Covid-Related Issues Visual Representation in British and American Cartoons

Abstract

The article explores British and American editorial cartoons covering the topic of Covid-19. The material for analysis consists of 100 cartoons used as illustrations to the articles of the British newspaper The Guardian and 100 cartoons published by the newspaper US Today in 2020–2021. The purpose of the research is to carry out a contrastive analysis of sample cartoons viewed as multimodal texts that employ the same language but are set in different cultures. Cartoonists present the reality in a condensed form drawing on the images that are common for a specific social and cultural setting. The employment of Functional Discourse analysis reveals that American cartoons do not only serve a satirical purpose, but also create a positive image of authorities responsible for vaccination, while their British colleagues make cartoons that aim to criticize. The examination of linguistic and pictorial signs incorporated in the cartoons from the stylistic perspective shows that British cartoonists enjoy more freedom and depict politicians in an unflattering light using stylistically degraded items, while American cartoonists avoid being edgy both verbally and visually. Drawing on the framework of Systemic Functional Critical Discourse analysis the research examines the interrelation of verbal, iconic, graphical and colour modes that contributes to meaning making. The analysis of visual metaphors traces links to pre-existing texts. Both American and British cartoonists shape their messages drawing on mostly culture specific intertextual elements. To cover Covid-related issues British cartoonists sometimes resort to the elements of world artistic culture.

Keywords

• cartoon
• satire
• visual metaphor
• multimodality
• intertextuality