Orme's use of Patty-Jo illustrates the importance of characters in making a comic or an editorial cartoon. Depending on who or what is delivering the writer's intended message readers may be more or less accepting, or more likely to interpret the message as humorous or serious. When working on the collaborative comic Cian and I decided that the main character of our comic would be a fish who throughout the story complained about irrelevant details. We hoped the text would come across as humorous instead of annoying because a fish is a more forgivable character than a human, and a more unusual speaker. In Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger Ormes doesn't necessarily forgive her message by using a young speaker, but she does make her message more appealing to readers.
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
Patty-Jo as a Forgivable Voice
Yesterday in class we discussed editorial cartoons as satirical, single page pieces that serve to expose moral corruption in the given time period. In Patty-Jo 'n' Ginger, young Patty-Jo functions as the critical sociopolitical commentator making the cartoon what it is, accompanied by her silent sister, Ginger. Arguably, the acceptability of Patty-Jo's blunt one-liners depends on her depiction as a child, who although has a quick wit and is observant of the world, still has a lot to learn. If Ginger had delivered Orme's sharp commentary of current events it may have been less digestible to readers because adults are expected to have an awareness of social graces regarding what's appropriate and inappropriate to say unknown to children. In this sense, using Patty-Jo as the voice of the editorial cartoon may have allowed Ormes to push the boundaries of satire and honesty, allowing for an especially harsh critique.
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I agree that much of what Patty-Jo says and suggests in her "humorous" commentary would be inappropriate and unsavory coming from an adult. Given the already revolutionary nature of having a woman comic creator as well as an African American creator and characters, Ormes decision to use a child as a mouth-piece for political commentary made it so that she was able to reach audiences who would have otherwise dismissed her work.
ReplyDeleteHence, like Naomi mentions in her post, character choice is one of the decisions most relevant to readership designation. Audiences will accept commentary from one character that they would reject from another character. Naomi and I chose to use a fish, a Naomi mentioned, so as to include gripes that seemed humorous, not superficial. Furthermore, using a fish alleviated our comic from an overt portrayal of violence. The protagonist, as a pet, shifted the audience's attention away from the human perspective, thus placing other human characters in the background and thus allowing us to conform to the Comic Code.