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Original Paper
DOI: 10.29025/2079-6021-2021-3-131-142
Teматтчecктй выпуак ЮАИМОДЕЙСТШЕ ЬЗЫКОТ И КУЛЬТУР: ТРАДИЦИИ И ИННО!АЦИИ
Thematic issue LANGUAGES AND CULTURES IN CONTACT: TRADITIONS AND INNOVATIONS
http://philjournal.ru 2021 No 3 131-1-42
Covid-Related Issues Visual Representation in British and American Cartoons
Svetlana Yu. Pavlina
Linguistics University of Nizhny Novgorod;
31a Minin Str., Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Federation, 603155; ORCID ID: 0000-0002-8304-795X; Researcher ID: AAS-6556-2021
Abstract: The article explores British and American editorial cartoons covering the topic of Covid-19. The material for analysis consists of 100 cartoons used as illustrations to the articles of the British newspaper The Guardian and 100 cartoons published by the newspaper US Today in 2020-2021. The purpose of the research is to carry out a contrastive analysis of sample cartoons viewed as multimodal texts that employ the same language but are set in different cultures. Cartoonists present the reality in a condensed form drawing on the images that are common for a specific social and cultural setting. The employment of Functional Discourse analysis reveals that American cartoons do not only serve a satirical purpose, but also create a positive image of authorities responsible for vaccination, while their British colleagues make cartoons that aim to criticize. The examination of linguistic and pictorial signs incorporated in the cartoons from the stylistic perspective shows that British cartoonists enjoy more freedom and depict politicians in an unflattering light using stylistically degraded items, while American cartoonists avoid being edgy both verbally and visually. Drawing on the framework of Systemic Functional Critical Discourse analysis the research examines the interrelation of verbal, iconic, graphical and colour modes that contributes to meaning making. The analysis of visual metaphors traces links to pre-existing texts. Both American and British cartoonists shape their messages drawing on mostly culture specific intertextual elements. To cover Covid-related issues British cartoonists sometimes resort to the elements of world artistic culture.
Keywords: Cartoon, satire, visual metaphor, multimodality, intertextuality.
For citation: Pavlina S.Yu. Covid-Related Issues Visual Representation in British and American Cartoons.
Current Issues in Philology and Pedagogical Linguistics. 2021, no 3, pp. 131-142 (In Engl.).
* ©Павлина С.Ю., 2021.
ф I This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ¿^^■ESI^H https://creativecommons. org/licenses/by/4.0/
Оригинальная статья УДК 811.111'373:32
DOI: 10.29025/2079-6021-2021-3-131-142
Визуальная репрезентация проблем, вызванных коронавирусом, в британских и американских карикатурах
С.Ю. Павлина
Нижегородский государственный лингвистический университет им. Н.А. Добролюбова;
603105, Нижний Новгород, Российская Федерация, ул. Минина, 31а; ORCID ID: 0000-0002-8304-795X; Researcher ID: AAS-6556-2021
Резюме: Статья посвящена сопоставительному анализу британских и американских политических карикатур, освещающих тему борьбы с коронавирусом. Материалом послужили 100 карикатур, опубликованных в британской газете The Guardian, и 100 карикатур, размещенных на сайте американской газеты US Today в 2020-2021 гг. Целью является сопоставление карикатур выборки, они рассматриваются как поликодовые тексты, которые используют один язык, но соотносятся с разными культурами. Карикатуры представляют реальность в концентрированной форме, используя образы, которые встроены в определенный социальный и культурный ландшафт. Применение функционального дискурсивного анализа позволяет установить, что американские карикатуры не только служат средством сатиры, но и создают положительный образ представителей власти, отвечающих за вакцинацию, в то время как британские карикатуры носят исключительно критический характер. Стилистический анализ вербальных и изобразительных знаков, включенных в канву карикатуры, дает основание утверждать, что британские карикатуристы обладают большей творческой свободой, позволяющей изображать политиков в невыгодном свете, в то время как их американские коллеги стремятся не применять жесткую критику, выраженную как вербально, так и визуально. Основываясь на принципе системного функционального критического дискурсивного анализа, в исследовании рассматривается взаимодействие вербального, иконического, графического, цветового кодов, участвующих в создании авторского посыла. Анализ визуальных метафор позволяет установить связи с прецедентными текстами. Как британские, так и американские карикатуристы, как правило, обращаются к культурно специфичным интертекстуальным элементам. В то же самое время британские карикатуристы иногда используют источники, являющиеся элементами мировой художественной культуры.
