Photosnark
You may ask yourself: “Why is there an obviously photoshopped picture of the long dead Ayatollah Khomeini with a jail beard imprisoning Hannah Montana?” Well, it starts with this critical appreciation of a “cartoon” by John Sherffius portraying the US-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi imprisoned by the Ayatollah Khomeini’s beard. And makes it’s way to cartoonist Matt Bors’ hilarious mockery of both the critical appreciation and Sherffius’ lazy approach to caricature.
Seriously, it took me more time to render the jail cell than play with the threshold of Khomeini to fake the “drawing.” What I don’t understand is — why not DRAW the damn thing? Isn’t this what cartooning is all about, an individual cartoonist’s unique rendering of political figures and events?
Of course, the other question is: WHY the Ayatollah Khomeini? He’s been DEAD for 20 years! Surely Sayyid Ali Khamenei deserves props for being supreme leader in Iran since Khomeini’s death. Certainly Saberi’s parents think he has more influence than the dead guy. Can’t Sherffius tell the difference? I realize most of my fellow Americans can’t, but Sherffius is supposed to do a little research, being a political observer and commentator and all. Must it always be 1979 for US-Iranian relations? We forgave Germany and Japan for WWII more quickly.
Lastly: Why Hannah Montana? Well, Miley Cyrus tweeted nice things about gay marriage. I reckon that might earn her jail time, if Iranian hardliners had any say in the matter.
April 28th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
No doubt. It’s not a cartoon unless you actually had to think AND draw. sheesh
April 28th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
“We forgave Germany and Japan for WWII more quickly.”
It’s easier to forgive a country once you’ve bombed the hell out of it and then magnanimously reconstructed it according to your own preferences. Saddam Hussein also will stop being the face of Iraq once they’re up and running again.