On the use of the digital moving image in retooling the australian political cartooning tradition to a new media context

This research clarifies the position of the contemporary Australian political cartoonist in the context of a changing media landscape, and examines the implications of the shift of dissemination of news and current events away from news print media to the Internet. The observation that the political cartoon has, throughout its history, adapted and evolved in response to various socio-political and technological changes invites the question of how the art form might continue to endure as a vehicle for subversive political comment in the digital media age. In exploring the creative possibilities afforded by new media technologies and analysing where these outcomes intersect with the conventions and functions of political cartoons, the study specifically locates the digitally constructed, political moving image within the Australian political cartooning tradition. This position is investigated and supported through three key activities: critical engagement with the extant literature; insights gained through interviews with professional, practising political cartoonists deemed to be pioneers of the political moving image; and my development of a creative practice centred on production and dissemination of political animations. The provision of a new, revised taxonomy for the critical analysis and classification of political images compels practitioners, scholars and prize-givers to eschew hitherto inviolable determinants in the characterisation of political cartoon images so that the tradition can endure in the foreseeable future