Ключевые слова: карикатура, сатира, визуальная метафора, поликодовость, интертекстуальность.
Для цитирования: Павлина С.Ю. Визуальная репрезентация проблем, вызванных коронавирусом, в британских и американских карикатурах. Актуальные проблемы филологии и педагогической лингвистики. 2021. №3. С. 131-142.
Introduction
In recent decades the role of images in public culture has increased dramatically. It also concerns visual political communication that encompasses campaign advertisements and political cartoons among others. Political cartoons, which have been in use for more than a century, are humorous or satirical illustrations to newspaper articles, whose purpose is to address topical social issues, mobilizing the public opinion. A well-crafted cartoon attracts the addressees' attention using the original visual design and witty punch lines. It covers socially relevant topics, increasing the audience's awareness of the current situation. The visual representation of reality is achieved by the employment of grotesque, allusion, metaphor and pun, which appeal to the viewers' imagination and affect their perception of reality. They are the forms of creative expression that project the cartoonist's perspective and elicit the desired response from the recipients.
Since political cartoons are expected to be understood by a large audience, they draw upon the concepts and images that are easily recognizable and decipherable by people belonging to a certain culture. That is why it is possible to assume that they serve as mirrors of culture. Unlike newspaper articles, cartoons do not interpret current events directly; they build visual metaphors establishing intertextual links with basic culture codes. This aspect was examined in regard to different languages and cultures [1; 2]. However, the contrastive analysis of cartoons, which employ different variants of one language and are set in different cultures, has not been accomplished yet.
The present study aims at unveiling similarities and differences between the visual representation of one specific segment of reality in British and American visual political communication. To this end a contrastive study of Covid-19 cartoons grounded in respective cultures has been carried out. The topic of coronavirus dominated the 2020-2021 mass media agenda, harvesting a great number of facts and presenting their interpretations, cartoons being one means of opinion shaping among others.
The study addresses the following research questions:
1. What are the similarities and differences between British and American Covid-19 cartoons from pragmatic and stylistic perspectives?
2. Are there any variations in visual and linguistic codes employment within cartoons in respective samples?
3. What intertextual elements do British and American cartoonists draw upon to create their messages?
Literature review
Editorial cartoons are a specific type of visual communication that is characterized by semiotic complexity and close links with newspaper articles they relate to. Some scholars distinguish between humor and satire in cartoons, assuming that since newspaper cartoons deal with serious social issues they should be treated as satire [3]. Lewis notes that responding to some acute problem the cartoonist "can marshal very little humour into it" [3: 40].
A neat definition is offered by El Rafaie, according to which a cartoon is viewed as "an illustration, usually in a single panel, published in the editorial or comments pages of a newspaper. Generally, the purpose of a political cartoon is to represent an aspect of social, cultural or political life in a way that condenses reality and transforms it in a striking, original and/or humorous way" [4: 75]. It elucidates the following basic aspects of editorial cartoons:
• Their dependence on the facts expressed in the newspaper article, which ensues that the recipients' awareness of recent events and some factual knowledge are the keys to the cartoonist's message adequate interpretation.
• The way the factual elements are presented. Reality is compressed to a form that is imaginative, unusual and in some cases grotesque. A cartoon is a text that combines the factual with the imaginary. It goes in line with Edwards' observation that "cartoons act as a bridge between fact and fiction" [5: 8].
• The originality of the social message visual representation is related to the main function of this text, namely, to rivet the recipients' attention and impact their perception of reality. The humorous property, which is optional in El Rafaie's view, serves the same purpose: to entertain and doing so to shape opinions.
The double nature of cartoon pragmatics is aptly expressed in the subtitle to the book Studies in Political Humour, which reads In between political critique and public entertainment [6].
