That F#$!ing Cartoonst: Tiananmen Square Imagery Wrong
By Rob Tornoe | November 9th, 2009 | PERMALINK
Cartoon by Pat Bagley - Salt Lake Tribune
In the current debate on health care reform, Republicans are often depicted as attempting to slow or delay the passage of meaningful reform.
Pat Bagley, the cartoonist for the Salt Lake Tribune, chose to illustrate this by showing a GOP elephant holding up a column of “health care reform” emergency vehicles, drawing from the famous image of a single student stopping a column of tanks during the Tiananmen Square protests.
However, one reader didn’t understand the use of Bagley’s visual metaphors:
Bagley has either made an about-face on health reform or has a poor grasp of history. The Tank Man is generally regarded as a hero because he stood down the Chinese army, which had been killing its own people. According to Bagley’s cartoon, I guess I’m to think of the Republican opponents to health reform in a similar light.
So what do you think. Are the GOP the heroes or the bad guys in this scenario?
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Comments
Comment from Commentor
Time November 9, 2009 at 11:47 am
In their minds they are the Tank Guy. In reality they are interfering with a column of ambulances. Good cartoon.
Comment from Martin
Time November 9, 2009 at 11:49 am
Bizarre cartoon. On one hand, it’s comparing the GOP to the man who blocked the path of tanks in Tienanmen Square- the most iconic image in existence of the courageous individual opposition to monolithic government authority.
On the other hand, instead of impeding tanks, the elephant is blocking the path of ambulances- one of which has a seriously ill looking person being loaded into it.
I don’t know the cartoonist, but I think he’s making a more intelligent and subtler point than most: That the increasingly populist GOP, driven by the tea-partiers and rabble-rousing AM Radio and Fox News personalities, fancy themselves courageous freedom fighters, while in reality, they’re obstructionist reactionaries who are standing in the way of real progress that Americans need and have been waiting for for decades.
If the cartoonist had wanted to portray the elephant (GOP) as a hero, he would have dressed him in a plain white shirt, like the man in the original Tienanmen Square photo- implying his everyman, populist creditability. Instead, the cartoonist has the elephant dressed in a blue suit, which to me implies that he is only a self-regarding hero, and a misguided pain-in-the-ass (forgive the pun) to everyone else.
Comment from Kat Mulkey
Time November 9, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Maybe “…heroes or bad guys” is the wrong question for viewing this cartoon. To me, it’s more about inevitablitity. The tank guy didn’t stop any movements–big picture–in China. He temporarily halted those tanks, which later continued on. Tank Guy accomplished a brief pause, got the world talking, and then he disappeared. Nobody knows where. Similarly, health care reform seems inevitable, gaining momentum, even “mandated.” GOP Ambulance Guy will not stop those patients’ trips to the hospital. But he’s getting himself seen and talked about, and that’s what Elephant Guy wants. Nobody knows why.
Comment from Jersey Bob
Time November 9, 2009 at 1:08 pm
This cartoon might work better if the elephant were holding a wheelbarrow full of money bags, marked as “insurance industry”.
Comment from Kathlyn
Time November 9, 2009 at 8:29 pm
I think it\’s a great cartoon because like a great article it reinforces the worldview of the reader.
Republicans see themselves as the underdogs preventing a mistake. Democrats see the fat guy holding up an emergency.
Brilliant!
Comment from Troy Peterson
Time November 9, 2009 at 11:44 am
Boy, that’s a tough one to answer.
It almost has a duplicity to it…
Since it’s representing an icon of “freedom”, the Right wing could look at this as a positive against healthcare reform. The elephant is essentially standing up for freedom.
However, with the inclusion of the ambulances - more specifically with an injured person being loaded into the rear of one - makes the statement that the Righ wing is blocking something urgently needed. So, the Left wing will claim a positive here as well.
So, the illustration is a success in representing the country as a whole… it shows how both sides are fighting for what they think is right. But, it doesn’t make a stand on the issue, which is what most cartoons should be about.
Wonderful piece.