Humour for the pandemic

The article which attracted the most “hits” in my Brexit series told the U.K’s divorce story through the artistic eyes of cartoonists.  

Before examining their snappy images, it hadn’t occurred to me that a lateral take would provide such eloquent narrative for this defining period in Europe’s history.[i]  Humour makes such a difference. 

In which case, it’s time to go again and adopt the same technique to explore the latest crisis.  It could just be the antidote to help us cope with the returning restrictions on personal liberty.  The cartoonists' art form reasserts its voice.

Despite what might seem like a poor opportunity for humour, a deadly pandemic, the satirists have kept busy finding ways to articulate events in pictures.  Targets have included everything from toilet rolls to face masks, the use disinfectant and PPE, working from home and self-isolation, the ambiguity of Government messaging and, not least, the performance of political leaders.

 

Cartoonists found themselves at the junction of two international crises, an opportunity to enhance both messages.  

As countries in Europe began locking down and the U.K.'s new Government procrastinated, panic set in.  Stockbrokers rushed into a frenzy by selling shares and households panic-bought toilet rolls.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ireland locked down ahead of the UK shocking itself and the world by cancelling St Patrick's Day.

It all seemed a long way away from Britain.  Cruise liners in exotic locations far far away became an early target of the virus.  Ships were shunned and couldn't even be abandoned.

Gradually, however, people in the U.K. had to learn new skills:-

·         working from home

"Just to say, Mr Shepherd, I'm working from home"

 

(Classic Aesopean fable)

·        

 

 

 

                      

 

 

 

 

e     stay at home

(Another Classic Aesopean fable)

observe personal hygiene etiquette

(A third Classic Aesopean fable)

     wash hands

Acknowledgements to Michaelangelo and the Sistene Chapel

·         self-isolating

·         relaxing at home (e.g. improving IT skills; wine tasting) 

·         home schooling 

·         exercising only once a day

Acted by Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins - The Shawshank Redemption

·         clapping for NHS workers every Thursday (in lieu of paying them danger money) 

 

Important people weren’t immune from infection, for example

·         the first of the British royal family in line as monarch 

 

·         not to mention Lord Himself - even in resurrection

 

Really important people, however, turned out to be unimpeachable due to myopia:-

 

Je ne regrette rien

 

Meanwhile, the leader with a mandate to Make America Flush Again bleached his reputation.

Not to be outdone, the UK PM (either intentionally or by accident or both) obfuscated with a dramatic address live to the nation

Graphs became ever more important in communicating the official message 

Source: ONS (Oh no sweatpants)

 

As the language of Government reached enigmatic proportions, it was time to ask an expert to decode its terminology

Meanwhile in the real world, statisticians confirmed that UK death figures were the worst in Europe

 

Cartoonist Cold War Steve subsequently offered an alternative take on the depressing datasets

 

Midsummer and rising temperatures coinciding with the easing of lockdown sent many people rushing to southern beaches.  The same cartoonist reflected the mood

  

A less prosaic image expressed it otherwise 

 

 

 

A national newspaper ran a recent article paying tribute[ii] to the “visual satirists.” Ten cartoonists were interviewed allowing them to explain their use of humour “to get through the pandemic.”   Two examples:-

The first sketch involves word play on the “R” rate.  Its artist Kathryn Lamb explains that “because the news has been so depressing I’ve been saying Arrgh to myself quite a lot recently.” 

Another example was this image by Chris Riddell, Britannia and the lion being symbolic expressions of Britain’s national mood.  Crucially, a Huawei phone lies on the ground “dropped as if it’s a hot potato.”   The artist adds “of all the times to be caught between the two great economic blocs in the world, we (the UK) are leaving the third.  It beggars belief.” 

A week later another national paper collated 19 “Covid dispatches,” part of the collection by their award-wing cartoonist, Peter Brookes.[iii]  Three in particular caught my eye.  

·         One shows President Trump confidently predicting the future in March

·         another focuses on PM Johnson and the big “R” 

·        and the ever-topical virus within Government for backtracking.  Examples include the "fiasco" "shambles" "débacle" (nowhere has the noun "success" been used) over cancelled exams for school children. 

 

Cartoonists sometimes magnify their impact by combining two stories.  This finale draws, literally, on the recurring discord over track and trace strategy and also the school exams mess. 

Closed is the word.

 

©Michael McSorley 2020

 

Postscript:-

This Covid-19 series comprises of 8 articles to date:- 

Part 1 (24 March 2020) A Test for Elected Leaders[iv] 

Part 2 (11 April 2020) Coping with Contagion, a Survival Strategy.[v]

Part 3 (30 April 2020) The New Vocabulary[vi]

Part 4 (21 May 2020) Following the Science[vii]

Part 5 (11 June 2020) Beautiful books[viii]

Part 6 (25 June 2020) Stone Circles[ix]

Part 7 (26 July 2020) Finding positives in a global crisis[x]

Part 8 (21 August 2020) Humour for the pandemic

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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[i] Brexit Lampooned 29 April 2019

https://michaelmcsorleyeconomy.blogspot.com/2019/04/brexit-lampooned.html

 

[ii] Observer New Review 9 August 2020 Killian Fox “Sketches from a Trying Year: Cartoonists reflect on 2020”  https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/aug/09/sketches-from-a-trying-year-10-cartoonists-reflect-on-2020

 

[iii] The Times Magazine 15 August 2020 pp8-18 incl. “Peter Brookes’ Covid Cartoons.”

 

[iv] https://michaelcovid19.blogspot.com/2020/03/a-test-for-elected-leaders.html

[v] https://michaelcovid19.blogspot.com/2020/04/coping-with-contagion-survival-strategy.html

[vi] https://michaelcovid19.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-new-vocabulary.html

[vii] https://michaelcovid19.blogspot.com/2020/05/following-science.html

[viii] https://michaelcovid19.blogspot.com/2020/06/beautiful-books.html

[ix] https://michaelcovid19.blogspot.com/2020/06/the-archaeology-of-stone-circles.html

[x] https://michaelcovid19.blogspot.com/2020/07/finding-positives-in-global-crisis.html