Making a Visual Argument: Cartoons

You may never have stopped to consider it, but producing an effective cartoon requires an interesting and complex set of skills. Cartoonists have a limited amount of space to convey their argument; the ones represented here use no more than two frames. The message has to be pithy — much like a tweet — but it has to combine words with one or more images. The words, of course, may take the form of a caption, or they may be part of the image. The images have multiple functions: they have to capture the reader’s attention, but they must also thrust the reader into a story, one that unfolds almost instantaneously. Cartoons likewise have to rely on the two-edged sword of humor — always risky — to make their point. In this regard, even simple cartoons represent sophisticated visual rhetoric that merits careful examination. As you consider the three cartoons in this selection, all of which examine the themes of privacy and surveillance in the electronic age, use your rhetorical skills to analyze how each of the cartoonists manages to pack what is often an implied but powerful argument into such a small package.