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Andrea Badillo
Dr. Rand
UWRT 1103
29 November 2017
Remix Project Rationale Chart

1. Why this genre? Why is this a better genre to use versus some others?

I chose the genre of political cartoons because it is a visual way of exaggerating any
alarming situation in order to convey a sense of urgency to the problem being addressed.
Political cartoons are supposed to be drastically inclined toward a particular viewpoint or stance.
They strive to, in a satirical or hyperbolic manner, depict a political situation or context
symbolically with drawings and cartoons. I believe this is a great genre for my intended purpose
because the fact that it is seen in newspapers and online articles relates directly to my topic of
media representation and how it can affect the general sentiment of a population regarding any
impactful event or situation.
In my Inquiry Project, I mainly discussed examples of how media representation
distorted truths, made faulty assumptions, and consequently perpetuated stereotypes and
prejudice against refugees in contemporary Germany. I also mentioned a positive instance of
media representation that inversely created a healthy effect in the masses as they became more
emotionally connected with the situation since it was a photo of a dead child washed up on the
shores of a Turkish beach. I would like to achieve just what this photograph did by fostering an
opposition toward the constant dehumanization that refugees in Germany were receiving. I
believe a political cartoon is the most effective way to do so. Any other type of genre that is
instead written rather than visual, such as a letter, speech, or journal entry, would not be
powerful enough to convey my message in this situation. Through the impact of the drawing of a
sad child with a gun to his head due to the stereotypes that media exaggerated about refugees, I
attempt to give the masses a chance to be aware of such constant negativity, one that does not
have to affect their own opinions. I purposefully chose political cartoons also due to the fact that
they appear in newspaper articles, both online and in print, to convey my message through the
type of form of communication (mass media) I am trying to discredit.

2. Who is the audience? How do you know this audience will respond well to your message?

The audience is the current German population. I chose this audience because I can
assume they will understand the subtlety of the messages symbols due to the fact that media has
covered the refugee crisis in such a potent way. Therefore, the general population will in one
way or another have heard about the refugee crisis before seeing the cartoon. If my audience
were broader, this might not be achieved so easily. Since the purpose is directed toward
minimizing the psychological impact of medias perpetuation of stereotypes in the minds of the
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masses to consequently minimize discrimination in Germany, my audience should be as broad as

the general population but as limited as that of Germanys.

3. How is the message conveyed through this genre?

The message of a political cartoon is not subtle in the sense that the artists bias is clear
through the depiction of the situation in an hyperbolic manner to successfully attract the attention
of their viewers. Yet, the political cartoon assumes its audience knows a general context of what
he/she is depicting as no explicit explanation is shown. But, since the cartoon personifies objects
to use them as symbols of his/her subjects, he/she usually labels the symbols for clarity purposes.
That is why I labeled the gun as MEDIA, since my message is that mass medias perpetuation
of stereotypes can have fatal consequences on real people. I drew the refugee as a child to
dramatically show that the stereotypes erases the majority of the real people who flee to
Germany, including the lives of so many children who are constantly labeled as terrorists,
rapists, or invaders by the generalizations of the news.

4. Are there any assumptions or power inequalities inherent in this genre?

The cartoonist expects some sort of awareness from the viewer in order to create his/her
point or stance. As mentioned before, the viewer must be from Germany and have access to daily
media through newspapers and online articles that discuss the refugee crisis in order to
understand the context of the cartoon. By assuming that the viewers not only have access to
newspapers and online articles but also regularly read them, it can be implied that this group of
people as my audience are also somewhat educated in current events. The fact that they are
involved and active in daily news media means that this targeted group of people have the
awareness necessary to be able to enact change within the society when viewing my cartoon and
understanding the message, one of the reasons why I chose this audience. Yet, that is a power
inequality in itself because access to media and access to education is not distributed equally
among society. By expecting the viewer to be educated, it gives more power to this sector of
society rather than the less informed sector. Consequently, by the educated sector of society
having more power, the politically unaware sector of society has no opportunity to change if the
educated sector does not decide to respond to the message of the cartoonist. The exaggerated
political bias of the cartoonist also gives power only to the opinion of the cartoonist of the
situation. Yet, because such political bias sets the tone of the overall purpose of the piece, such
power inequality is inevitable.