CSotD: Classic cartoon: The response to 9/11
Skip to comments
I'm tied up for the next few days with some workshops for middle-school journalists, so will be posting some of the classic cartoons I used to show high school students in a presentation on the topic.
I used to show the kids one example of the more than 30 political cartoons that littered newspapers with weeping Statues of Liberty in the wake of the attacks on the World Trade Center. At the time I was working in the schools, the high school kids who were my audience remembered 9/11 and readily agreed that we didn't have to be told that we were sad. We knew we were sad.
But Peter Schrank's cartoon was brilliant. It took a very familiar painting and was able to incorporate elements of the painting with images of the day without distorting or dishonoring either.
And transforming the Screamer into a globe made a statement that is almost painful to remember today, the universal horror with which the world responded, a global sympathy that, unfortunately, did not survive the political aftermath.
But it was there then, and, while other cartoonists were blotting their eyes and drawing teary Statues of Liberty, Schrank captured the moment perfectly, memorably, tastefully and effectively.
Comments
Comments are closed.