Cartoon Analysis
World Environment Day
A satirical cartoon is an illustration or comic strip that is created to ridicule others, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, government or society itself into improvement. Its superior purpose is often constructive social criticism to draw attention to both specific and greater complications in society. Phil Somerville’s cartoon “World Environment Day” published in 2008, advocates a criticism towards ordinary citizens who don’t necessarily care for their local environment. Yet, they make token efforts or publicly proclaim their concern for the world. This then implies that the general public believe they´re saving planet Earth when really minimal action is being done and society is disregarding the pollution. Somerville has chosen to highlight his message through the use of hyperbole, irony, stereotype and visual symbols. The cartoonist aims to achieve an emotional response from the audience, to make the target feel guilty of their lack of efforts towards World Environment Day.
Language features that have been used to convey the message of the cartoon and create an audience response include hyperbole and irony. Somerville has chosen hyperbole to convey his message by exaggerating the amount of pollution and litter framed by the window to make it seem more important and dramatic, creating a shocking and contrasting impression. Through the window you can see the pollution, rubbish, a factory spitting out smoke, broken sewerage pipes, an airliner, heavy traffic and a poison symbol. This encourages the reader to feel shocked and worried about how much pollution there really is in their local environment. Irony was also used to convey this message through situational and dramatic irony. World Environment Day was a day created specifically to raise global awareness and taking positive environmental actions to protect nature and planet earth. An expectation of this would be to find society come together and acting positively to
A satirical cartoon is an illustration or comic strip that is created to ridicule others, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, government or society itself into improvement. Its superior purpose is often constructive social criticism to draw attention to both specific and greater complications in society. Phil Somerville’s cartoon “World Environment Day” published in 2008, advocates a criticism towards ordinary citizens who don’t necessarily care for their local environment. Yet, they make token efforts or publicly proclaim their concern for the world. This then implies that the general public believe they´re saving planet Earth when really minimal action is being done and society is disregarding the pollution. Somerville has chosen to highlight his message through the use of hyperbole, irony, stereotype and visual symbols. The cartoonist aims to achieve an emotional response from the audience, to make the target feel guilty of their lack of efforts towards World Environment Day.
Language features that have been used to convey the message of the cartoon and create an audience response include hyperbole and irony. Somerville has chosen hyperbole to convey his message by exaggerating the amount of pollution and litter framed by the window to make it seem more important and dramatic, creating a shocking and contrasting impression. Through the window you can see the pollution, rubbish, a factory spitting out smoke, broken sewerage pipes, an airliner, heavy traffic and a poison symbol. This encourages the reader to feel shocked and worried about how much pollution there really is in their local environment. Irony was also used to convey this message through situational and dramatic irony. World Environment Day was a day created specifically to raise global awareness and taking positive environmental actions to protect nature and planet earth. An expectation of this would be to find society come together and acting positively to