Analyzing Cartoons
Sources for Political Cartoons
A number of online resources provide archives of both recent and historical political cartoons. Here’s a few to help you start your search:
- Comics and Political Cartoon Archives and Websites: A directory of archives for political cartoons and comics.
- Daryl Cagle’s Professional Cartoonists Index: Search contemporary cartoons based on specific topics or by date.
- The Political Dr. Seuss: Political Cartooning: Political cartoons by Theodor Geisel, published from 1941 to 1943.
Analyzing Cartoons
Analyzing political cartoons differs from analyzing pure text documents. Cartoons rely heavily on visual symbolism, and it’s important to understand the meaning of the images as well as the words. Political cartoons usually try to make points about several concepts at once, and it’s important to examine both the “big picture” and the multiple points. Cartoons can be quite “dense” and convey a number of ideas in a small space.
It’s important to understand the perspective and possible bias of the cartoonist, which requires historical context. Grasping the humor or satire of a cartoon relies on the conditions at a specific place and point in time.