The role of cartoons as vehicles of mass communication is investigated by
Grant Kleeman. The scholar describes the communicative power of this visual means showing that cartoons are capable of presenting complex social issues in simplified and accessible forms [7]. To sharpen the recipients' view of current issues the cartoonists employ an array of techniques that include caricature, analogy and incongruity. The scholar treats caricature as a constituent element of cartoons, which is seen as a grotesque graphical representation of people, a sort of exaggeration, a visual parody. A cartoon transmits the author's vision of the situation to a collective addressee, shaping opinions and mobilizing people to take some action. According to Kleeman, the functions of cartoons are manifold. They affect the viewers' perception of the world being a powerful tool of persuasion. Since cartoons are a form of artistic expression, they tend to elicit esthetic pleasure. So they can be seen as a type of graphical art which performs an esthetic function [7].
The functional pragmatic approach to cartoons presupposes the examination of recipients' perception. A lot of scholars underline the importance of background knowledge of current events for correct interpretation of the cartoonist's message. Editorial cartoons appear as a response to some current situation reflected
in the news. It is vital that the author and the recipient share this common knowledge, they should be equally informed for the messages to be conveyed and interpreted without distortion [8]. According to Fairclough, intertextual references can make the text inaccessible to certain recipients which leads to the relation of power among the participants of a communicative situation [9]. It is possible to conclude that the addressee's level of education and cultural awareness becomes centerpiece in cartoons perception. The recipients are expected to understand a broad context, to decode the cartoonist's perspective and to make their own choice either sharing or opposing it.
Editorial cartoons can be viewed through the lens of sociolinguistics. It implies their treatment as a medium aimed to critically assess social relations, public institutions and current events. Humour is treated as a means of social critique and control [6]. It tends to promote the norms advocated by some social group mobilizing those who share them, the so called in-group. At the same time it can be divisive when the message is opposed by the out-group members. Villy Tsakona establishes distinction between the inclusive function of humour when it facilitates social bonding among those who agree on the content of a humorous text and its exclusive function. The manifestation of the latter is the situation when some groups are the targets of humour and due to it find the content of the humorous text offensive [6; 3].
Another important dimension of political cartoons studies is set in the semiotic framework. Cartoons are seen as semiotically heterogeneous texts combining verbal and non-verbal modes [10]. V. Tsakona assumes that some cartoons shape their meaning employing both visual and verbal modes, others do it solely by way of the visual mode. Agüero Guerra draws a line between monomodal cartoons which are devoid of any linguistic elements and multimodal ones that employ a verbal component [11: 59]. However, in line with Y. Lotman's ideas it is more logical to treat the texts that have only verbal or only visual elements as multimodal, since linguistic elements as well as visual ones are arranged graphically and rely on the usage of colour, so they contain graphic and colour modes that have their bearing on meaning making.
Cartoonists carefully select and arrange various elements of a multimodal text to enhance its communicative effect which is based on the interaction of verbal, pictorial (iconic), graphical and colour modes. The cartoonist's view on certain events is transmitted and correctly decoded if all the modes work in unison and send unambiguous signals to the collective addressee.
In his seminal work on multimodality Gunter Kress postulates that diverse semiotic modes incorporated in a multimodal text perform their specific function aimed at achieving a certain communicative goal. [12]. The means to achieve it are manifold and scholars try to examine them using the principles of rhetoric. This approach was introduced by Medhurst and DeSousa who treated political cartoons as visual equivalents of oral rhetoric establishing some parallels in terms of content invention, arrangement of elements for certain effects and using artistic principles of presentation [13]. The further development of this approach is found in modern studies which aim at analysing meaning making mechanisms in cartoons from the rhetorical perspective and focus on the employment of such stylistic means as hyperbole, allusion, pun and irony among others [14]. A rhetorical means that is addressed in many studies on cartoons is metaphor. In recent years a growing body of research employ the theory of conceptual metaphor introduces by Lakoff & Johnson to investigate not only the linguistic mode but also the pictorial one. The notions of source and target domains are applied to the visual level to reveal the mechanism of a metaphoric meaning building. El Rafaie argues that visual metaphors possess some properties that make them different from verbal metaphors. In her work Understanding visual metaphor: the example of newspaper cartoon the scholar examines Austrian cartoons tackling immigration problems. Building on Kress' ideas about differences between visual and verbal metaphors in a multimodal text the researcher proves that in cartoons the verbal mode is better at presenting actions and expressing chronology while the relations between elements can be more aptly depicted using the spatial display of visual images. The study elucidates some nuances of relationships between visual metaphors and linguistic contexts they are set in. Metaphors become indispensible when some abstract notions are visualized in cartoons. The reliance of visual metaphors on the context means that in cartoons "the token or the vehicle, or in some cases, both, are not expressed directly in the image but are instead implied by the context" [4: 91].
