Forum: General Discussion

I remember seeing this cartoon on NBC during the campaign, they did a story about it on NBC Nightly News. The purpose of this cartoon was to "poke fun at" the way both the candidates waged their campaigns. As a result, it would seem like their should be no bias. But, I think there is a little more insult towards Bush. Maybe it seems that way to me since calling someone stupid seems worse than calling another person indecisive. The message was pretty effective, since they both acted like morons with all the advertisements. It provided some humor as well, and using humor with greatly increase the effectivness of most satire pieces.

So many groups make the same types of satire because they wish to point out what they think is really happening, instead of "following the flock" of Americans. It is also important to note that this was made very public on a major nightly news outlet, and they gained a very large amount of traffic to their cartoon. The idea of gaining more publicity is also very appealing if you are making one of these.

Personally, I lack the creative ability to make such a cartoon myself. I could learn the technology very easily, but I lack the kind of un-biased (or at least an attempt at being unbiased) kind of opinions needed for a widely accepted item such as this. Plus, I'd just anger people with what I really thought about the whole election... and angering people isn't always the best idea.

Although this was just cartoon, the effect it has on the decision of others during electoral campaigns is tremendous, at least on my behalf. Cartoons like these spark interest on the issues they critique or compliment. During this political cartoon, people who have not been following, or did not follow, the political campaign in its entirety can have ideas on which are the subjects democrats and republicans believe to be weaknesses on each others part.

The political cartoon titled "This Land" is very "fair". Both parties seem to be equally critiqued. In my opinion, some people may say that bush is more heavily critiqued because they may in fact be republicans; the same goes for democrats. The critique about Bush being such a nuisance in regards to his stupidity is more harsh or offensive to those that support him. As blueranven stated in the reply below, stupid is a stronger word than a person indecisive. Regardless of the cartoons balance in criticism for both republicans and democrats, this political cartoon serves its purpose greatly; purpose being putting forth those offensives most appealing to people, which would accompany them in their decision making.

When it comes to people willing to fight to advocate such messages is because when a political cartoon with such criticism that people may fight offensive to their morals, the citizens who view certain actions as offensive will vote against the party those actions pertain to. Considering bush to be stupid and an airhead will be advocated by citizens who believe that Bush is indeed the airhead he is considered being.
With all the fuss about the effects of political cartoons, I don’t think I have the knowledge or the creativity to design such political cartoons. I’ll leave that up to the more computer design and politically educated people out there.

When I watched this commercial for the first time, I remember laughing the whole way through. I can see how many people could find it offensive, especially because this election year was so hotly debated. People were more determined and opinionated this year because of the situations in the Middle East, and the ongoing "war." I thought the commercial was great because not only did it lighten up the situation, but it was also accurate as to what was going on in both candidates campaigns. People were saying that Kerry was more intellectual than Busch, and people were catching on to the way that Kerry kept on changing his mind with every argument. Both of the candidates were acting like high school girls in this election with the name calling and all other sorts of drama that they created. I didn't believe that either of them should have acted the way they did, and the candidates themselves should have been more politically correct.

This commercial could also help people get information on the "other" candidate, whomever that may be. Some people get so wrapped up in hating the candidate that they don't like and loving the candidate they will vote for, that they often times miss valuable information because they tune it out.

I personally could never write a commercial like that. I am not very creative or technologically advanced with computers. I also would be way too biased, like many other people, to give an equal portrayal of both of the candidates.

This cartoon is too funny! Unfortunately, even though it is quite funny with all of the exaggerations, there is a lot of truth in it as well. I am sure that this cartoon did help influence a lot of swing voters one way or another. It is sad, but even these types of advertisements have an effect on people. I think that this cartoon, as negative as it was towards both the presidential candidates, it was a bias advertisement. This cartoon was definitely making Bush out to look better than Kerry. It actually had Bush say positive things like he supports tax breaks, and I do not recall Kerry saying anything positive about his campaign. It actually reminded me a little of the actual election debates. All you got from either candidate was attack, attack. But every now and again Bush would throw in something positive that he would accomplish if he were re-elected. But with Kerry’s campaign the only positive thing I remember him saying was that he could get the troops out in six months, which just sounded unrealistic.
I think this cartoon is a sneaky way of campaigning for Bush. Because on the surface it looks like they are just making fun of the presidential candidates, but in all actuality they are making Bush out to be a cowboy while Kerry is in a hot dog suit. I think people enjoy using this type of advertising because it lets them show their creativity. Not only will they get their point across, but they also do it cleverly.
I am the farthest thing from being creative, so unfortunately I could never come up with a witty cartoon like this on any subject. So, as for me to be able to design a cartoon for a political cause, or any cause for that matter, would probably be the hardest thing I ever had to do. And once the cartoon was completed, it would not be very entertaining.

