Political cartoons represent a traditional medium of discourse often shared in newspapers and capable of shaping media perceptions. The article by Manel Mefteh from University of Sfax, Tunisia, analyzed political cartoons depicting Trump’s first month as the 47th president of the United States – meaning his second term.
Cognitive linguistic framework has been used in many studies to analyze this multimodal, metaphor-rich domain of communication. This study then asked the following questions:
1. How is Donald Trump metaphorically represented through multimodal elements in political cartoons?
2. What types of multimodal metaphors are most frequently used to construct Trump’s persona and political narrative?
3. How do these metaphors reflect or reinforce specific socio-political evaluations or ideological stances?
The data for the study came from 25 political cartoons from various cartoonists from different regions, representing diverse viewpoints. They were analyzed qualitatively, focusing on the socio-political context and their multimodal metaphors.
Several themes emerged: Trump as a child metaphor (with Elon Musk as the “father” for example), Trump as an animal metaphor (with Putin as the trainer, for example), Trump as a marital partner (invariably with Putin as the spouse), and Trump as a puppet (with either Musk or Putin as the puppet master).
The use of these metaphors aligned with the communicative goals and intentions of the genre: serving to attack, criticize, evaluate, and to express political opinions. The chosen portrayals sought to portray Trump as incompetent, and the choice of metaphors was not random; it reflected broader cognitive mechanisms.
In conclusion, the metaphors conveyed irresponsibility and sometimes crossed to aggravated insults. They represented rhetorical strategies that attempt to shape public perceptions and political discourse. The research contributed to the understanding of visual communication.
The article “Trump’s first month through the eyes of political cartoonists” by Manel Mefteh is in Media International Australia. (Free abstract).
Picture:”Came across these kitschy babushka made for the Trump visit to Russia.” by Jørgen Håland.
License Unsplash.
