What Is Sheneman's Use Of Political Symbolism In The Deepwater Horizon

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill, also referred to as the BP oil spill, occurred on April 20th, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico, near the Mississippi River Delta. The oil spill was marked as one of the worst corporate inflicted ecological disaster in our nation’s history. Not only has the spill been polluting the Gulf with barrels of oil, it has been polluting politics with millions of political cartoons in regards to the spill. Illustrating the different reactions of the BP oil spill, Drew Sheneman created a political cartoon between a female figure and a Republican looking down at the after effects of the BP oil spill on the Gulf Coast. Sheneman’s political cartoon uses imagery, symbolism, and irony, to differentiate the woman and Republican’s different responses to the tragic oil spill. Imagery, in the form of dialogue, is presented to present the clear contrast of response between the Republican and the women in this illustration. The political cartoon includes two characters; a woman saying, “What a terrible tragedy,” and an elephant replying, “I know. Look at all that wasted oil.” The message

A common political tactic is to symbolize political parties through animal figures. Sheneman intentionally uses an elephant to stereotypically symbolize the Republican party. The elephant appears to be drawn large and overweight and in a well dressed suit. The well dressed suit represents the Republicans high status of power. The large and overweight size represents the Republican’s power and how much they contribute to the system. In contrast, the woman is dressed in normal clothing and is meant to relate to the general public. Subsequently, the body structures and facial expressions of both characters symbolizes different meanings. With a concerned face, the woman is knelt down besides the river, compared to the elephant who is standing with a indifferent