Several people have brought this cartoon to my attention. I don’t get it.
So Bush and Rummy are being rewarded for their incompetence by getting to hang out with the octopuses? Or does the cartoonist just hate cephalopods, and is illustrating their torment? (They do look kind of pissed).
Steve Bell cartoons aren’t always obvious – he has a certain style that takes some getting used to. You spotted the “Mission Accomplished” banner? There’s a clue as to the particular ship in question.
I like this one better.
Actually, PZ, the cartoon is a copy of a cartoon memorializing the retirement of Chancellor Bismarck, the very warlike creator of modern Germany. In today’s cartoon, Rummy is Bismarck, and Bush is the Kaiser. The major difference is that in the original cartoon, the ship was ABOVE water.
Jeez, what would science nerds do without us artsy-fartsies to recognize references to century-old European political comment?
it’s a parody of a very famous cartoon entitled “dropping the pilot”. Google for it. You’ll actually find that it dates back a long way, and there have already been many, many, reworks of it to suit different political scenarios.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to….Cephalopod Hell!!!!”
Steve Bell is like Doonesbury, but much, much more grotesque. He’s well worth bookmarking for a daily glance or weekly catchup: he does a daily strip and you can catch the backstory here:
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/stevebell/index.html
He also does a regular op-ed cartoon at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/
He had Bush a a chimp from the off, and before that had Clinton’s foreign policy being entirely controlled by Socks the Cat whose foriegn policy was based on access to fish. Very worth a daily click. PZ, this octopus thing is new, it’s probably a one-time offence: relax.
I think the point is that Bush and Rummy are going to have to deal with the fact that they’re responsible for their atrocious administration and they’re not happy that they have to have responsibility in their pampered lives. But what do I know.
here’s the original:
http://www.dhm.de/lemo/objekte/pict/gr102138/index.jpg
I particularly like that Kaiser Wilhelm’s crown has been replaced by a duck sitting on W’s head. Nice touch…
Steve Bell and some of his peers on the UK satirical cartooning scene, such as Martin Rowson, are very aware of the long tradition in which they work and frequently refer to it. Cartoons from as far back as the 18th century are firmly lodged in the British psyche – Python, Spitting Image (and even Borat) didn’t come from nowhere…
http://www.politicalcartoon.co.uk/ has some good reading.
mm Wave,
I suspect that’s really meant to be an albatross.
Yes, I realize he’s a lame duck prez.
I believe the cephalopods are meant to represent ‘retribution’ or ‘justice’ and are therefor extensions of the godhead- angels or, if you’d rather, avatars of Mother Nature.
In traditional christian art- these angels are often illustrated as having 6 wings; called seraphim. The fact that the subjects illustrated above seem to have 8 limbs is not without precedent.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Seraphim_-_Petites_Heures_de_Jean_de_Berry.jpg
And hopefully that the “duck” is the only part of that that’s new. :P
Jeb,
I’m sticking with “duck”; ducks seem to be a feature of his cartoons right now, for obvious reasons. Plus, it looks like a duck to me ;-).
Either way, I thought it was a nice replacement for Kaiser Wilhelm’s crown. On the other hand, maybe he should have just left the crown…
One more point of interest that I just spotted (and then I’ll shut up, I promise…).
If you look at the top left of the full size version, it says “After Tenniel”, just in case the reference wasn’t obvious.
And the suicide dolphin/fish at the upper right with the bomb belt strapped around its midsection may be Al Queda lurking in the depths waiting for any survivors seeking the surface after the sinking of the ship.
Hey! I recognized that it was a parody of the Kaiser Wilhelm/Bismarck cartoon. Do I lose my science nerd status? Or is it just that I’m an artsy-fartsy math teacher?
Meh. I’m a geeky engineering student with strong literary impulses, and I didn’t recognize it. I plead not being old enough to have seen the original in print. :P *ducks*
Steve Bell cartoons aren’t always obvious –
PZ’s tongue-in-cheek isn’t always obvious — although it certainly should have been in this case.
Chancellor Bismarck, the very warlike creator of modern Germany.
Modern Germany? I think you left out a century.
The captain goes down with the ship. Have a nice trip G.W.!
Nothing sinister. Cephalopods are lazy cartoon shorthand for “Under The Sea! Woooooo!”
I’d think the octopuses were supposed to represent “at the bottom of the sea,” except they look like caricatures of somebody… can’t make out who, though.
PZ’s tongue-in-cheek isn’t always obvious — although it certainly should have been in this case
The post was tongue-in-cheek? Jeez, nobody got that. We could have avoided this fascinating discussion of political cartoon history.
Personally, Bell was funny though easy to decode.
Though I missed the “dropping the pilot” theme – unfortunately I have a rather detailed image memory, so I miss abstractions and similarities now and then, and Bell was too dissimilar. I have seen the Churchill variant in my father’s library – he loves political cartoons from all times. Thanks for the cartoon lesson!
Bell had Reagan as a huge lame duck in 1987 or so, after the avrious scandals nad stupidities. Then when Bush the first won the election, he had a couple of cartoons with an organ grinders monkey (Reagan) on top of an organ, (WHich was being wound by a parade of rich people and military top brass). A new monkey (BUsh 1) popped up onto the organ and told reagan to get lost, and reagan responds by pointing out that of course peopel would beleive he was a harmless old fool who had not seen or done any evil, but they wouldnt believe it of an ex-CIA director. Whereupon Bush keeps repeeating that he knows nothing, nobody told him anything, etc etc.
