Cartoon controversies and geopolitics

Archer, animators and audiences

Bibliographic Data

ID3978070
AuthorsJoe Thorogood (0000-0001-7781-0667, Geography Department, University College London, London, United Kingdom, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume21
Issue3
Pages357-379
Publication date2020-03-23
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial & Cultural Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1464-9365 • E-ISSN: 1470-1197
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14649365.2018.1497190
OpenAlexW2887895051
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited69

Scholars of popular geopolitics ponder how and why cultural media become important commentaries on real-world events. Cultural geographers are wrestling with technology that mediates the experience of consuming popular culture. I bring these two literatures into dialogue by explaining how audiences and animators of the popular animated cartoon Archer are linked. I begin by outlining the cultural materiality of the animated cartoon through an assemblage-based framework where Archer's political satire emerges from the relationship between writers, audiences, animators and nonhuman animation technologies. Second, I use this framework to analyse how Archer responded to a real-world event: the rise of the Islamic State in 2014. I show how fans interpreted this decision and conclude that the geopolitical meaning of satirical cartoons – and their ability to resonate and affect audiences – should be understood as a socio-material effect that is emergent, unpredictable and relational

Aesthetics · Animation · Art · Epistemology · Geopolitics · Materiality (auditing · Meaning (existential · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Popular culture · Sociology · Visual arts · Geographies of human-animal interactions · Narrative Theory and Analysis · Philosophy · Travel Writing and Literature

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