Rhetorical and Visual Analysis
Christopher O'Leary
University of Texas at El Paso
Political cartoons are art forms that portray government programs, policies, and personalities in humorous ways. Can these humorous depictions tell someone about the artist's position on politics? In the article "Mr. Fish: Go Fish': Political cartoons hit hard" by Kimberley Chun, argues that the artist of a particular political cartoon does not depict which side he is on. The ethos of the article tells people of the ethical appeal of the article, while the pathos shows the emotional appeal, and the logos shows the logical appeal.
The ethos of article is that even though Kimberley is a freelance writer, she still shows professional formatting. She also tries to tell the audience that Dwayne Booth is not trying to be biased in his political cartoons. The quote, "Anyone who has spied the barbed panels of political cartoonist Mr. Fish, ne Dwayne Booth, in, say, L.A. Weekly, Harper's, the Nation or Truthdig.com would understand that neither the right nor the left is spared his pointed pencil," (Chun, 2012, para. 1), tells the audience that from Dwayne Booth's previous articles and political cartoons, he makes jokes about both political parties. Kimberly Chun is only a freelance writer, she doesn’t work for any particular company or business. This could mean she is not a biased writer because she writes for anyone. But also could mean she writes what pleases the audience of the people she is writing for. At the bottom of the page it states that Kimberley Chun is a freelance writer and it gives her email address. Chun also gives quotes, like the one that was stated before, from the creator of the cartoon (Dwayne Booth) to support her argument that he is not biased in anyway. One being "I usually mine the Internet for images and stuff that's going on and it'll trigger a cartoon or an illustration," (Chun, 2012, para 5).
There
is not too
much emotion is shown in the article. A picture is shown that takes a shot at
President Barack Obama. She uses the cartoon in her article to show just one of
the type of political cartoon Dwayne Booth makes. The cartoon shows Barack Obama
in a headlock which pokes fun at the president, which could have the meaning of
him hurting himself in the 2012 presidential election, or that he is battling
against himself. The audience would think that Dwayne Booth is republican if
they only saw this one political cartoon. The quote under the picture reads Mr.
Fish's "Barack vs. Obama" (2011) is part of the new "Go
Fish" exhibition at the E6 Gallery in San Francisco. Many of the pieces,
drawn in the past two years, take aim at the president," (Chun, 2011). The
quote describes that this is just one of his many pieces of art work at the E6
gallery. Kimberley is trying the make the audience believe that Dwayne Booth is
not biased when it comes to his political cartoons.
Kimberley
shows logic by quoting Dwayne Booth himself to support her argument that he is
not a biased artist when it comes to his political cartoons and his other art
work. Chun uses the quote from Dwayne Booth the
creator of the political cartoon "This
is the most aggravating time to cartoon because the elections are all about the
same platitudes being thrown around," (Chun, 2012 , para 2), to support her
argument that Dwayne Booth is not biased when he does his cartoons, he is just
trying to be original. The
quote, "So one would think the current national news environment, with its
passing parade of Republican presidential primaries, would generate primo
fish-in-a-barrel-style fodder for the artist. Think again," (Chun, 2012,
para 1), by Chun explains why she believes Dwayne Booth is not biased. She is
implying that he is trying to be
original with his art work, he doesn’t want to copy everyone that is doing
political cartoons about the republicans.
In
conclusion, Kimberley Chun supports her argument that Dwayne Booth does not
show bias when it comes to his political cartoons throughout her article. Chun
is a freelance writer so she doesn’t show any bias for any certain business of
company. She then uses one of Booth's political cartoons to show that this is
only one of many of his artworks that are at the E6 gallery as the pathos of
the article. For the logos, She gives quotes that support her argument that
Booth is a not a biased artist.
References
Chun, K. (2012). 'Mr.Fish: Go Fish'
Political cartoons hit hard. http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/02/08/NSV91N1PLG.DTL
