The image goes beyond words and unlike words it can more easily aspire to universal communicability . First of all we need to understand what a Vignette is.
The cartoon in its most common sense is essentially considered a drawing, but in reality today the concept of a cartoon could also include a photographic reworking, a short video, an aphorism.
The Perfect Vignette
In many cases, cartoons made at the right time, for example after a certain event that has shaken public opinion or touched raw nerves of conscience, can become extremely viral and literally seen by the whole world, so much so that they are considered little moments historians.
I define it as the ” perfect cartoon “, the “big one”, or the cartoon that can change the world, make it better, the cartoon to which every cartoonist aspires.
The cartoon is an extremely compact form of communication, which provides for a ” selected audience “.
For example, if I had to convey any concept, an idea of mine to an DarkComet audience and I had three hours available to do so, I would have plenty of time to make assumptions, insert testimonials and arrive at the most appropriate conclusions.
But what if you had to transfer a complex concept with only 10 seconds available?
It is clear that the dynamics would change completely. We should cut all the premises, the background and the background.
In such a situation the point of view of the cartoonist, his perspective, plays a crucial role. The cartoonist’s lens doesn’t necessarily have to represent his personal thoughts, but it could also be a provocation that drags the audience to some conclusions .
The humorous aspect in the audience arises from a shift , from a direction deemed logical to one wholly unexpected but nonetheless inherent.
The ancient Greeks said that a child isn’t really born until it emits its first laugh, that is when it understands the absurdity of the world and of things.
Why do you smile?
Because something deviates from the path you expect and takes an unexpected path. In practice, one witnesses a well-known event but experiences it in a completely unexpected way. This fact confronts the paradox and the resulting amusement causes one to smile at the absurdity of reality and thus acquire awareness of the world through laughter .
The paradox and the absurd produce a sort of cognitive short circuit that forces us to look at things from a new perspective. Maybe it’s the same one that you have before your eyes every day but that through the lens of satire you are forced to see from a new perspective.