(Swine Flu) Political Cartoons: A Cross- cultural Analysis (original) (raw)

2012

Abstract

Beginning with the notion that the discourse of political cartoons reflects and reinforces public opinion (Edwards and Winkler 1997; Michelmore 2000; Greenberg 2008; and Dwivedi 2009), this chapter takes a multidisciplinary approach to political cartoons about the H1N1 virus (swine flu) to elucidate how fears are addressed through language and media cross culturally. Seventy three cartoons were culled from India (n� 31), the United States (n� 24), and other countries (n� 18). The analysis, focusing on the metaphors (Lakoff and Johnson 1980) and topoi (Medhurst and DeSousa 1981: 200) found in these cartoons, shows how a nation’s swine flu cartoons play on associations and fears relevant to that particular nation’s culture(s). 3.1 Political cartoons Cartoons do more than entertain. Hull (2000) examines the cartoons of Matt Groening for evidence of Foucaultian philosophy, Han (2006) examines Japanese cartoons and their reflection of Japanese- Korean relations, and O’Brien (2008) discus...

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