I think many of you would like Steve Bell cartoons. I’ve learnt more politicial history from them than from the newspapers.
I want to be
Under the sea
in an octopussy’s garden…
Octopusses are just gratuitous eye-candy in this drawing.
Octopi… – d’oh – it was late. (And I don’t often write about cephalopods)
The original cartoon was a legendary news scoop, and was also a bit of dishonest spin.
Tenniel was a multi-talented draughtsman and painter, but most Americans know of him only for his illustrations of the two “Alice” books. Some of the characters in those illustrations were based on Tenniel’s colleagues at “Punch” magazine, where Tenniel drew a political cartoon almost every week for over fifty years, from 1850 to 1901.
In 1888, Wilhelm inherited the German Empire, and became Kaiser Wilhelm II. Two years later, in 1890, the Kaiser wrote a letter, disclosing his decision to boot Bismarck, to his grandmother, Queen Victoria. She invited Tenniel to have tea at Buckingham Palace, and during the tea, she shared her family gossip with Tenniel.
Tenniel usually relied on others at “Punch” to give him the ideas for his cartoons, and even in this case Tenniel didn’t realize what a great scoop had been leaked to him until after his “Punch” colleagues told him so. He drew the cartoon and then the magazine published it before any newspapers knew of Bismarck’s “resignation”.
Gombrich points out that Tenniel’s “Dropping The Pilot” was a fundamentally dishonest cartoon (consistent with Tenniel’s conservatism and political obtuseness — sorry if I’m spoiling anybody’s future “Alice” experience) because a real pilot is dropped after completing the job of safely guiding a ship in or out of a harbor. Tenniel’s image falsely conveys calmness and safety.
What really happened, of course, is that Bismarck was fired, and the ship, Germany, ended up in much worse hands (the Kaiser & Co.) than Bismarck’s.
Steve Bell’s cartoon, unlike Tenniel’s original, is honest.
Actually he’s right. Before Bismarck and the Franco-Prussian war of 1871 there was no Germany as we think of it, one big country in the middle of Western Europe. There was a patchwork confederation of kingdoms, duchies, free cities, etc. the largest of which was the Bismarck’s Prussia.
This is a good toon in a lot of ways, becuase my historian friend argues that the German figure Bush most resembles is not the often-invoked Hitler, but Kaiser Wilhelm II. An entitled, preening, self-important boob, son of privilige, who thought war was cool and overrode his more sensible advisors (like Bismarck). And say what you will about the “warlike” Bismarck, he was one of the canniest politicians of the age, and is well revered in his homeland. Actually I am reminded of Bush when I think of another quote, “Bismarck was great man because he knew when to stop. Hitler was a monster because he didn’t.” The same is true of Kaiser Willy and Kaiser W.
Just one more comment: They look too conspicuous to be just part of the background — maybe they’re supposed to be members of British parliament who also supported the Iraq war. Otherwise, I’d think a pro like Bell would’ve made them look more naturalistic if they were only supposed to be part of the scenery.
Also note that one of the fish is a suicide bomber, and one of the cephalopods is Cheney.
Hmm… Well, the point might be that Bush is too oblivious to realize the ship is already sunk to the bottom, and any changes now are pointless.
Sysprug: It may be the context in which I first saw the cartoon — my O-level history class on the formation of modern Germany — but the worst way I can see it is as an inaccurate cartoon, rather than a dishonest one. I knew that Bismark was being kicked out because of his differences with the Kaiser, so that’s always coloured my view of the cartoon. To me, it’s always looked as though Bismark is being gotten rid of, he looking crestfallen and defeated, and Wilhelm looking smarmy and self-satisfied. I don’t imagine that the readers of Punch would have been naive enough to believe that Bismark was just going quietly into retirement, satisfied that his job was done.
Hmm… Well, the point might be that Bush is too oblivious to realize the ship is already sunk to the bottom, and any changes now are pointless.
Yeah, I love how they exploited terrorism as an opportunity to seize as much power as they could. They knew that anyone who opposed them would be branded as traitors and cowards. Not to mention their abuse of the constitution with their stupid marriage amendment thing just to get some extra votes. What a bunch of sleaze bags. Good riddance sleazy Rove bag Republicans. Maybe some real conservatives will come in and fill the gaps. Have a nice day!
Not to mention all three of them claimed to be acting as god’s representative.
I thought the octopoids were Rove and Cheney…
Steve Bell’s cartoon from the previous week.
Friday 03-Nov-2006:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,,1938626,00.html
BTW…
Don’t you mean they look *inked*? :P
Yah, the resonance of the cartoon requires you to know the Tenniel one.
Basically–it’s far too late to try switching the captain now, me boys, she’s on the bottom of the sea….
And I definitely like the duck-as-crown on Bush’s head.
Ann Homily wrote:
“Just one more comment: They look too conspicuous to be just part of the background — maybe they’re supposed to be members of British parliament who also supported the Iraq war.”
The foremost octopus could have the raised eyebrow bell always gives blair.