Footprint cartoon

What are the main visual elements?

In this cartoon, there is a picture of Africa with a footprint stamped on top of it. The main colors are black and white.

What issue is this political cartoon about?

I think this cartoon is trying to show how when the Europeans, they left their own trademark on the country. They must have dominated the whole region and said, “This is our land and we claim it.”

What is the cartoonist’s opinion on this issue?

The cartoonist must have wanted to show that this topic was very serious and needed to be fixed. Like I said before, the colors used are black and white. I think this represents the fact that this cartoon must be serious. The edges of the cartoon also show that this topic is serious. If someone was doing a happy topic about Africa, the might have softened up the edges (still keeping the shape the same), but here the edges are sharp and rigid.

What evidence in the cartoon supports your opinion?

Now this may not have a big effect but the patterns and shape of the shoe prints shows that it was a European shoe because the Africans had shoes but not great shoes. This is just an opinion. Like I mentioned before, I said this topic is serious because of the color and shape.

What other techniques could the cartoonist have used to make this cartoon more persuasive?

I think the cartoonist did a good job, but I think he/she could have made the Africa map part 2-D and made the footprint a little thicker in the width and still give the 3-Dimensional look. If he/she did this, it would make the footprint stand out and make more of an effect.