The knowledge of prior texts which is necessary for cartoons visual images interpretation is akin to Bakh-tinian ideas of dialoguism which were later developed by Kristeva, Barth and Lotman. Cartoons are built upon elements of a broad social and cultural context establishing some ties with prior texts. Pinar-Sance describes some correlation between humour and intertextual properties of political cartoons assuming that the perception of humour embedded in the cartoon relies on the ability of the addressee to decipher culture codes and linguis-
tic codes that are set in a broad social context [15]. The importance of intertextuality is highlighted by V Tsa-kona who shows that the intertextual cues can create some power imbalance between those who are capable of interpreting the cartoons relying on these cues and those who can't read them [16]. The study of intertextuality in cartoon as multimodal texts should be accomplished in regard to verbal and visual modes [4; 10]. The comparison and contrast of intertextual ties of linguistic and pictorial elements of British and American editorial cartoons can reveal some basic codes of culture the two nations rely upon.
Methodology and Material
Drawing on the theoretical points presented above, this paper focuses on the analysis of British and American editorial cartoons devoted to Covid-19 pandemic, published on The Guardian and US Today sites in 2020-2021 [17; 18]. These quality newspapers publish cartoons that serve as illustrations to editorials. The section Guardian Opinion Cartoons features the multimodal texts that are aligned with the editor's opinion. Similarly, US Today contains the section Editorial Cartoons. The sample encompasses 100 British and 100 American cartoons that cover the topic of pandemic. The contrastive analysis was carried out to examine the following aspects:
1. The functions performed by cartoons were revealed bearing on the Functional Discourse Analysis (FDA) developed by W. Benoit [19].
2. The stylistic classification of linguistic and iconic elements was carried out to establish elevated and degraded layers of verbal and non-verbal signs. It rests in the framework introduced by Yu.M. Skrebnev [20].
3. The way linguistic and extralinguistic modes interrelate to build a new meaning in a cartoon was studied in the framework of Systemic Functional Multimodal Discourse Analysis (SFMDA) developed by K. O'Hol-loran [21]. The value of verbal, iconic, graphical and colour modes was examined in British and American cartoons respectively.
4. Drawing on the post-structuralist approach to intertextuality the prior texts which served as sources of visual and verbal metaphors were established. It helped to reveal some common and culture-specific elements of broad social and cultural context British and American cartoonists draw upon to shape their message.
Results and Discussion
A Functional pragmatic perspective on Covid-19 cartoons
The analysis of British and American editorial cartoons published in 2020-2021 revealed that pandemic-related issues dominated the national agendas and projected on different spheres of social and political life. Cartoonists promptly reacted to the current situation, so following the illustrations to newspaper editorials it is possible to trace the way the pandemic unfolded modifying the lives of so many people as well as the way the public perception of it changed.
According to W. Benoit, the texts of visual political communication perform two main functions: they either attack political opponents or acclaim some politicians or parties. In regard to political cartoons the first function takes the shape of criticism targeted at the Establishment or at some politicians, since it is the mission of cartoonists to hold them accountable before the public. Cartoons employ satire to raise the audience's awareness of the issue and to affect them both cognitively and emotionally.
The function of acclaiming, creating some positive image seems to be out of line with the satirical nature of political cartoons. However, the investigation of American sample showed that about 8% of Covid-19 cartoons acclaim, rather than attack. The positive evaluation is found in the texts that depict the effect of vaccination on the nation's wellbeing. One of such cartoons is prompted by St Valentine's Day. It depicts a young man wearing a mask and holding some flowers as well as a chocolate box which has the inscription Be mine. But the object of his desire is not human. He is thrusting his bunch of flowers to a syringe, which makes it clear that it is the vaccine he has set his heart on. Vaccines are represented as some miracle in Christmas editions. Santa brings them as a present to all family members. In another cartoon Santa's sleigh is pulled by syringes with vaccines rather than by rain-deer, the caption reads: On Pfizer/ On Moderna/ On Johnson & Johnson! The purpose of these cartoons is to encourage people to get vaccinated, to mobilize them showing the positive outcomes that include meeting the extended family and participating in some activities that have been off limits before vaccination.
