Grasping political cartoons? Not an easy matter
VIEW FULL TEXT HERE

Keywords

Keywords
Humour
political cartoons
incongruity
visual incongruity
visual metaphor
visual metonymy
parody.

How to Cite

Genova, D. I. (2018). Grasping political cartoons? Not an easy matter. The European Journal of Humour Research, 6(1), 85–99. https://doi.org/10.7592/EJHR2018.6.1.genova

Abstract

The article focuses on the interpretation of political cartoons and the means of expression a cartoonist uses to convey a message: visual metaphors, visual metonymies as well as metaphors inferred from the image and/or text. The metaphors and visual metonymies in the cartoons are analyzed from the point of view of Conceptual Metaphor and Metonymy Theory. In the analysis, visual and inferential metaphors are viewed as incongruities; there are also incongruities as a result of the interaction between image, title and/or caption. Political cartoons can have more than one focal (visual) incongruity that enables the introduction of a Logical Mechanism from the General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH) to (partially) resolve the incongruity/ies. Visual metonymies and images can also function as enablers of a Logical Mechanism. Image and/or text can contrast with or reinforce a Logical Mechanism. Additionally, visual metaphors and metonymies function as contextualization indexes in the interpretation of the cartoons. Humour is the means to get the cartoonist’s message across to the viewer/reader and not an end in itself.
https://doi.org/10.7592/EJHR2018.6.1.genova
VIEW FULL TEXT HERE

References

Attardo, S. (1997). ‘The semantic foundations of the cognitive theories of humor’. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 10 (4), pp. 395-420.

Attardo, S. (2001). Humorous Texts: A Semantic and Pragmatic Analysis. Berlin, New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Attardo, S. & Raskin, V. (1991). ‘Script theory revis(it)ed: Joke similarity and joke representation model’. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 4 (3-4), pp. 223-347.

Attardo, S., Hempelmann, Ch. F. & Maio, S. (2002). ‘Script oppositions and logical mechanisms: Modeling incongruities and their resolutions’. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 15 (1), pp. 3-46.

Cagle, D. & Fairrington, B. (eds.). (2007). The Best Political Cartoons of the Year 2007. Cagle Cartoons, Inc.

Carston, R. & Wearing, C. (2015). ‘Hyperbolic language and its relation to metaphor and irony’. Journal of Pragmatics 79, pp. 79-92.

Chambers, R. (2010). Parody: The Art that Plays with Art. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.

El Refaie, E. (2003). ‘Understanding visual metaphor: the example of newspaper cartoons’. Visual Communication 2, pp. 75–95.

El Refaie, E. (2014). ‘Reconsidering ‘image metaphor’ in the light of perceptual simulation theory’. Metaphor and Symbol 30 (1), pp. 63-76.

Forceville, Ch. (2002). ‘The identification of target and source in pictorial metaphors’. Journal of Pragmatics 34, pp. 1–14.

Genova, D. (2011). Studying Humour Seriously. Veliko Turnovo: Faber.

Gombrich, E. H. (1971). ‘The cartoonist’s armoury’, in Gombrich, E. H. Meditations on a Hobby Horse and Other Essays on the Theory of Art, London: Phaidon, pp. 127-142.

Grady, Ch. L., McIntosh, A. R., Rajah, N. & Craik, F. I. M. (1998). ‘Neural correlates of the episodic encoding of pictures and words’. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 25, pp. 2703-2708.

Hempelmann, Ch. F. & Sampson, A. C. (2008). ‘Cartoons: Drawn jokes?’, in Raskin, V. (ed.). The Primer of Humor Research, Mouton de Gruyter, pp. 609-640.

Hempelmann, Ch. F. & Attardo, S. (2011). ‘Resolutions and their incongruities: Further thoughts on Logical Mechanisms’. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 24 (2), pp. 125-149.

Kennedy, J. M., Green, Ch. D. & Vervaeke, J. (1993). ‘Metaphoric thought and devices in pictures’. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity 8 (3), pp. 243-255.

Kittay, E. (1990). Metaphor: Its Cognitive Force and Linguistic Structure. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kuipers, G. (2006). Good Humour, Bad Joke: A Sociology of the Joke. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors We Live By. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Lakoff, G. (1987). Women, Fire and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal about the Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

McGhee, P., Ruch, W. & Hehl, F. (1990). ‘A personality-based model of humor development during adulthood’. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 3, pp. 119-146.

Nilsen, A. P. & Nilsen, D. L. F. (2000). Encyclopedia of 20th Century American Humor. Phoenix, Arizona: Oryx Press.

Oring, E. (2003). Engaging Humor. Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press.

Samson, A. C. & Huber, O. (2007). ‘The interaction of cartoonist’s gender and formal features of cartoons’. Humor: International Journal of Humor Research 20, pp. 1–25.

Schwoebel, J., Dews, Sh., Winner, E. & Srinivas, K. (2007). ‘Obligatory processing of the literal meaning of ironic utterances: Further evidence’, in Gibbs, R. W. & Colston, H. L. (eds.), Irony in Language and Thought: A cognitive science reader, London: Routledge, pp. 253-268.

Shultz, Th. R. (1976). ‘A cognitive-developmental analysis of humour’, in Chapman, A. J. & Foot, H. (eds.) Humour and Laughter: Theory, research and applications, London and New York: John Wiley and Sons, pp. 11-36.

Steen, G. (2007). Finding Metaphor in Grammar and Usage: A Methodological Analysis of Theory and Research. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company.

Suls, J. M. (1972). ‘A two-stage model for the appreciation of jokes and cartoons’, in Goldstein, J. H. &, McGhee, P. E. (eds.) The Psychology of Humour, New York: Academic Press, pp. 41-45.

Suls, J. M. (1983). ‘Cognitive processes in humour appreciation’, in McGhee, P. E. & Goldstein, J. H. (eds.) Handbook of Humour Research. New York: Academic Press, pp. 39-57.

Tsakona, V. (2009). ‘Language and image interaction in cartoons: Towards a multimodal theory of humor’. Journal of Pragmatics 41, pp. 1171-1188.

All authors agree to an Attribution Non-Commercial Non Derivative Creative Commons License on their work.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.