Message from Satirical Cartoon, in the Cold Again

Introduction:

Recently, there has been news with the conflict with Russia and America, Russia is forcibly going to invade Ukraine, because not long ago when Russia was still called Soviet Union, Ukraine was part on the Soviet Union and but then Ukraine declared Independence. Now Russia, wants Ukraine to be part of the Russia Federation. While many Ukrainians and Americans were opposed to this Russia still refuse to hear Obama even though he pleads Vladimir not to send troops to Ukraine. Cartoonist Leah, in her cartoon published in The Courier Mail on March 4 2014, titled “In the Cold Again”, takes a satirical look with the conflict with Vladimir and Obama. The cartoon is a response to Vladimir invading Ukraine and Obama making opposing to Vladimir; however Vladimir doesn't listen and it is becoming explicit that the target of Leah’s cartoon is Russia. Leah puts forward the point of view that, because Russia is big, powerful country, Russia can do anything they want. This message is conveyed mainly through the techniques of visual metaphor, allusion and symbolism. Leah carton works on the assumption that if the conflict of Vladimir and Obama continue, history may repeat itself.

A major technique the cartoonist used is allusion. The title of the cartoon is an allusion. The title “In the cold again”, alludes to the point of information where a historical event occurred between both of the parties, The Cold War. Cold War was a war between the United States and the Soviet Union. The hammer and sickle embedded in Vladimir’s body eludes to the information that it a sign of communism. However, this may also allude to the Soviet Union due to the representation of the hammer and sickle in the Soviet flag. Through the clever use of public in...

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...ama is trying to reason with Vladimir, he can’t help Ukraine as the matter of this situation is in control with Vladimir. The impact of this cartoon could be to make the reader feel sympathetic to Ukraine and be worried about a new cold war may be uprising. However, not all readers would accept the cartoons invited reading. Some would claim that the cartoon has taken a simplistic view of the Ukraine crisis. They would argue that it ignores the fact that, Obama is trying to help the Ukraine by creating isolation of Russian financially from the west and that it silences the significant problems for Obama as the Russian aggression challenges Obama’s foreign policy .Although this political carton deals with the Ukraine crisis, the situation it presents is universal. The cartoonist encourages the western countries to support Ukraine and stop Russia before it’s too late.