British cartoonists remain on the critical side: they do not highlight the evident pluses of vaccination focusing their attention on the issues that have to be improved. The analysis of the subject matter of cartoons helps to establish the points that caused public concern. British cartoonists brought to light the following vexed issues:
• Government support to workers
• Easing/tightening Covid rules
• The National Health Service funding
• Vaccination (creation and rolling out)
• Safety at schools
• Growing death toll
• Herd immunity
• Life under lockdown (education, parenting, travelling)
• The rich getting richer
The overwhelming majority of British sample texts featured domestic problems, reflecting the way the government dealt with the pandemic. However, about 5% of cartoons depicted President Trump's public health policy deriding his dismissal of coronavirus as well as his antivaxx supporters.
American cartoonists also concentrated mostly on domestic issues which fell into the following categories:
• Masks regulations
• Antivaxx movement
• Vaccine rollout
• Restrictions (social distancing, outside dining)
• Herd immunity
• Life under lockdown (remote working/learning)
• School safety
• Conspiracy theories (anti-science/deep state/Q)
• Racial discrimination and Covid-19
• The rift between Republicans and Democrats caused by Covid-19
The contrastive study of topics reflected in British and American cartoons reveals some commonalities (vaccination, herd immunity, school safety) as well as marked differences. The peculiarity of American social and political context is the proliferation of conspiracy theories. Moreover, the antivaxx movement raised some public health concerns and aggravated race discrimination problems since minorities were more exposed to Covid-19 virus than white citizens. The American cartoonists revealed the way the pandemic shaped attitudes of individuals and groups, the federal government policies were not covered as extensively as the impact of Covid-19 on small businesses and individuals. The pandemic was depicted as a destructive force, force major no one could control.
The American cartoons focus on domestic issues, the only exception being
the alleged Wuhan laboratory leak and the Chinese government obstruction to its investigation carried out by the WHO. The topic had a great public outcry and was covered in American mass media. The view that China should be held accountable for the pandemic outbreak is expressed in a condensed form in cartoons that followed the WHO inspection in Wuhan.
The stylistic value of cartoon captions and nonverbal signs
The choice of lexemes as well non-verbal signs depends on the communicative situation which can be perceived either as formal or informal. The elements that belong to subneutral style fall into three layers, according to Yu.M. Skrebnev's classification [20]. The minimal degree of degradation is found with colloquial words; slang, jargon and argot belong to lexemes of the medial degree of degradation while vulgarisms reveal the lowest degree. The same tiers can be established within non-verbal signs if we treat them from the standpoint of formality of communicative situations in which they are normally used. So some gestures, facial expressions and postures are formal, neutral or informal, some are vulgar and offensive.
The examination of the verbal elements in British cartoons revealed the dominance of colloquial vocabulary units and an isolated instance of formal lexemes which is found in Steve Bell's cartoon on the breakdown of talks between Manchester and the Government. Its caption reads: I regret to inform you that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently, this government is at war with Greater Manchester and Europe...
It is a parody on Chamberlain's radio broadcast, 3 September 1939, which was a declaration of war: I have to tell you now that no such undertaking has been received, and that consequently this country is at war with Germany. The pictorial element makes reference to Neville Chamberlain's speech combining the features of the former British Prime Minister with the ones of Boris Johnson. The confrontation of Johnson and Manchester is presented as a visual metaphor of war supported by the verbal element (The Guardian 20.10.2021).
The concurrence of the stylistic value of linguistic and visual components characterizes Steve Bell's cartoon on the deadliness on the Covid-19 variant, which was an illustration to the Guardian article that read: Boris Johnson has insisted his government "did everything we could" to limit coronavirus deaths and expressed sorrow after the total UK death toll exceeded 100,000 on nearly every metric, but refused to discuss the reasons why it might be so high (The Guardian 26.01.2021). The reasons the Prime Minister did not disclose were interpreted by the cartoonist in the following way: Bumocracy+Chumocracy=Effocracy (Picturel).