Before I first saw this cartoon, I thought it was definitely going to trash Bush, just as most site on the internet do. After watching it I realized that it was actually criticizing both parties pretty evenly. The cartoon did enforce the fact that George W. Bush was not as smart as Kerry, and the cartoon also emphasized that Bush "loves" war, like it was his first priority. When it came to John Kerry, the cartoon really pointed out that the only thing he ever really said was that he was a soldier in Vietnam, and he attained three Purple Heart awards by showing his boldness. It could be very possible that this cartoon could change people's minds when it came down to election time. I don't believe this myself though, I believe that this cartoon is mostly for entertainment value. I believe that some people are fighting for these types of messages to break from the norm. I say this because most political commercials are very serious and straight-forward. This cartoon seems like it would appear as a skit on Saturday Night Live, or some other show to make fun of the candidates. I think I could design a cartoon like this for other political causes, but it does not interest me. I am not a person that is in to politics, or anything of that sort. I am sure there were other races last November that were as controversial as the presidential race, but it never really made national news.

I feel that this cartoon was not bias at all in the regards to Kerry or Bush. What i found effective was they took the two individuals backgrounds that every person in America knew about and they used it to make fun of each of the candiadates. another thing i found effective was the way they used the information they had. they put it all into a dong format and they made it all flow together. the ryhming was great and the pictures were desent. this cartoons serves as a way to show Americans that whoever wins the presidency will not be perfect by no means. everyone has there own opinion abouteach candiadate and that whichever wins is what we have to deal with. everone has there history and there own personal traits. some people like and the other people hate. but all in all the cartoons tells us that in every aspect of the candiadates that no person will ever fit each other standards.
i feel that the groups that do this are so willing to do so, so they can take advantage of the situation and tell America that they can find some humor in everything that goes on in life and not everything is bad or hateful. but in my opinion i thought it was funny, but i feel that the candiadates for presidency should be taken seriously cuase this are the poeple in charge of our country and others look at us based on how we vote the person in office. .
I dont think i can make a cartoon for another politcial campaign or cause only because i dont have the knowledge to make a cartoon on hte computer. but if i could i would most difinitely make a cartoon that would try to make poeple laugh about something else going on in the political world today

I had seen this commercial during the election and I thought that it was hysterical. I think that it truly seems to get a point across. It does seem to be an effective way of showing the people how the candidates seemed to act during the election. It brings up points and ideas that both Bush and Kerry held, in a humorous way. If a person watched the cartoon during the campaign, I think they would have gotten an idea of what each was hoping to achieved and what they believed in. I don’t think that the ad was biased. It portrayed each candidate equally. I thought that ddeamtos was correct in saying that people seemed to think that Bush was treated unfairly because they support him or Kerry was portrayed negatively because they support him. I don’t think that either one was at a better advantage than the other. I think they were both portrayed in a humorous way. I think that this cartoon was made to show people some of what each candidate stood for and how they acted through the campaign. Both Bush and Kerry were always attacking each other for what they believed in and what they said. I think that people want these messages to be shown to add some humor but also to inform the public of what seems to be going on. Even though they seem to be outrageous, there is still truth in them.
I could never make up a cartoon like this. I think it takes a very skilled and creative person to do so. They need to do a great deal of research and apply many computer skills to make it appeal to people. I am not creative enough to think of so many different ways of getting a point across to the people.

