Sebastian Tse Hei Nam
Ms.Boschee/5
Visual Rhetoric Essay
3 September 2014
Visual Rhetoric Essay
Political Cartoons are created to satirize and bring attention to certain political events occurring in the world. One cartoon that grabbed my attention was related to my hometown - Hong Kong. It was drawn to satirize a legislator called Albert Ho, who was fined for surfing inappropriate websites during the annual budget speech hosted by the Hong Kong Democratic Party. The creator is a famous political cartoonist, who has been working as a cartoon illustrator at South China Morning Post since 1997, called Harry Harrison. Harry’s cartoon is rhetorically effective through the means of associating with the ethos, logos and pathos and identifying its speaker, audience and subject.
The subject in this cartoon is Albert Ho, who is the fined legislator. The speaker is Harry Harrison, who is the artist of this specific cartoon. The audience is very broad; it is made up of the readers of the South China Morning Post and even the citizens of Hong Kong. More specifically, it targets the politicians in Hong Kong as they all gather for the annual budget speech.
Harry Harrison establishes ethos quite simply because of his reputation; he is well known as a local satirical cartoonist that has provided Hong Kong citizens with political cartoons for 17 years. As a result, he has a rich background in the Hong Kong political circle that may share the same perspective as his audiences on local political events. In which this case, he shares the disappointment of the legislator’s action during the annual budget speech with his audience. The logos here is to satire Albert’s lack of attention during the budget speech. The cartoon depicts a scene where the head of the Democratic Party is dressed up in a bikini and is trying to get Albert’s attention. Next to the head of Democratic Party there is a caption that says, “I thought I’d stand a better chance of holding Albert Ho’s Attention.” Harry makes an assumption here: the only way to keep Albert’s attention is to make the head of the party dressed up in a bikini. During the annual budget speech, Albert was photographed