ISTHE BRITISH VARIANT REALLY So much MORE DEADLY?,
Picture 1. Steve Bell's cartoon on the deadliness on the Covid-19 variant
The elements bum and ef off, that are incorporated in the blends bumocracy and efocracy, are vulgarisms. Their stylistic value is mirrored in the iconic element which features a buttock-faced PM using a sign that is objectionable and offensive, as in the Anglo-Saxon culture a V sign with a palm facing the user is an insult to the observea
Since a lot of American cartoons incorporate some dialogues, the captions contain elements of colloquial speech encompassing such forms as Nope; Got the vax; No reason to panic, folks; Love you guys. The avoidance oh stylistically degraded words and images changes the tone of cartoons. Their authors do not risk being too edgy, as the editors are not willing to give cartoonists the latitude necessary to come up with original and thought-provoking content [2 2]. Tke restrictions imposed by the editors determine the pres entational style, namely the choice of words and images in American cartoons. The British cartoonists seem to enjoy greater autonomy. As their self-expression is not curbed by editing, they are free to depict public figures in an unflattering light.
A semiotic perspective on Covid-19 cartoons
Both Beiti sh and American cartoons build thrie mearnng using; the combination af verbal and iconic elements with tsolated instances nf trxtr ttsat rely solely on picronial images rnd discard linguirtic components. The visual elements as well as the captions draw on local contexts and are often symbolic. The British cartoonists use the rmages of the Englishnulldog or Britannia as rymbols of Gsent Britain. In the American sample the country is epitomized by the image of Uncle Sam, two other common symbols are the donkey and the elephant - the mascots of the Democratic and the Republican parties. The image of a national flag, which is found in the maSority of sample cartoons, psovides some locative dimension to them.
The colour mode tends to have more value in American cartoons: the blue symbolizes Democrats, the red -Republisans and their employment ntaAs the rift between the parties caused ley tine differences in Conid-1 9 relief policies. In many American cartoons antivaxxers are depicted wearing red MAGA caps. British cartoonists employ the yellow colour which is endowed with the meaning of caution. Since the British caution road signs are yellow, thesignals sent to the addresseesare quite unambiguous.
The semiotic modes are tightly interwoven and each of them has its own salience [23]. The pictorial mode serves to present the reality in a grotesque way. At the same time the humorous effect can be achieved by the incongruence between the verbal and thee iconic modes or by the creative employment of the linguistic; element. Cartoonists face some challenges trying to express ideas in a limited space of a single-panel cartoon, so every element incorporated in it matters.
In Ben Jennings' cartoon on UK and France crisis talks to reopen border the Prime Minister is depicted as a captain trying to navigate the boat in a stormy see (The Guardian 222.12.2021). The boat is a visual metaphor of the country, the allegorical figure oT Britannia having a life-buoy shows how critical uhe situation is. The reference to the cause of the crisis is also pictorial: it is the image of a giant whirlpool that threatens to engulf the boat. The whiripool has a recognizable shape of corrnavirur and its black colour looks quite menacing. Another link to the pandemic is the facial mask Britannia iu wearing. The fence in the background with the inscription No entry means the ban imposed by France on haulers carrying freight across the Channel. Such restrictions are introduced in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus. The posture of the PM reveals his puzzlement and inabifity to control the situation. The satirical stance is achiaved due to -ncongauence between the World Beating sign at the stern o- the boat ank its sail mode of MP's underpants. The humorous effect is enhanced by the caption that is an augmented version of a famous patriotic song title: Britannia Rules the Waves. It is modified lay the insertion of the word second, which creates a play on words, making an allusion to the second wave of Covid-19 which the country is unable to prevent (Picture 2).
Picture 2. Ben Jennings' cartoon on UK and France crisis talks to reopen border
The text is rich in national symbols that include the cliffs of the British coastal line, the national flag and the image of Britannia. Other visual signs contribute to the message creation: the tempestuous see is a well-established symbol of crisis; the coronavirus whirlpoolcreatesthe effect of the impendingdanger. The object of the critique is Boris Johnson who is unable to control the situation in the cartoonist's view. All the elements are like pieces of a puzzle, they work in unison to convey the author's vision of the situation.
