Cartoon Interpretation
The cartoon at hand by Chris Madden called „The Evolution of Language“ deals with the change of
language and spelling over the course of generations and the difference between people of different
generations.
The focus of the cartoon are two young people, one boy and one girl in the middleground standing in
front of a very simple, not too focused lantern. They are lifting their hands as to say „Good bye“ and the
girl says: „C U – I’LL TXT U L8R :)“ In the foreground there are two older people, a man and a woman,
both looking at the younger people while the man is saying: „I DON’T UNDERSTAND A WORD YOUNG
PEOPLE SAY THESE DAYS“. Both the floor and the lantern in the background are only implied by few
simple, black lines and not drawn very detailedly, to put the focus even more on the old and young
people, which are drawn more detailedly and in color. Furthermore, the entire picture is drawn in a
rather simple manner since the motivation of the cartoon is expressing its message and not looking
beautiful.
Boy and girl represent the younger generation while the older couple represents the older generation.
Therefore the cartoon refers to the difference between the way of living and means of communication
of different generations and how technology affects those changes. It is meant to critisize the fact that
different parts of society cannot communicate with each other properly and that older people, which
are the ones addressed, should put more effort into keeping up with time in order to improve
everyone’s life. Every part of the cartoon is shown in an overly exaggerated way to really make its point
clear. One example for that is the girl speeking in few letters and numbers, which makes the message,
that younger people communicate differently clear, even though no individual would ever talk that way.
In general, the cartoonist tries to draw attention to the fact that society should be united in a way and
not split apart by factors such as new technologies.
In my opinion the cartoonist was successful in achieving his goal, since the situation he presented was
relatable in the sense that I myself do not always understand what people of entirely different
generations say. Also I definitely agree with his message that language and communication are some of
the most important factors needed to create a happy and united society.