French cartoonist Jean Plantureux (professional name "Plantu") describes the cartoons and drawings that appear in the world's media as "a means of instant expression and direct communication" that allows public messages of tolerance and peace to spread across different cultures.
Plantu and eleven other cartoonists are the prime movers behind the Cartooning for Peace Foundation, which since 2006 has held exhibitions and public meetings in locations such as New York, Geneva, Paris, Atlanta and Rome.
A recent show in Wellington, New Zealand, covered a range of social and political topics. For example, Hengkim Song of China (Heng) drew a huge biofuel-powered car, splashing mud in the faces of an impoverished family. Stereotypes of Israeli and Arab figures created by Guy Keverne Body (Body) of New Zealand, stand thwacking each other with sticks, on a diamond-shaped chunk of the remaining Earth, "some time after the sun explodes".
One of Plantu's own contributions is a conveyor belt presided over by a Saddam Hussein figure, churning out ("hypothetical") chemical weapons; and below it a similar factory setting, with a portrayal of George Bush manufacturing ("non-hypothetical") Osama bin Laden clones.
Media Freedom and Promoting Dialogue
The range of subjects covered by cartooning is one of its strengths. Like other forms of media commentary, some drawings of this nature encourage people to take an interest in issues outside their immediate communities or particular daily life issues. Cartoons tend to be more accessible than written editorial comment and not to rely, as the Wellington exhibition notes point out, on knowledge of a particular language.
Cultural And Educational Value of Cartooning
In addition, an interested person willing to do a bit of research can find cartoons a rich source of information about a country's history and values. The New Zealand Cartoon Archive is an example of a researchable collection, in this case in the order of 25,000 cartoons drawn between the 1860s and the present, representing "New Zealand life in general and how New Zealanders see the world".
Grant Buist's "diary" of Wellington city Jitterati, which satirizes the cafe and arts-oriented culture of young intellectuals, was recently inducted into the Archive, in an acknowledgement of its fresh approach to social history (Capital Times Vol.34, No.4).
The Cartoon Audience
An issue that arises is whether political and social cartoons are less effective as an instrument for promoting peace and harmony because they may "preach to the converted".
A cartooning genre quite different from that of Cartooning for Peace artists could be graphic novels such as The American Way (J. Ridley, G. Jeanty and K. Story. La Jolla: Wildstorm 2007). Laden with superheros and conspiracy theory, the magazine-length cartoon explores (although with a satirical edge) the question: "How far will America go to protect its dream of a better tomorrow?" Such a publication would likely have a significantly different audience than people who seek out cartoons on editorial pages in the daily media.
Another example is the drawings that are incorporated into military patches and iconography. Trevor Paglen portrays many such images, collected from "black" or classified American military programmes, in his book I Could Tell You But Then You Would Have To Be Destroyed By Me (Brooklyn: Melville House, 2007). Many of the cartoon images on these patches are richly ironic. For example, "A lifetime of silence behind the Green Door" (which references a popular novel, hit song and a pornographic film) poignantly conveys the message that secrecy barriers may keep the masses out, but they can restrict the lives of those inside.
Giving a Voice to the "Common Man"
Ian Grant, chairman of the Guardians of New Zealand Cartoon Archive and quoted on the Archive website, considers that media cartoons do serve a valuable function for otherwise unheard parts of society. "Cartoons provide a street level view of the world, not a high-rise bureaucratic perspective, or a corridors of power slant, or even an ivory tower, academic assessment," he comments. It may be that this base-level appeal is the foundation for cartoons contributing to understanding across cultures.