I agree with JRomot in the effectiveness of poking fun at the backgrounds of both potential candidates (at the time) and not showing bias toward either one. Although there always seems to be some radical group that doesn’t agree with this type of humor that’s going to create some big stink about how these people creating this cartoon are making fun of our political leaders and should feel ashamed because they should be supporting our government blah blah blah …..CRAP. Sometimes I just want to do something about those radical analysts that say that stuff. It’s called freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

I actually saw the guys that created this on CNN this morning promoting their new flash "second term". I love political satire because it seems to me that everyone thinks that just because a person is in office, they should be perfect. Not the case, they are JUST PEOPLE LIKE US! It may have seemed that way a long time ago because there wasn't a little thing called internet or media that was as accessible to the masses as there is today. I think the message that this particular flash is trying to state is that they're both idiots and no matter what we do about it there's going to be an idiot in the white house. I like the fact that there was no bias towards either one of the candidates and that it showed how idiotic campaigning can be. I believe in showing the less professional side of things, as well as being able to laugh at these sort of things.

I had the chance to watch this video before the election and found it to be so funny and so completely true. This is everything that people were talking about towards both candidates going up to the election. Whether it be Kerry's three purple hearts or Bush's tax cuts, this video pretty much covered everything. I am more of a Bush fan but detected no real bias towards the video. The video was effective on showing audiences what people around the nation thought of the candidates. What proved to be not effective was the actual political views of the candidates. I think videos of this nature would be great ideas to get young people involved in elections and also to express specific views.

There are quit a few great political cartoons and film shorts, that have been edited for a comical element, floating around. This particular cartoon seems to have been made by an undeceive voter, although bearing a slight bias edge towards Bush considering all the purple heart references from Kerry which would seem as though he is making fun of himself. I would guess that the purpose for this kind of cartoon, which seems to poke fun at both candidates, would be an attempt to demonstrate the possibilities that neither candidate is worthy of being president. Or perhaps it was made just for a simple humor aspect, from someone who has a lot of extra time on their hands.

There are many die hard Bush, as well as Kerry supporters out there that could easily be offended by something like this; after all it is bashing what they believe so firmly in.

I think it would be fun to try and sit down and gather all the facts and create a cartoon like this. I would just be very careful that my facts are proven because my wallet can’t handle being sued.

I think this is a great clip that everyone probably laughed at. I really think that it did not take side on either Bush or Kerry. I feel that it actually showed their true colors in a way most other commercials or videos don't. This was a clip that could be laughed at as we all know these things are true. I feel that like all of the other ways to persuade someone to vote for that candidate, this one should be most liked because there is all truth to the clip. No one wants to hear all the lies that presidents tell jsut to get their vote. It spoke about real situations and did not sugar coat anything as well.
Political cartoons are probably the best way to win my vote because I become tired of watching boring debates and presidents lieing about what they are going to do in office. This cartoon switches things up a little and has you thinking outside the box. So in my opinion, political cartoons are the best way to win over my vote.

First of all I thought the cartoon to be very funny. In a time where most people are either for Bush or Kerry, it simply makes fun of both of tem. I think that this cartoon overall was found to be ineffective. Mainly because it wasn't praising either parties. By looking at this cartoon I would not be able to praise either of them. If it had any effect it would be for me to choose the least worst out of the two. I didn't detect any major bias towards Bush or Kerry. Both of their mistakes or faults were mentioned, as were their accomplishments and attributes. A cartoon like this serves to provide and show the irony in political campaigns.
I think that many groups are willing to fight to advocate such a message because all politicall campaigns from each party only show the good of the person they are representing and the negative of the person they are opposing. With such a message, it says "hey, you both have faults and accomplishments". But it obviously says it in a very hilarious way.
To actually sit down and bring facts together in such an effective was is very creative and genious. It would take alot of time in the thinking process. I could probably make a cartoon like this, with obvious help. with time and effort.

This cartoon, as funny as it may be, did serve a purpose in talking about each canidates. I did not think that the cartoon favored Bush or Kerry, only made fun of both of them. The main focus of the cartoon is to make fun of all of the controversies and what people think of the opposing canidate. By relying only on the mistakes or the intelligance of the canidates and not sugarcoating anything, it shows that they are people just like us and have faults of their own.
I think that groups are willing to fight to advocate such messages because it is more of a non-partisan cartoon. It pokes fun at both liberals and conservatives equally. With all of the negative media ads throughout the election season, it is good to have a release that makes fun of the canidates.

