Semiotics and the Grotesque in Political Cartoons
Through cartoonish distortion, grotesquery, and comedy, the art of caricature signals a lack of seriousness. Despite such appearances, I argue that editorial caricature is a valuable source of historical evidence that gestures toward the intersubjectivity of audience, production, and text. This dyn...
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Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Semiotic Review |
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| Online Access: | https://semioticreview.com/sr/index.php/srindex/article/view/70 |
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| author | Timothy David Smith |
| author_facet | Timothy David Smith |
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Through cartoonish distortion, grotesquery, and comedy, the art of caricature signals a lack of seriousness. Despite such appearances, I argue that editorial caricature is a valuable source of historical evidence that gestures toward the intersubjectivity of audience, production, and text. This dynamic interface presupposes complex cultural literacies required to “read” these cartoons. To the historian, editorial caricature presents unique insight into an artist’s imaginative appeal to a contemporaneous audience. In this article, I survey the features and expressions of the art of the caricature from sixteenth century Italy through the late Antebellum United States. I pair this brief historiography with interdisciplinary theory and an analysis of an 1856 editorial caricature by Philadelphia lithographer John L. Magee. I triangulate my analysis with inquiry in the arts and media of the period. My investigation yields evidence of patterns in this hybrid, verbal-visual discourse that recapitulate regional, national, and transnational themes. I argue that Magee’s meaning-making process in his graphic political satire titled “Forcing Slavery Down the Throat of a Freesoiler” mobilizes complex cultural matrices to identify prominent Northern Democrats as a grievous threat to the free-soil ideals adopted by an emergent Republican party. Magee’s complex, narrative and semiotic elaborations offer historical evidence of editorial caricature’s interactivity with ideology, politics, and rhetoric across both verbal and visual fields.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e56cbf5f36c34776b44c11b14a5b02e7 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 3066-8107 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | Department of Anthropology, University of Chicago |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Semiotic Review |
| spelling | doaj-art-e56cbf5f36c34776b44c11b14a5b02e72025-08-20T03:31:33ZengDepartment of Anthropology, University of ChicagoSemiotic Review3066-81072023-02-01710.71743/0jbd3h57Semiotics and the Grotesque in Political CartoonsTimothy David Smith Through cartoonish distortion, grotesquery, and comedy, the art of caricature signals a lack of seriousness. Despite such appearances, I argue that editorial caricature is a valuable source of historical evidence that gestures toward the intersubjectivity of audience, production, and text. This dynamic interface presupposes complex cultural literacies required to “read” these cartoons. To the historian, editorial caricature presents unique insight into an artist’s imaginative appeal to a contemporaneous audience. In this article, I survey the features and expressions of the art of the caricature from sixteenth century Italy through the late Antebellum United States. I pair this brief historiography with interdisciplinary theory and an analysis of an 1856 editorial caricature by Philadelphia lithographer John L. Magee. I triangulate my analysis with inquiry in the arts and media of the period. My investigation yields evidence of patterns in this hybrid, verbal-visual discourse that recapitulate regional, national, and transnational themes. I argue that Magee’s meaning-making process in his graphic political satire titled “Forcing Slavery Down the Throat of a Freesoiler” mobilizes complex cultural matrices to identify prominent Northern Democrats as a grievous threat to the free-soil ideals adopted by an emergent Republican party. Magee’s complex, narrative and semiotic elaborations offer historical evidence of editorial caricature’s interactivity with ideology, politics, and rhetoric across both verbal and visual fields. https://semioticreview.com/sr/index.php/srindex/article/view/70semioticscaricatureeditorical cartoonAntebellum politicshistorical evidence |
| spellingShingle | Timothy David Smith Semiotics and the Grotesque in Political Cartoons Semiotic Review semiotics caricature editorical cartoon Antebellum politics historical evidence |
| title | Semiotics and the Grotesque in Political Cartoons |
| title_full | Semiotics and the Grotesque in Political Cartoons |
| title_fullStr | Semiotics and the Grotesque in Political Cartoons |
| title_full_unstemmed | Semiotics and the Grotesque in Political Cartoons |
| title_short | Semiotics and the Grotesque in Political Cartoons |
| title_sort | semiotics and the grotesque in political cartoons |
| topic | semiotics caricature editorical cartoon Antebellum politics historical evidence |
| url | https://semioticreview.com/sr/index.php/srindex/article/view/70 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT timothydavidsmith semioticsandthegrotesqueinpoliticalcartoons |