Customer Reviews

Political Cartoons in the 1988 Presidential Campaign: Image, Metaphor, and Narrative (Studies in American Popular History and Culture)

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I may be the only person to review this unusual academic text, since the subject is not to everyone's taste. But for anyone in journalism, communication, or sociology, this little book is a delight. The study proposes to show that political cartoons can be viewed as narrative; it applies the tools of language study to that end. It shows specifically how narrative about the candidates' characters predominated the 1988 presidential campaign, through satire and parody in visual form. It also points out the uniqueness of the political cartoon as a means of communication--it is humor, but it goes beyond humor, even to the point where humor is not the prime element. It is not text, yet it presents messages as narrative. The book is a delicious examination of the complexity of the political cartoon as a dialogue with the reader. At the price, however, it is only for the truly dedicated researcher or journalist.