The intertextual dimensionofCovid-19cartoons
Though the problems caused by Covid-19 seem to be universal, it is possible to hypothesize that each country had its own nuances determined by its political and social order as well as some cultural norms that are not found in other nations. The examination of the topics addressed in British and American cartoons as well as the elements of social and cultural landscapes that were used as the sources of intertextual links reveal that the majority of them are culture-specific.
The situations depicted in the cartoons can be treated in terms of targets. The examination of the sample shows that both in British and American cartoons they tend to be culture specific. The resources employed by the cartoonists to shape their messages are mostly drawn from their own culture, so they also belong to the type of culturally marked. Such patterns are revealed in 87% of American Covid-19 cartoons and in 84% of British cartoons.
One of the American cartoons belonging to this type addresses the rejection of scientific facts by Republicans and their criticism of US infectious disease chief Dr Anthony Fauci. To express his vision of the problem the cartoonist uses two symbols: the donkey holding the manual authored by Fauci and the elephant holding a book by Doctor Seuss. The caption reads: Vaccine advisors. Doctor Seuss is a famous children's author, so
to embrace his ideas means to go to the world of fiction rather than to base your judgment on facts. Using the names of people, well-known to the audience, the cartoonist shows how opposite Republicans' and Democrats' views on vaccination are.
Another pattern is a culture specific sauce and a common target. The situation caused by Covid-19 is not unique, on the contrary, the problems can reveal some similarity across the globe, but its depiction in cartoons will be based on elements of a certain culture, alien to other countries. One of such cases is Covid-related death toll. In an American cartoon it is expressed with the visual image of the Grim Reaper holding up its hand in a red baseball glove that has the inscription We are #1. It serves as a visual metaphor of the growing number of deaths caused by the pandemic. In this context the glorious sport slogan acquires some ominous meaning.
The quarantine rules were introduces in many countries, so the cartoon tackling this problem should be analyzed as having a common target. The British cartoon on Boris Johnson defending the UK's quarantine rules draws on some culturally marked symbols. The Prime Minister is grotesquely depicted as an English bulldog in a spiked collar and a military helmet standing on the cliff. The pictorial element, that symbolizes determination to protect the country, is supported by the linguistic one: No spikes on the Blighty beaches. No spikes on the Blighty cliffs and fields. ...We shall never let them in... (The Guardian 22.07.2020).This caption contains the word Blighty which is a British English slang term for Great Britain, or often specifically England.
One more possible combination is a common source and a common target. It means that both the topic and its visual representation have a universal appeal and build on elements of world culture. The British multimodal text which is called Ben Jennings on self-isolating during the coronavirus outbreak - cartoon fits this pattern (The Guardian 15.03.2020). It is of note that the title shows that back in March 2020 when self-isolation was introduced coronavirus was deemed to be just an outbreak, not a pandemic. The cartoon is based on the famous pointillistic canvas by Georges Seurat A Sunday on La Grande Jatte featuring the river bank full of people enjoying the sun. The cartoonist transmits his perception of self-isolation depicting the sunny landscape of Seurat's masterpiece devoid of any people, which evokes the feeling of loneliness. The American cartoon on vaccine rolling out also has a common source and target. The vial with Covid-19 vaccine is arranged in the cartoon frame to resemble a tunnel and tke white tprt at the lop rf the vial symbolizes hope. The caption contains the idiom the light at the end of the tunnel. The visual image is an illustration of the idiom tailored to a specific situation meaningfui not only for the USbut also for other counteies.
The next pattern is the employment of common resources to describe culture specific situations. Such common reSeaences fhcourasskromssharekby Britshndnmuicrisand rcme eieuiefsoftfaworklastittia heritage. The topics which are presented drawing on them are unique for each country. The British cartoon on Rist Surd's s^poe Str ws^er he t>y lie ea^^i^n^is deper ilssctirickstaeceusinhlktintrngruehccУr-tween the Chancellor of the Exchequers smiley face and the meaning created by the boot and the sack which he h;^sinh^s^akds(yi^t^i^(s 3).
