{"id":26075,"date":"2021-05-23T09:07:27","date_gmt":"2021-05-23T16:07:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=26075"},"modified":"2021-05-23T09:07:27","modified_gmt":"2021-05-23T16:07:27","slug":"cartoon-look-whos-oppressed-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/?p=26075","title":{"rendered":"Cartoon: Look Who’s Oppressed Now!"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I can do these cartoons because lots of people support me with small donations! Join our cult!<\/a><\/p>\n

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The first political cartoon I ever created <\/a>– and, arguably, the best one – had figures positioned symbolically on abstract block shapes. In the years since, I’ve returned <\/a>to that trope a few times, but not often, even though I like it a lot. This is the sort of direct visual symbolism that’s honestly less in my usual ballpark than dialog-based humor.<\/p>\n

The cartoon says “fifty years ago” – but even in the 1970s, there were already white men saying “we’re the oppressed ones now!” \u00a0It seems to be an eternal complaint. (Maybe in another fifty years?)<\/p>\n

This time around, the main storytelling problem for me, as a cartoonist, was how to make clear a relatively subtle difference in the height of the tallest pillar between two panels. I came up with having it tall enough so the top of his head is cut off in panel one – hopefully that’ll be enough to make readers catch the pillar having gotten marginally lower in panel two.<\/p>\n

I think it would work for me, if I were the reader. A lot of comics storytelling, for me, is doing a sort of role-playing exercise: “If I didn’t know anything about this cartoon, how would I read it?” I ask that question and – if I’m being good at my job – I identify parts of the cartoon that are unclear and find ways to fix those parts.<\/p>\n

I think that I’m usually pretty good at that – but trying to make the storytelling clearer is a bit of a neverending task. But it’s enjoyable – like doing a puzzle.<\/p>\n

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TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON<\/strong><\/p>\n

This cartoon has two panels. Each panel features a variety of people on abstract pillars of various heights – a Black woman, an Asian person in a wheelchair, a Latina woman, a gay male couple, and a couple more in the background who we can’t make out in any detail. On top of the central pillar, wearing a suit, is a prosperous-looking white man in a suit and tie. The well-off white guy’s pillar is significantly taller than any of the others.<\/p>\n

PANEL 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

A large caption at the top of the panel says “Fifty Years Ago.”<\/p>\n

The white man’s pillar is so tall that the top of his head is actually out of the panel. He’s cheerfully\/aggressively talking down to all the others, who variously look annoyed at him or are ignoring him.<\/p>\n

WHITE MAN: I don’t see what you’re all whining about.<\/p>\n

PANEL 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

A large caption at the top of the panel says “Today.”<\/p>\n

It’s the same scene, but now the wealthy white man’s pillar is shorter than it was in panel 1 – but still taller than anyone else’s pillar. The white man, now sad-looking, is weeping and screaming. The others look up at him with annoyance, except that one of the gay men is pointing and laughing at him.<\/p>\n

WHITE MAN: Look how I’ve fallen! Now I’M<\/strong><\/em> the oppressed one!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I can do these cartoons because lots of people support me with small donations! Join our cult! The first political cartoon I ever created – and, arguably, the best one – had figures positioned symbolically on abstract block shapes. In … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cartooning-comics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26075"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26075\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26077,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26075\/revisions\/26077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amptoons.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}