audience. The Dracula and Ghost have been the symbol of fear for a number of centuries. These characters have been used in movies, books and cartoons as a tool to stimulate horror. The zombie is not so old but for the last eighty years has played the same role like its predecessors. And then there is a most recent entry that is of the Taliban, the main character in this cartoon.
The primary target audience is the U.S population and the purpose is to highlight the problems faced by female population at the hand of Taliban Militants in Pakistan. The 14 year old girl in the tag line is referred to Malala and all other girls that are deprived of basic education in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region of Pakistan due to the fear of Taliban. In my opinion the cartoonist has been very successful
Background:
Malala Yousafzai, a fourteen year old Pakistani girl was attacked by a Taliban gunmen on 9th October 2012 on her way back from school in Swat. Malala is known for her human rights advocacy for education of women in her native Swat valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan. She used to write a blog for BBC telling about her life under the Taliban occupancy, the problems girls over there faced in getting education under the regime of Radical Muslims. Furious over her actions Taliban carried out an attempt for her assassination but fortunately she lived. The assassination attempt received worldwide media coverage and produced an outpouring of sympathy and anger.
Cartoon Analysis:
The cartoon was published on the eve of Halloween 2012 by Chuck Assay. He used to work as a cartoonist for Colorado Spring Gazette. Halloween is celebrated all around the world in remembering of the dead. This day is a symbol of horror.
The cartoon shows four figures including Ghost, Dracula, Zombie and a Taliban militant along with a pumpkin head hinting towards the Halloween eve. The cartoonist has used symbolism as a technique in order to persuade the audience. The Dracula and Ghost have been the symbol of fear for a number of centuries. These characters have been used in movies, books and cartoons as a tool to stimulate horror. The zombie is not so old but for the last eighty years has played the same role like its predecessors. And then there is a most recent entry that is of the Taliban, the main character in this cartoon.
The primary target audience is the U.S population and the purpose is to highlight the problems faced by female population at the hand of Taliban Militants in Pakistan. The 14 year old girl in the tag line is referred to Malala and all other girls that are deprived of basic education in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region of Pakistan due to the fear of Taliban. In my opinion the cartoonist has been very successful