HOW TO READ AND ANALYSE
POLITICAL CARTOONS
YEAR 12 MEDIA UNIT
Cartoonists use lots of
techniques to deliver a
message to the reader:
Political
Cartoons
This message includes their
employers ideas, attitudes and
prejudices and political issues
otherwise known as “bias”.
Points to consider:
Political
Cartoons
• Does it mater that the cartoon
contains the media company
owners personal bias on a
political issue?
• What effect (if any) could a
cartoon with bias have on those
that view it?
• What is the purpose/value to
society of presenting cartoons
with differing views/opinions of
a political issue?
Symbols
Captions
Creating a scaffold
for analysis
Steretypes
References to popular culture
Humour and caricatures
Reference to historical events
Copy the table into your books and use two or three elements to help deconstruct your cartoon.
Symbols
Why do political cartoonists use symbols?
Often their message about politics is complicated and symbols are visual triggers for their audience to understand their message.
A symbol can be a
metaphor or an analogy for
something else
Spot the metaphors (symbolism)
Julia Gillard’s lab coat
which symbolises
science, the e
spanner symbolises a
working class job, the
ruler symbolises a
teacher and the
compass indicate a
mathmatician
The CO2 symbol going into
the “fat” pig money box
suggests to the audience her
climate change idea is a
waste of tax payer dollars
The large nose suggests she
is lying to the public about
the effectiveness of her
climate change policy
Captions
Most political cartons
include captions with text
to explain the scene.
Captions help
explain what is
occurring in the
cartoon, who the
characters and can
enhance the joke.
The caption here is using irony!
The wealthy Cate Blancett
living with Sydney Harbor
million dollar views supporting
the carbon tax as opposed to
the working class miner who
don’t have a global media
platform to argue for their
jobs! But “we are all in this
together”!
What do the Captions Say?
Stereotypes
Cartooist use stereotypes to convey their
message and also to be funny. They might
portray politicians in costume or behaving
in a mmer that is easily recognised:
Tony Abbot here was a volunteer life saver
on Sydney beaches. He often wore “budgie
smugglers”. This depicts Mr Abbot in the
ocean drowning symbolising his popularity
with the Australian public before the
election.
Reference to Popular Culture
Cartoonist can use references to popuar culture to make it easy for people to understand their
message.
By portraying politicians as
characters from a movie or
book. Cartoonists can easily
tell a story in their cartoon –
and make a joke.
• The characters (politicians)
are represented here as actors
in the film Great Gatsby. The
government were planning to
spend billions of dollars on
education reform and the
cartoon is insinuating the
government is throwing money
around just like rich people do!
Reference to Popular
Culture
Over to you!
Deconstruct your chosen political carton and add this to
your oral presentation script.