Political Cartoon Analysis

Khaled Khaled Morsi’s Unfairness What is the most attractive thing you can find in a newspaper? I guess your answer might be the political cartoon in the last page! Lots of people find that the most interesting and eye-catching part of a newspaper is the political cartoon which sums up all the words in a simple picture which might give more than a whole article would. ?according to Jonathan Burack “Political cartoons are vivid primary sources that offer intriguing and entertaining insights into the public mood, the underlying cultural assumptions of an age, and attitudes toward key events or trends of the times”(Lawate,2).

Never has this quote been more true than it is today in Egypt for the wealth of visual rhetoric there is so much out there because the situation in Egypt has so much to comment on whether it is politically, socially, or economically. Through the use of pathos and persuasive techniques such as irony as exaggeration , the cartoonist, Latuff, is trying to point out the indifference of the Egyptian president towards his country while he is giving more care to Palestine . since the start of Morsi’s reign, he has been criticized for trying to help Palestine rather than focusing on the problems of his country. Lawate, Importance of a political cartoon in a newspaper,2) The cartoon has an interesting visual, two main characters; one is filling up a police car and the other is trying to fill up an ambulance. The objects I see in the cartoon are two characters in a gas station, one with a police car and the other with an ambulance. They are both refueling their cars but the ambulance man found out that the machine he is using is broken and unavailable. And above the fueling machine there is the currency sign they are using which is the dollar sign.

The character that is fueling the police car is the president of Egypt and is wearing a suit with colors matching the colors of the Palestinian flag. As an Egyptian, it’s difficult not to get emotionally involved with the cartoon where we see an indifferent president and a helpless ambulance guy. The cartoonist uses emotional appeal to shed light on the current situation here in Egypt. The president in the cartoon is fueling his police car while he is humming and singing and has one hand in his pocket while behind his back is the ambulance man with his truck who can’t find any fuel to fill it up with because the machine is broken.

This shows that the president supports the police that defend him more than he cares about the health of his people. Another clear message that makes one involved emotionally with the cartoon is the fact is the president of Egypt is wearing a suit representing the Palestinian flag which clearly shows that he supports them and fueling the police car to go and help the other country rather than attend to his country’s problems. Since the start of Morsi’s reign, all he cares about is Palestine and trying to aid and lending hands to them which isn’t something bad but to do that he must first meet all the problems that his country is facing.

What is really recognizable in the cartoon is the dollar sign ($) on top of the fuel machine which shows that the currency the president is going to pay the fuel with is a foreign currency rather than the Egyptian pound and by that, he is not trying to help his country’s finance and economy to grow. In addition to the emotional appeal, Latuff is trying to use irony to make his point. The two characters in the cartoon are so close but the president is turning his back to the problems while he is also singing although he should be concerned about the country.

The president must give attention to the medical treatments and hospitals and help by subsidizing the country with resources that would save his citizens from dying and that he must but Palestine aside until he can solve the consequences that his country is facing. He also should start use the country’s currency rather than foreign currency to raise his economy because Egypt is facing a an economic drop . As the quote says “a picture is worth a thousand words”. A picture can give lots of messages to the audience as we have here in this cartoon, one can understand lots of thing from it just by looking at and without reading the article.

Simplicity sometimes is what people look for and is a better way to get into people’s brain. outline Lots of people find that the most interesting and attractive part of a newspaper is the political cartoon which sums up all the words in a simple picture which might give more than a whole article would. Latuff here in this cartoon is showing the uncaring of the president to the country. i. Introduction: -attractions of a political cartoon ii. The use of symbols: -the suit -gas station -the 2 trucks iii. Behind the scenes and the irony: -fueling of the trucks uncaring of the president iv. Conclusion: -main message of Latuff’s cartoon process memo The changes I did in my second draft are first, I added a quote and a citation to the introduction to make it better and longer, then I edited the grammar and spelling mistakes. At last, I checked the comments that my peer partner did for me and edited the essay and made it better . Works cited Latuff. “Egypt’s doctors strike for better wages,” October 2, 2012 http://latuffcartoons. wordpress. com/tag/mohammed-morsi/ http://repository. christuniversity. in/1717/1/1024026_meghana_lawate. pdf