"This Land" brought some humor to what was a very serious 2004 election between George Bush and John Kerry. I believe this cartoon was made to serve the purpose of providing a good laugh, and was aimed toward both Bush and Kerry Supporters. It shows the differences between the two candidates, while showing the negative aspects of each. I feel that the cartoon did not have a bias towards either Bush or Kerry. I feel that both were portrayed in an equally negative light, fairly showing the same number of weaknesses between the two. I believe a cartoon like this could be used effectively if it did take a bias toward one candidate. It could show an exaggeration of the negative aspects of one candidate, while putting the other in an extreme positive light. Besides that, this cartoon is free to view. Millions upon millions where spent during the 2004 election for advertising, and this could be an extremely effective way of supporting one of the candidates for free. Also, besides trying to get people to vote for one candidate or the other, I believe you could use a cartoon like this to gain support / resistance for laws, war, and to help gain support towards just about anything you could imagine. This cartoon provided a little bit of relief for a very tense election that was filled with high emotions. I think it made both sides relieve that they are not perfect, and made them aware that each candidate had noticeable flaws.

Personally, I felt that the cartoon was hilarious. It poked fun at how both candidates argued and debated with each other. My favorite part was Kerry stating that Bush couldn’t even pronounce the word “nuclear,� which I thought was very funny and true. The humor in the cartoon was very effective because it also stated the opinions of the American people of each candidate in a comedic way. I detected a huge bias towards Bush. In the cartoon Bush’s statements towards Kerry are actually constructive and relevant when all that is said about Bush is that he is incompetent, which is the opinion of many. Also, whoever created the cartoon uses Kerry’s character to actually make fun of Kerry with his constant reiteration of his Purple Heart awards.

The purpose that this cartoon serves is to sway some votes through humor. Humor is a great away to subtly sway someone’s opinion. The cartoon is biased towards Bush, so by joking about Kerry constantly repeating his story about Vietnam, it tries to change any one who might be for Kerry. So many groups try to fight to get people on their side because this was such a controversial election with so much at stake. America was definitely divided in 2004 with issues so close to us such as: gay marriage, abortion, and the war in Iraq. I don’t think that I could design a cartoon like that because I just have so much homework on my hands, especially this rhetoric research paper I have to work on.

I saw this cartoon on CNBC couple of weeks before election and the two guys who designed this cartoon were interviewed as well.
I think, it’s funny but an offensive cartoon which makes you laugh and angry at the same time and that’s all it is. It is totally ineffective in changing the minds of undecided voters. Some people would argue that the language used in this cartoon is offensive to both parties especially to Kerry who is called a monster, UN pussy, liberal sissy etc. Bush also had a fair share of offensive language. Calling a sitting president stupid dumb ass is extremely unpleasant, irresponsible and unreasonable.
I don’t think, this cartoon was biased because in my view the Jib Jab guys are not interested in sending a message across or are trying to prove a political point. I think they are just exploiting this hot topic with the use of foul language to make people laugh, become famous and than subsequently make money by attracting advertisers.
In my view, this cartoon doesn’t serve any significant purpose. It doesn’t give you any new or credible information. However, it does make some people laugh especially those who like cheap and vulgar comedy. To be honest, I am one of those who like vulgar comedy and probably that’s the reason why l love Mike Myers and Jim Carry but at the same time, I was also somewhat offended just like many other people because some of the language used in the cartoon is simply insulting and personal attacks on Kerry, Bush and Clinton are shameful.
I don’t think that I have the skills to design a political cartoon. It’s just not my cup of tea. I can read, comprehend and enjoy a good political cartoon and making one is an extremely difficult task.
By th way, Jib Jab second animation cartoon called 2nd term is also out and is available on Yahoo, if anyone is interested in watching it. Second animation is much more decent and funnier.

When I saw this cartoon I thought it was extremely funny. It took a real life candidate campaign and made it humorous. I believe that the cartoon was not very effective. I do not think it would have persuaded anyone to vote for either candidate because it revealed the flaws or mistakes of both Bush and Kerry. I feel that this cartoon was bias towards Kerry. It used many more examples of why America should not vote for Kerry. It manipulated Kerry’s reputation more than Bush’s. Kerry was criticized with many different examples but he retaliated by saying he won three purple hearts and a few other things. I think that the majority of the things that were said about both candidates were somewhat truthful. I believe that the purpose of this cartoon was to just make fun of each presidential candidate. It also made a serious situation very funny. Another purpose of this cartoon was to inform some people about what each candidate believed in and what they thought of each other. I do not think that this cartoon was made to be taken seriously but to just give people a few laughs about the campaign. So many groups are willing to fight to advocate messages like these because they think it is an easier way of persuading others to adopt their beliefs and vote for the person that they are supporting. This was a very nice cartoon, but I do not think I would be able to design a cartoon like this because I am not the comedian type.

