Abstract:
This report contributes to the analysis of the visual language of the political cartoon by
comparing the work of the South African cartoonist Zapiro and the American cartoonist
Michael Ramirez since September 2001. The central topics investigated are the subjects’
contrasting approaches to the task of satirising incumbent domestic and foreign political
leaders, their treatment of paradox and ambiguity in subject matter, and the relationships
between iconographic and iconoclastic satirical modes in their work. The subjects’ technical
approaches to caricature are compared, with particular reference to their drawings of Thabo
Mbeki and George W. Bush, and their respective approaches to obituary cartoons are
contrasted. The main conclusion of the report is that Zapiro’s willingness and ability to
dramatise and accommodate conflicting historical narratives in his cartoons, and his capacity
to comment on the act of cartooned satire itself, are important reasons why he exploits and
expands the potential of the form to a greater degree than Ramirez does.
