Cartoons as Rhetorical Weaponry: A Multimodal Analysis of the Depiction of Corruption in Selected Egyptian and American Editorial Cartoons

Abstract

Rhetorical argumentation has caught the attention of philosophers and orators since antiquity because of their ability to persuade and impact audiences. While rhetorical argument analysis started with verbal modes of communication, they soon embraced other media, especially images. Multimodal rhetorical arguments provide their audience with multiple platforms of meanings that offer new, complex, powerful messages. Editorial cartoons are instances of rhetorical argumentation, where textual and visual modes of communication present audiences with ideologically charged messages about political events, social figures, and current affairs. This study attempts a multimodal analysis of rhetorical devices traced in selected Egyptian and American editorial cartoons published during the 1980s. It traces rhetorical devices in the compiled cartoons of Ahmed Ragab and Mustafa Hussein that appear in Camboura at the Parliament and those of Herbert Block (Herblock) that appear in his Herblock at Large: Let's Go Back a Little...and Other Cartoons to explore how editorial cartoons are powerful tools of exposing corruption and condemning corrupt figures. The adopted approach borrows verbal rhetorical tropes from McQuarrie and Mick’s (1996) and visual rhetorical tropes from Phillips and McQuarrie’s (2004) to conduct the analysis. The study concludes that while all examined rhetorical devices are employed by Ragab and Hussein (1991) and by Block (1987), the distribution of devices on both the textual and visual levels varies. Additionally, corruption in Ragab and Hussein’s cartoons is portrayed through the fictional character Camboura who strives to win a parliamentary seat so he can benefit from the immunity privileges. On the other hand, Block’s editorial cartoons condemn real, social and political figures for the roles they play in plaguing the American society with corruption