Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Dizzy Thinks: Obama's Victory To Kill Jerk Cartooning?



Dizzy poses a question. Will Obama's election spell the end of the knee jerk caricature. Using the above Bush Whack as illustration. Might be interesting, but in my view it is unlikely to arise.

Caricatures have to bear some relation to a recognisable norm for their subject. Bush does goofy faces and stupid ALL THE TIME. So he gets chimpified. Barry O'Bama does not do goofy faces and he most certainly does not do stupid. So he will not be aped in this way. If he did do goofy and stupid then Dizzy probably would perhaps have a point. But he doesn't.


If I had to guess I'd go for the sidekick Iceman-alike Frozone in The Incredibles (above, with spooky date line) as the most likely model going forward. And perhaps if the going gets tough a Major-esque critique along the lines of greyness, particularly as his hair has become 'experienced' overnight. Here's a taste of what Wallruss at the Black SuperHero Blog has to say about Frozone:

Shooting ice from your fingertips is not a bad power. His character is married and he appears to be faithful except for moonlighting as a superhero. In fact his wife knows about his abilites and alter ego. The hero is clearly Black in look, voice, and attitude but also very non-threatening which enables him to appeal to all ages and people. He was number one on the list of Black Voices dubious list of the Top 25 Black Superheroes.

Interesting, huh? And as I root around for material for this post I find this from May! With this illustration:



The Black Super hero Blog makes an interesting read and Korey at Spill! has a related Vlog entry:


Find more videos like this on The Spill.com Movie Community


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Obhama ran a good campaign and appears to have inspired a lot of people.
i feel that he may not be able to deliver much for the section of the american electorate who voted for change.
he may disapoint

Chris Paul said...

Don't think he has it in him to do that BHT. "Yes We Can!" - but not "Perfection This Day!". It will take time. And Barry will of course continue to manage expectations. As he said it may not be one year, or one term, but we can do it.

Brilliant stuff.

Anonymous said...

Obama ... The boy did good.

Found this on Digg a few days ago, possibly one of the last great cartoons of Dubya ?

Link