Picture 3. Steve Bell on Rishi Sunak's support for workers hit by the pandemic - cartoon
(TheGuardian 24.09.2020)
The cartoonist creates visual metaphors omploying two idioms with a similar meaning: to give somebody the boot and to give somebody the sack stand for firing people, making them redundant.
The American cartoon, belonging to this type, targets the anti-maskers visiting public places such as shopping malls where Christmas sales attract a lot of visitors. A carefree couple without masks approaches a mall. The text on the man's T-shirt reads NO masks. The Grim Reaper meets them at the entrance with the following words: Shop' til you drop. This phrase is commonly used on the both sides of the Atlantic to speak about excessive shopping, while references to stanch anti-maskers are set in the American culture.
The quantitative analysis of target-sauce specificity and commonality in regard to British and American cartoons is summarized in Table 1.
Source Target Am Br
Culture specific Culture specific 87 84
Culture specific Common 8 2
Common Common 3 6
Common Culture specific 2 8
Table 1. Cartoons source-target specificity and commonality distribution.
The analysis shows that both British and American cartoons tend to address social issues caused by Covid-19 drawing on some intertextual elements grounded in their own culture. British cartoonists more often employ sources belonging to the world artistic heritage to build visual metaphors than their American counterparts. American cartoons tend to depict common topics such as vaccination, self-distancing, mask-wearing relying on culture specific intercultural components.
Conclusion
The Covid-19 editorial cartoons address the issues that have reached the global scale. They serve as illustrations to newspaper articles raising national concerns in regard to the measures that should be taken to contain the pandemic. Though this mission is universal, each country tackles it in its own way, which is revealed by the contrastive analysis of British and American cartoons devoted to Covid-related problems.
The pragmatic perspective on the sample cartoons showed that American cartoonists shape their messages either to criticize or acclaim. It means that some text of visual communication tend to create a positive image of vaccination rolling out as well as the officials who are in charge of it, rather than to target certain drawbacks. British cartoons, on the contrary, remain critical of government anti-Covid measures, increasing people's awareness of some inconsistencies in government policies and stimulating those responsible to correct the flaws.
The topics addressed by British and American cartoonists overlap to some degree but they also reveal considerable differences of social and cultural origin. The common things depicted in the sample are vaccination, growing death toll, life under lockdown, school safety and heard immunity. The differences include such issues as conspiracy theories, antivaxxers, the rift between Democrats and Republicans on Covid relief measures and racial discrimination, which are confined exclusively to the American visual political communication.
The differences also encompass the stylistic reference of linguistic and visual components of American and British samples. British cartoonists employ verbal and visual signs that range from formal to vulgar strata, while American cartoons use either neutral or colloquial units. It shows a greater degree of creative freedom enjoyed by British cartoonists.
From the semiotic perspective both British and American cartoons rely mostly on the visual signs, so visual metaphors assume a special significance in meaning making. The colour mode is often used in American cartoons to highlight the differences between Republicans, whose colour is red, and Democrats, the blue being the party colour.
Meaning making in sample cartoons depends on links to pre-existing texts. Both American and British cartoonists shape their messages drawing on culture specific intertextual elements. British cartoonists sometimes resort to the elements of world artistic culture to cover Covid-related issues. The culture specific symbols encoded in British and American cartoons are indicative of the things that appeal to the minds and emotions of people belonging to respective cultures. These issues can become an object of further research.
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История статьи:
Получена: 27.07.2021
Принята: 17.08.2021
Опубликована онлайн: 25.09.2021
Article history:
Received: 27.07.2021 Accepted: 17.08.2021 Published online: 25.09.2021
Bionote:
Svetlana Yu. Pavlina, PhD in Philology, Associate Professor, Linguistics university of Nizhny Novgorod, Nizhny Novgorod, Russian Federation; e-mail: [email protected].
Сведения об авторе:
Павлина Светлана Юрьевна, к.ф.н., доцент кафедры теории и практики английского языка и перевода, НГЛУ им. Н.А. Добролюбова, Нижний Новгород, Российская Федерация; e-mail: Pavlina. [email protected].
