Tom Stiglich is a political cartoonist who had drawn for dozens of well known magazines, newspapers, and books such as The New York Times, TIME magazine, The Washington Post, and many others. His political cartoons are based on events happening in the world, mostly America, and he attempts to satirize the events. This political cartoon shows the NSA being awarded a Grammy for the best recording artist of the year. During the time this cartoon was put out, the NSA scandal of the government listening in on everyone's phone conversations and looking at everyone's emails had just broke. People were outraged and shocked that the government was violating their personal conversations and many felt like some of their constitutional rights had been breached. This cartoon's audience is the American public because the Grammys are a big thing in America and most people would at least know what it is and this breach of privacy was also a very big thing in America. Stiglich wanted to make light of this event, while still making a statement and his cartoon did accomplish this. He used humor to start a discussion on a topic which the American public was already incensed by. The shameful look on the personification of the NSA's face also serves to show how the NSA thought they were being covert. I believe Stiglich accomplish his goal because while this cartoon is humorous, it also makes a statement and shows a belief. In this case, Stiglich's belief was that the NSA was wrong for recording Americans' conversations and his cartoon shows that. The message of the cartoon is supplemented by the humor to get Stiglich's point across. I also think it is effective because it mixed a positive--winning a Grammy--with a negative--recording private conversations. The play on words is part of the humorous elements, drawing the audience in. This is a very effective political cartoon because it gets the artist's point, that the NSA was wrong in recording conversations, across in a funny and relevant way.
No comments:
Post a Comment