Introduction
Comic strips and political cartoons represent a powerful piece of literature that is posted in magazines to deliver relevant social, economics, or political messages to the audience. Artists play a critical role in creating the most striking, realistic, and comprehensible graphics that are easily interpreted by the readers. The authors often add the messages conveyed by the cartoons to supplement their creation. Various aspects, such as relative size, colors, and position in the newspaper, play a significant role in delivering information to the target audience. Both comic strips and political cartoons adopt common amusing languages. The use of hyperbole, irony, symbolism, imagery, and metaphors makes artistic work more attractive to the audience. Such a linguistic sense of taste emphasizes the information conveyed by the cartoons easily. This paper provides an analysis of a political satire posted by Patrick Chappatte in The New York Times magazine on April 25, 2015. In this work, the author uses hyperbole, labeling, and irony to unveil the insincerity of the European Union (EU) towards foreign nationals who visit their states.
Analysis
The primary purpose of newspaper cartoons is to coax the reader to pick certain information that the artist deems essential. One of the most notable techniques that Chappate employs in his work is hyperbole (43). He uses an exaggerated drawing to persuade the audience that something is amiss about the role of the European Union in taking care of foreign settlers (Marín-Arrese 153). The author shows an overloaded boat capsizing, which gives a picture of how the EU nations drive out immigrants.
The cartoonist also uses labeling by including an umbrella with EU initials written on it. Bearing in mind that there was an increased number of people migrating to Europe through the sea in 2015, this cartoon sought to reveal how Europe pretended to address the situation. Labeling is used to take a jab at the EU by exposing its hypocrisy towards immigrants, mainly from Africa. Besides, the author makes good use of irony to make the reader understand the events in the cartoon (Marín-Arrese 153). The person addressing the public is comfortably sitting on a chair branded lifeguard. However, his speech contradicts his role as he tells the immigrants in the tipping boat to retrace their steps. The cartoonist implies that the EU chases the people away despite purporting to find a solution for them.
The character in the cartoon portrays the European Union as deceitful. Instead of serving as a lifeguard, as advocated at the back of the chair, the character does the opposite. The rocks are black, and the sky is dark to signify Europe’s migrant crisis and how they pretend to ensure the protection of human rights. It reveals hatred and discrimination against asylum seekers. White color is used near the shores to indicate the cold treatment extended to the immigrants. Finally, the author writes the EU initials and paints the stars in yellow color to show Europe’s hypocrisy and disinclined behavior to provide care for immigrants.
Conclusion
Using hyperbole, labeling, and irony to deliver Chappatte political cartoon conveys Europe’s pretense to handle migrant crisis. Despite many people traveling through EU borders to seek asylum in Europe, leaders in the country are adamant about providing a home for them. The cartoon also indicates reluctance in the protection of human rights. The leader tells the people to turn back regardless of the capsizing boat. The colors used to paint the work also demonstrate disloyalty and discrimination against migrants reaching the shores of Europe.
Works Cited
Chappatte, Patrick. “Migrants and The European Union.” The NEW York Times, 2015, Web.
Marín-Arrese, Juana I. “Metaphorical creativity in political cartoons.” Performing Metaphoric Creativity across Modes and Contexts, vol. 7, no. 1, 2020, pp. 153.