Table of Contents

Visual Attributes

Language Features & Text

In summary

American cartoonist Adam Zyglis created the political cartoon “The Trumps Tapes we Need …'” for Buffalo News. It became well-known after Zyglis uploaded it to his Twitter account on October 12, 2016.

The cartoon was drawn in reference the 2016 Trump Tapes Scandal. The cartoon requires prior knowledge to be understood by the viewer. Four years ago, a tape was made that contained recordings of Donald Trump making disparaging remarks about women on an Access Hollywood radio show. It was released in 2005. Trump claimed that because he was a celebrity, he could do any and all he wants and still get away with his actions. Millions of women shared their stories of sexual abuse, and there were over 10 million replies to them. Zyglis is communicating the message that they shouldn’t be trying to find evidence for Donald Trump’s crimes, but should instead just use tape to shut Trump down. This cartoon implicitly suggests that Donald Trump should not be elected president. Caricature, which is an image or imitation of a person’s certain characteristics, is used a lot by cartoonists. Zyglis painted Donald Trump as an illustration. Trump’s head and upper body are proportionally large. Donald Trump has a yellowish, overly manicured head. This is what the viewer first notices. To ridicule Trump, Zyglis deliberately grew Trump’s hair beyond his face. Trump is wearing his traditional suit of a white shirt, black blazer, red tie and a black tie in order to demonstrate his Republican Party affiliation. His round, broad face shows his tan and is visible with very little neck. Also, the cheeks of Trump are slightly reddened, which could indicate anger. Trump could also be angered by his small, squinted eye and furrowed eyebrows.

The political cartoon implicitly implies that the United States of America is the second-represented participant. The U.S flag-like U.S flag-inspired sleeve is colored red, white, and bleu. It can be seen that Trump must stop making nonsense of things and that he should instead act responsibly and intelligently to regain the trust of the Government. Another thing that stands out is the silver tape in the left hand. This tape matches Donald Trump’s mouth.

Visual Features The cartoonist made a visual and literary allusion to Donald Trump’s 2005 video tapes scandal and the feelings of the public towards him.

Donald Trump is looking at the United States of America’s hand. His eyes are narrowed and his pupils are slitted, possibly to indicate that he is furious about the taping of the mouth. To encourage viewers to look at the hand, the cartoonist used an intra-diegetic gaz – which is when a figure looks at another object or figure in the text. The intra-diegetic glance is used to create interaction between the figures and the viewers.

Also, Trump’s tape and roll across his mouth are important. They serve as the center of attention for the viewers and emphasize the message that cartoonists are trying to convey. That everyone should stand together and put Donald Trump out of sight. The background colour is mainly white except for Donald Trump. It is visible that Donald Trump’s background has a greyish tint, which becomes darker as it nears him. There are also very few black specks scattered around Donald Trump. This implicitly refers both to good or evil, with good being represented by white and black/grey being evil. Adam Zyglis subtly informs viewers that Donald Trump will continue to bring evilness as long as he’s president.

Language Features and text

Conclusion This cartoon clearly depicts the cartoonist’s strong antipathy towards Donald Trump.

dylanwest

Dylan West is a 33-year-old education blogger and traveler. He has a degree in education from the University of Texas and has been blogging about education since 2009.