Monday, January 19, 2015

Cartooning During the First World War

     Cartoons are often thought of as a way to keep the children quiet in the afternoon when it’s naptime for mom and dad. They often depict imaginative worlds or ideals, which could never be true. However, cartoons originated as a way to express one’s opinion without using words and they often featured some of the world’s most well known leaders; and most undesired. Cartoons were mostly satirical and humorous, but not to the person who was the center of the joke.

Satirical Cartoon of the beginning of WWI
     These types of cartoons boomed during the wakening of World War I. A person must understand that cameras were not as popular during WWI and most people did not own one. If a person did own one, it was not very user friendly or very portable. Photos of the actual war were also very graphic and seen as distasteful and grotesque. Cartoons were seen as a way for people to get their minds off of the actuality of the war. Cartoons became a way for others to express exaggerated discontent of the world leaders. In some nations, certain news pamphlets were censored, but not that many satirical comic newsletters were.

French Patriotic Cartoon
German appeal to emotions cartoon
     There were many purposes and uses for this style of cartooning during World War I. Europe, of course, was the place where the war was actually happening; which was a reality that Americans did not have to face. Therefore, Europeans not only use cartoons to poke fun at opposing leaders, they used cartoons in many other ways. Germany and Austria-Hungary had the two world leaders were the favorites to caricature. Making cartoons of these two made citizens in France, Britain, and Russia feel more at an advantage than Germany and Austria-Hungary simply because of the cartoon, which took their minds off of the war at hand. Cartoons also served as a means of making a statement. Satirical cartoons were pretty well done and got the point across to the audience without using very many words. They could also be used to encourage the population that viewed the cartoons. There were often very nationalist cartoons drawn for the intent of building the imagined sense of national pride. Not only were cartoons satirical, but they were also made to express emotion. Though cartoons are only caricatures or exaggerated, drawn images, there is a sense of emotion that one can get from them, especially during the WWI time frame. Of course, husbands and sons were off at war so cartoons depicting a dramatic scene could appeal to a wife or mother with very much emotion.


     World War I also brought in the era of comic strips and other cartooning. Comic book magazines became popular and allowed for the ushering in of super hero characters that are still well known to this day. Cartoonists became very valued in society and also became extremely wealthy after the war. Propaganda began to be produced in a cartoon style and making fun of the opposition became the norm for the rest of the century. Therefore, cartoons should be valued much more than what they actually are. If a cartoon is well done and well read, it should relay a message to the reader that is not imaginative or complete non-sense.