Part2- Introduction

Introduction-

The political cartoons we have chosen look at the opinion of who are to blame for the economic slump this country are currently facing, both cartoons point to the governments avoidance of the problem making the problems worse. Sense around 2007 the economy in the United States has been on a downward path cause jobs to disappear larger numbers in unemployment and a greater national debt over all. There has been many efforts made to solve this problem but over all there are more opinions for the people to be blamed. In this paper i will look at the beginnings to this problem, the efforts made so far and the where the problem stands today.  

Part1- Thesis

Thesis- The political cartoons we have chosen look at the opinion of who are to blame for the economic slump this country are currently facing, Both cartoons point to the governments avoidance of the problem making the problems worse.

Cartoon Blog#2

Topic:  The economy

Story:  Obama and Biden are in a broken down bus which represents the economy.  They are aimed in the wrong direction but they aren't moving.

Audience:  The cartoon was produced in the U.S. during the recent economic slump.  The image first appeared in the Columbia Daily Tribune which is a daily news paper.  The comic can be described as liberal because he is promoting political changes.  It speaks to the audience by appealing to their emotions through laughter.

Author:  John Darkow has been a professional cartoonist for over 20 years. His cartoons have been published in newspapers, magazines and books in several countries. Most of his cartoons involve the current economic situation.  He publishes his works in Columbia, Missouri. Darkow also works as a professional water-colorist.

Argument:  The message about the issue is that government is at a stand-still with improving the economy.   The irony in the cartoon is that the president and vice president are trying to get to "easy street" but are pointed in the wrong direction and not moving.

Composition:  The cartoon is a single frame.

Word and Image:  The cartoon relies mainly on the image.  The text suggests that the president doesn't care about the economy but the humor in the picture is the main priority.

Imagery:  The artist places the president and the vice president in a broken down bus with no wheels sitting on cinder blocks to represent how bad the economy is.  The bus is realistic but Obama and Biden's facial features are exaggerated using caricatures to make them look more clueless and goofy.  The artist includes the illusion that the economy will not be fixed because the state of the bus.

Tone:  The comic is primarily comic to encourage readers to think that the government and the president is clueless when it comes to the economy.

Character and setting:  The cartoon is mainly based on the scene and surroundings of the people. there are two character's , obama which is portrayed as a middle aged, African American male.  Biden is portrayed as a late in life, white, male.  Both men are real people.

Cultural resonance:  The comic explicitly refers to president Obama and vice president Biden. The economy is symbolized as a broken down bus.  The cartoon speaks to a wide audience because many people have been effected by the slumping economy.  The broken down bus representing the economy is the main rhetorical strategy.  Obama driving the bus makes people believe that he is the cause of this.

Cartoon blog#1

Topic: The Econmy
Story: The government official is trying to distract the audience from the real issues of the economy.

Audience: In the United States and during the upset with the government. It was first posted in the Washington Examiner by Nate Beeler. It shows how people in the U.S. feel that the government is just distracting them from the serious problems facing our country.

Author: Nate Beeler is an award-winning editorial cartoonist for The Washington Examiner. He is from Columbus Ohio originally. He creates cartoons on issues facing America today and publishes them in many different newspapers like the Examiner and USA Today.

Argument: He is arguing that the government needs to stop trying to distract from the real problems and find solutions to the problems facing America. The irony is they are using a children’s cartoon to distract a group of adults.

Composition: This cartoon is a single frame.

Word and image: Both are used because while SpongeBob is on the TV the statement of a "new study...." explains the point and would not be as effective if either were missing. The cartoon it self does take the priority over the text and shows the authors point more.

Imagery: The author uses the well-known children’s cartoon to make the point that the government is distracting the people as if they were children themselves. Yes ,they are realistic he does not choose to change anything about the people and their sounding’s.

Tone: The tone is more comic. It makes the reader feel as if the government themselves are looking at this as a joking matter.

Character and setting: The cartoon features a government official in a press conference on the economic problems facing the US. It also features a TV playing a well-known children’s cartoon. The official is just a middle aged white male employee. He is the one that is supposed to face the people and explain the problems. He is just created to represent an employee of the white house or government. These choices in only showing one real character and just the TV draws your attention to the point that the official is the one with power and he is using that to distract the audience.

Cultural resonance: Our cartoon explicitly refers to the government official. The use of SpongeBob is meant to say the government is treating the people as children. The symbols used would apply to a broad audience because the cartoon is so well known and recognizable. It helps the cartoonist reach many audience’s.

Blog#5

The poems from today’s readings differ from the ones we read be for because in my opinion the are more open to different ways of understanding them. more broad and leave more up to the reader to point out then the speaker themself like " Selected Recent & New Errors" by Dean Young is more of a ramble and can be taken in many different ways. From talking about how a dictionary must feel to there is no proof god isn’t an insect, I believe it is written to just let your mind wonder. The speaker is more confused and unsure about himself because the writing is more jumpy for what he feels about himself.

Blog#4

The main ideal in Chilton's essay is reviewing a political cartoon that was done and published about the drug problem of Mexico. Her argument is that the cartoons while very complex in its own right cannot even begin to bring to light the many cause of the overwhelming drug problem in Mexico and the thousands of deaths that it has caused. In my personal opinion i agree that to over simplify the problem is unfair and does not do all the people that have been killed or affected by this problem justice. To jus blame this scary cartooned man for all the skulls that have piled up is igronent when in reality there are so many people and causes to be named and that share a hand in wreaking the already shaky relationship between the U.S and Mexico. There are always other ways to view the cartoon of course maybe in light of the large figure just simply hitting the party piñata maybe the artist is saying that Mexico its self is not taking this growing problem seriously enough and that the deaths that are piling up are being ignored by their own government. That maybe the big scary man is just too much for anyone to face.   

Back to school

Blog#2

I believe that cartoons are a more dangerous way of political expression. I feel that because we do not fully grasp that we are being swayed in a certain direction or that we are being lead to believe something different about the politian it is describing we are not aware that the cartoon we are reading is changing our minds. This makes it more dangerous because we are not attenonly changing our views in this way. I do not believe in censorship but i feel maybe the cartoons do go too far sometimes. It is always your choice to read them and the creator always has the right to freedom of their own ideals and views. It is just a case of not everyone sees these things in the same way and not everyone will always be happy about what is showed. Trying to censor these cartoons would just cause more of a fight and sense a person's freedom to will always affect another's freedom from that fight would never end. Just look at history this all started in the 50's and it is now 2011 and SpongeBob just might be gay.

Blog#3

  I choose to write about Muck-Clump by Mark Halliday. This poem is about a man's morning with his daughter and wife. He feels like his wife thinks he does not contribute and calls himself driftwood on the sands of time because he doesnt feel aspirated by her. He then starts to go over in his head how he will get back at his wife for correcting the amount of cereal he has poured when his daughter doesnt finish it all and how good he will feel about it. Then when proved wrong again he feels like he must be mature about it because after all he would like to think that is what he is. I feel like the speaker is also trying to show us that how we view ourselves and what we contribute is shaped by what others do like the wife correcting the amount of cereal takes away from the fact the man has tried to help in busy morning. It is very true in my life that if what i do for someone is not taken like i expect i feel like i've not even tried to help at all.

First Blogg

I know what im doing:)