1. ACQUIRING THE KNOWLEDGE: brainstorm some words describing what you see.  Don’t try to interpret yet.
 
 
2. IDENTIFYING THE ISSUE: what is the TOPIC this cartoon deals with.  Again, you’re not trying to figure out what the artist’s message is yet, simply the main subject of the cartoon.
 
*****students really wanted to interpret here; define better the difference between the ‘issue’ and the artist’s message?
 
3. ANAYLYZING THE CARTOON ‘DEVICES’: find examples of as many of the devices, ie. use of caricature, analogy, words, signs/symbols, as you can, and identify what that device is trying to communicate.
 
4. IDENTIFYING THE BIASES OF THE ARTIST: bias = prejudice against, preference for; some possible biases to look out for are national/regional, political, religious, racial/ethnic, vocational, economic, gender, personal values, marital status.
 
 
5. INTERPRETING THE CARTOON: explain what message the artist is attempting to convey. Is this cartoon funny and/or effective?  Why or why not? 
 
 
 
CARTOON DEVICES
 
Artists use various methods of drawing and illustrating to get their message across, these are their ‘devices’.
 
Some devices that we will look at are:
A. caricature:
purpose – identification of people/places/events
devices – simplification, distortion, exaggeration
 
B. analogy:
purpose – creation of settings/situations for comparison
devices – historical, literary, cultural
 
C. words
purpose – commentary, explanation, revelation
devices – titles, captions, name tags, dialogue, balloons
 
D. signs/symbols
purpose – quick communication
devices – signs, symbols, stereotypes, size, shading
 
(adapted from The Art of Decoding Political Cartoons – A Teacher’s Guide, Charles and Cynthia Hon)