Forum #2
The Jib Jab, This Land cartoon uses humor and familiarity to appeal to the viewer. The use of a familiar song was effective in that it allowed viewers to notice the changes in the lyrics more than if they had used an unfamiliar song. In addition, the song choice is considered a celebration song, and an American song, so it was appropriate and appealing for the cartoon subject. The characterization’s of the candidates was also effective, because it made the cartoon funny but not offensive. In addition, it made the cartoon memorable. If they were to use real pictures of the candidates without all the fun animation, people might have been offended, but the use of drawings and the fake moving jaw makes the video seem light-hearted and less offensive. One portion of the video that was ineffective was the name calling. Although the name calling added humor it did not really point out any positives or negatives about the candidates that were worth remembering. This was not an effective tactic in the cartoon, because it seemed like nonsense. I detected a slight bias towards Kerry. Bush made fun of Kerry about his purple hearts, and other various measures, but the only thing Kerry made fun of about Bush is his intelligence level. The video played that aspect throughout the entire video and seemed to really focus on that aspect, especially when he was writing on the Constitution in crayons. The purpose of this video was to portray both candidates negatively and differently in a humorous, enjoyable way. It is much more appealing than long speeches or newspaper articles. So many groups are willing to advocate such messages because they all believe in their cause, and the more appealing their advertisement is the more people they will reach to serve their cause. I probably couldn’t design a cartoon like this for other political causes because I feel I would need to do an extensive amount of research on the issue and know a lot of background information. The details made that cartoon so funny, and I don’t feel I know enough details to create one.

I find that this cartoon is ineffective in that it is very satirical, because anything satirical is usually not taken seriously. The cartoon contains no substance and it is quite short. The fact that this cartoon is done so humorously demises any points or facts made by each of the candidate.

I don’t detect a bias towards any of the candidates because both of their weaknesses and strengths were brought up. Most of their familiar imperfections were recalled during the cartoon.

The main purpose of this cartoon is to entertain. There is nothing constructive or intellectual about this cartoon that would sway our opinions of the candidates. It is mainly humorous and provides us with a lighter look of the candidates. I believe people fight to advocate a message such as this one because this cartoon shows us that there is no perfect candidate. It shows us that both of them have their own faults and we should be accepting of them. It shows us that we should make our decision, not based on their faults, but based on the ideas and the morals they possess. And most importantly, to deny a person from creating such a cartoon would be a violation of their right to free speech.

I don’t see why anyone, like me, couldn’t create a cartoon like this. I’m sure the animation would probably not be as good and it probably wouldn’t be on any websites or television, but I believe the message would be the same. It would be a light-hearted message that capitalizes on someone’s weakness and portrays them humorously.

I really like the end of the cartoon when both Bush and Kerry come together and accept each other’s and their own faults. In spite of all the insults shared by each of the candidates, in the end they can still be united because “this land was made for you and me.�

This candidate cartoon, by far was the funniest I have seen. The song was a catchy an easy to remember song. It’s like one of those songs you hear for the first time and love it. This made me interested in the video right away. Many videos have a boring scheme to them. The animations and voices made this video funny. I don’t think it was offensive. Because it wasn’t only one candidate getting made fun of, but it was both. Therefore it didn’t seem as offensive to me. It seemed more like a joke. If I ever saw this video it would not make my vote change for which president I wanted to win. This video was made for humor and laughs. Many of the jokes they were using the people of the United States already knew about. For example that Kerry was a flip flopper and about his three medals. Also how Bush is purposively not the brightest light on the porch. This video made something serious into a joke. I don’t believe either president was hurt from the video. Because it was stuff that everyone was reading about or hearing about. It didn’t involve any of their personal lives, just rumors that were going around about each president. If this video only made fun of one president I don’t believe it would have been that funny. All in all this video was a nice laugh and a way to get away from all the tension during the presidential election.