Someone could seriously write a dissertation on this cartoon. Is “crime,” represented by the misunderstood, maligned yet inherently gentle monster a creation of our fucked up society? Why did we make it and why do we then hate and fear it?
Also, given the choice between an insane, evil, heavily armed monster and the other option, I’ll always opt for Dr.Frankenstein’s monster for patrol.
9 Likes
Stan Kelly’s go-to schtick is to draw a weeping Statue of Liberty. Michael Rodriguez’s go-to schtick is to draw a picture of whatever thing is happening in the news that week—tsunami, fires, disease pandemic, whatever—and label it “National Debt,” as the absolutely non-comprehensive samples below illustrate:
The difference is that Stan Kelly is an intentional parody of political cartoonists whereas Michael Ramirez became an unintentional parody of himself many years ago.
One irony of THIS cartoon is that any time someone actually proposes a change that could reduce government spending (such as de-funding the police forces costing taxpayers around $4 trillion a year) he actively shoots it down.
19 Likes
Abusive authoritarians never encountered a false dilemma they didn’t like.
11 Likes
24 Likes
[Citation Needed]
Or at least a timeline.
Police forces have been around for millennia
So are you talking about literally ancient history?
Because here in the US, the notion of a police force of some sort has been with us from the very beginning, and it’s not always a pretty story.
From a different place in the same Wikipedia article linked above
So, mostly to protect the right of the landowning class to also own other human beings.
I have trouble viewing cops in the US as being primarily interested in protecting the rights of the accused. If they are, they’re doing a damned poor job of it.
8 Likes
Recommended listening: “Behind the Police” podcast miniseries from IHeartRadio.
They break the history and the problems down really well and draw straight lines from how the origins of Western policing (particularly in the U.S.) brought us here.
10 Likes
You guys need more Martin Rowson or Steve Bell
Click through either link to see a selection of their recent work. Some UK-specific themes will need awareness of UK events/politics.
But here’s some on Trump…
The best British political cartoonists have always been vicious. Long may it continue.
9 Likes
Maybe he was thinking about Young Frankenstein.
EDIT: Oops, I see @Mike.71 beat me to it.
1 Like
Conservatives don’t read meanings, so for them, its cut and dry.
They don’t analyze meanings, so ironically, meaning is usually completely lost to them, from what I’ve seen
2 Likes
If they knew who Mary Shelley was, they wouldn’t even reference Frankenstein.
She was the daughter of a feminist and an anarchist, who married an anarchist. She’s not exactly conservative friendly.
25 Likes
In this metaphor, I can’t help but assume that the police are Doctor Frankenstein.
I haven’t regularly been exposed to political cartoons for years, but the ones I do see end up mostly being right-wing and seem to be increasingly crazy and incoherent. Seemed to start with Obama being president.
6 Likes
Yeah, I’m British and I agree. Every fortnightly issue of Private Eye has at least 30 more incisive, thoughtful cartoons than the best thing Branco has ever daubed.
(An aside - I once did some work with Matt from the Telegraph and he was LOVELY).
2 Likes
I realize that it’s sometimes a necessity, certain concepts just don’t have obvious pictorial representations; but it’s never a good sign when a political cartoon has to resort to just labeling the pictures in order to get the point across.
In this case, it seems particularly notable that the police officer isn’t labelled, apparently the reader is expected to have an unambiguous understanding of what those are and mean; while the Frankenstein’s monster has to be labelled because it would otherwise be totally baffling what it is supposed to represent. (Potentially because they didn’t think that they could get away with an, um, ‘urban’, thug).
With all due typographical apologies; let’s try it with a ham fisted label on both sides!
15 Likes
Oh, the cartoon is extremely racist. It’s a response to BLM and demands to defund or abolish policing, which means Frankenstein’s monster is a standin for the demands of black people. This couldn’t be more racist if the shirt said the N-word on it.
27 Likes
Completely agreed.
(And, BTW, ‘MD’ in Private Eye has been knocking it out of the park with his/her coverage of the UK govt’s hapless pandemic response.)
3 Likes
Standard. Trying to impute your only choice is between naziesque storm trooper policing and maniacs running wild in the streets.
And that title is a lie. NO cities anywhere have abolished any police forces and none have any measures in the works to abolish them.
This is stereotypical Republinazi bullshit. They have nothing to sell but fear and lies.
4 Likes
Translation: You, like Cheetolini, are pining for the ‘good old days’ when people could get away with taking the law in their own hands whenever they felt like it and lynching people for any reason they could come up with, rule of law, evidence, sense, rationality, and simple decency be damned.
2 Likes
“Liberal cities”???
You mean, like, pretty much all cities?
And by the way, shouldn’t those “liberal cities” be allowed to do what they want with their own police departments and their own city budgets? You know, “democracy.”
Why is it that conservatives only want to de-unionize and cut the salaries of public teachers?
13 Likes
