Satirical Elements In Political Cartoons

Satirical elements in political cartoons are used entirely to promote issues within parliament; whether it be highlighting vices, personal prejudice or contentious decisions which loom over our society. The cartoonist, David Pope, has used established fantasy characters from the franchise “Harry Potter,” in order to depict Malcolm Turnbull, Bill Shorten and Richard Di Natale as untrustworthy, immature and naïve children. Through the use of satirical devices including mockery and parody, captioning and sarcasm, and metaphor and symbolism, Pope has successfully positioned the audience to view our ministerial hierarchies critically, shattering their public façade of morality and respect and foregrounding their duplicitous nature.
The entirety of “The Defense against the Dark Arts Cartoon” represents mockery and parody as it makes fun of grand ideas which people have proposed and parodies the behavior of
For instance, the diction “I’m afraid being the chosen one will only get you so far,” is a great example of the lack of hopefulness being shown by the Australian public. Although he is seen as the current suitable option, Turnbull’s arrival is greatly disputed having already back flipped on certain promises which saw him gain power. In addition, sarcasm has also been applied to further suggest the lack of conviction being shown in our current prime minister. As seen in the cartoon, the expression “our new CE-LEB-RI-TY,” can be inferred to exhibit the fact that the change in power will awaken no substantial changes amongst Australians, having already seen 5 ministerial changes in as many years. Therefore, the elements of captioning and sarcasm clearly enhance Pope’s view of Malcolm Turnbull as untrustworthy and duplicitous, hence the pointless nature of his