The Role of Humor in the Construction of Satire in Nigerian Political Cartoons
Journal Title: Online Journal of Communication and Media Technologies - Year 2012, Vol 2, Issue 3
Abstract
Abstract The communicative functions of humor and its visual power have made political cartoons an interesting research field across academic disciplines. The first decade of the Millennium has witnessed a considerable research on editorial cartoons. This increasing research demonstrates that editorial cartoons have successfully constituted a genuine genre within media discourse. Cartoons are used to express opinions, construct valuable arguments and provide specific knowledge on contemporary social issues. The goal of the genre is to provide political commentary, address crucial issues and criticize political leaders and their contemptible practices in an artful fashion. In a nutshell, the genre serves as a medium of political reporting articulating a particular message from a particular point of view using language as its prime tool. Given their contents mostly expressed through visual illustrations, political cartoons are best understood through investigation of incorporated visual rhetoric. This paper aims at unfolding the nature and function of humor in Nigerian political cartoons using theoretical perspectives of humor as method of analysis. To this end, content analysis was used to sort out contents of the cartoons. 35 cartoons texts were extracted from the two most prominent Nigerian newspapers namely: Vanguard and Daily Trust. The findings indicated that cartoonists use humor in Nigerian political cartoons to relive audiences of stressful situations and persuade them towards making opinion on contemporary issues in society. More specifically, Nigerian cartoonists manipulate aggressive and affliative humor styles purposely to construct criticisms pointed to political leaders and comment on current socio-political issues of the moment in order to initiate social and political reforms.
Authors and Affiliations
Sani, I| Department of English, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communications, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia, Abdullah, M. H| Department of English, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communications, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia, Ali, A. M| Department of English, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communications, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia, Abdullah, F. S| Department of English, Faculty of Modern Languages and Communications, University Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Malaysia
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP9913
- DOI -
- Views 403
- Downloads 18
Emotions in the Ether: Strategies for Effective Emotional Expression in Text-Messages
t This essay offers an exploration of the practice of emotional expression in text-messages, and gives recommendations concerning how best to signify emotion when communicating with text-messages. Emotions can be show...
The Digital Communications Revolution
Abstract We are living at the crest of a communications revolution. Digital communications and computers are having a tremendous impact on the world today. This article studies different aspects of communication systems...
The Role of Information Technology in Media Industry A Waseem Khattak
Abstract At the dawn of a new era, vast expansion of human communication is profoundly influencing culture everywhere. Revolutionary technological changes are only part of what is happening, which is unifying humanity a...
The Dysfunctional and Functional Effect of Celebrity Endorsement on Brand Patronage
The ever increasing brand multiplicity and competition on the market of goods and services have dictated the pace of growth in the usage of celebrity endorsement across the globe. The use of celebrity endorsement has be...
Information Graphics Design Challenges and Workflow Management
Infographics, though still in its infancy in the digital world, may offer an opportunity for media companies to enhance their business processes and value creation activities. This paper describes research about the in...