Thanksgiving

Political artists have been using the recent thanksgiving in order to promote images and use them towards relaying messages. These messages are portrayed through humor as well as simplistic messages. Using thanksgiving as a theme seems to reach to a wider audience, because almost everyone celebrates thanksgiving. It is a holiday for giving thanks and loving family, but is that always the case?

This image shows the family giving thanks and counting their blessings. Each person on the table is giving thanks in different ways; facebook, twitter, texts, etc. The words rhyme as the audience reads across the writing, which also enforces the meaning of the image. The older generation state that the modern technology cannot enforce the message of thanksgiving, which is very important for the image. Since these electronics keep us from the true meaning of the holiday. The image is shown with a family sitting around a home cooked meal on the table, each one of them except the older generation on some sort of electronic, showing the gap in technology with their age as well. The tones within the image are earthy, which also could reinforce the meaning of thanksgiving and giving blessings for all we have. The image is simply drawn, however there are details given to each figure. While this could make the image hard to relate to, it actually makes it easier to relate to. Because with a family being portrayed, that's all that's important to get the message across. 

This image relates Obamacare to an uncooked turkey, which has yet to thaw and yet is about to be cooked. The frozen turkey isn't prepared, but it's trying to be served to the people who came to thanksgiving, which could represent the country in general. This image simplifies Obama while giving him his significant features in order to ensure who he is. His expression is nervous, and he doesn't want the audience to know that he is lying. The turkey obviously needs more than a little time, and while it is de-thawing it is no where near complete. Incorporating the recent debate and enactment of Obamacare, and while it doesn't work, using the images within this cartoon is helpful when portraying the message. 

This cartoon uses color to portray its message. The chef, who is portrayed to represent Obama, is serving a shiny silver platter which looks as though it contains a big mean (labeled promises) when in actuality what is given is just a white bone (labeled reality) which is absolutely nothing than expected. Uncle Sam is the man who is being served. He has a disappointed expression on his face, which is easy to read even with the simplicity of the cartoon. It's also interesting that the wine glass looks as though there isn't actually wine in it, there is only water. Not serving wine in a wine glass also brings the message further forward, even though it is such a simple, small detail. This image seems to portray that there have been so many promises, but they have been left empty because while there is reality, really it isn't much. 

Using holidays within political cartoon allows for a new and different way to portray a message. These holidays happen every year, which makes using them as a theme even more interesting because they can be related to so many different modern circumstances. Every year something different happens politically, and using holidays that occur every year allows for a larger audience to be reached because the majority of them celebrate these holidays.