BREXIT, cartoon.

Eymeline : This cartoon is about brexit which occured on June 24th 2016, following the referundum promised by David Cameron before his re-election as prime minister of the U.K. This drawing was made by Gary Mccoy and published on the website www.politicalcartoons.com

 In this cartoon we can see two distinct parts :

First let's see the one called« 1776 » ;on the left of the drawing, we can see two characters who are soldiers. The man on the left seems to be an English soldier because his uniform is composed of a hat, a long red jacket, white trousers and brown boots, he typically looks likean english soldier of the 18th century. He also has a fat belly. On the right there is an American soldier, the difference in his uniform compared to the english's is the blue jacket, the blue boots and the tricorn. besides the other element is the flag displayed by the american which is the 13 stars and stripes flag representing the 13 united states of America in 1776.

 1776 is the year of the Declaration of Independence issued on July 4th. The year America was born and broke free from the Colonial Empire of the UK. In this speech balloon we can see «  Do not tell us how we should be affiliated and how to live our lives ! » here we can observe the will of the british colonies of becoming independent and self governing. We can see with the words « affiliated »how much the british colonies from america wanted to dissociate from the U.K., and how they didn't want to be told how to live anymore by the british crown.Furthermore,the flag which is put on display by the new american is a symbol of the country's new freedom 

Then in the part on the right called“2016” there are two characters; the man on the left embodies the stereotype of a british gentleman; with a smart suit, a bowler hat and holding a suit case. He is in the same position as the british soldier in the first part, standing straight while getting scold at. The second man is a cliché of an american citizen : he is fat, he is wearing shorts, a white tee shirt with the logo of the ticket for presidential of 2008, Obama & Biden and flipflops. He looks quite like a lazy bum. He is also in the same position as the american soldier, scolding the brits. In the speech balloon “Yo, Brits are dumb for leaving the EU” is written.

The cartoonist means that in 2016, the U.K. by exiting the EU, is seeking for more independence and democracy. The american is wearing the logo of Barack Obama's campaign of 2008 “Obama Biden” so we can believe that he represents the democrats' point of view on this issue: for the democrats, this exit is an error and they should have stayed in the EU. It has been 240 years since the Declaration of Independence of the United States, but it is ironical that an american is telling what the british should do when decades ago Americans asked British not to tell them what to do. It is hypocritical for someone who once gave advice and scolded people not to interfere is now interfering. There is a real criticism of the narrow-mindedness of « good minded » Americans.

...