M. Zarifian
UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD BY MEANS OF CARTOONS IN MODERN MEDIA SPACE
Abstract. The topic of this study is inspired by my own personal skill in drawing cartoons, my professional experience as a cartoonist and journalist, and a profound long-term interest in exploring the communication capabilities of cartooning. In a nutshell, this article looks at how cartoons evolved as a Western branch of fine art from the stage of an artistic endeavor to achieve a deeper visual language to the deployment of cartoon capabilities with the goal of “public awareness” and as a means of visual protest during the Protestant Reformation in the early sixteenth century. From the Renaissance to the creation of the printing press, this evolution entered a new phase, focusing on the characteristics of political action. Stemming from the point that the main place and prosperous point of cartoons is in the
press, the roles and functions of editorial cartoons have been analyzed. The objective is to come up with a suitable response to the topic of why cartoons are such excellent communication vehicles. This paper tries to explain how cartoonists, as excellent communicators, continually use written and visual means among the four basic modes of communication: verbal, nonverbal, written, and visual. Following that, it will be explained how cartoons will work very efficiently when you need to convey complicated and sensitive messages or need the participation of people. According to the findings of this study, cartoons are the outcome of human beings’ careful observation, which broadens our awareness of current human beings’ predicament in the new media landscape.
Keywords: cartoon, communication, caricature, journalism, editorial cartoon, political Cartoon, Mass Media.