Political Cartoon Analysis

This political cartoon by Mark Knight presents the issue of the discriminative and unfair treatment and stereotypical perception many have of African Americans. The cartoon presents an ongoing issue through the example of Women’s tennis. The women on the left can allude to Serena Williams through her clothing and possibly the broken racquet (as she has done so on various occasions). Knight emphasises the contrast between Williams and her opponent through the use of caricature. Through her caricature, Knight emphasises her certain features to highlight the fact that her colour is a predominant issue in the situation. For instance, he has enlarged her lips and made her hair very frizzy to present stereotypical afro-textured hair. He further exaggerates her facial expressions to make her look animalistic and aggressive.  These features present the perception of black people that many have and it creates an impression that black people are dangerous and a genuine threat. There is also an exaggeration of her muscle and size, relative to other objects such as the racquet, which Knight uses to depict her as inhumane and even monstrous.

The subtle placement of the pacifier next to her suggests that her behaviour is childish and she is unnecessarily whining. This can present how her issue is seen as unimportant and can be ignored. Furthermore, the text allows us to see that the umpire may be in fear and as a result he convinces Williams’ opponent to concede the game. Knight additionally uses colours to create a separation of Williams and her opponent against the audience and the umpire. The players both wear black clothing while the rest of the stadium and the umpire is coloured blue and white. This can suggest the opposing views they have on Williams’ reaction to breaking the racquet. Williams’ opponent’s facial expression creates a sense of confusion as to why the umpire is asking her to concede which can show that she does not see Williams the same as the others. The audience is majoritively American (can be inferred from the ‘US Open’) and this can present the general stereotypes white Americans have. Furthermore, the audience is coloured blue which can show that they support the umpire and his behaviour.