Cartoon Genius
by Michael HoffmanSunday, October 22nd, 2006
I have been writing a lot and thinking a lot about video and why it is so important as a way to engage audiences around issues. It is an expressive medium and so has power that you don’t always get in print. But let’s not forget there is power elsewhere.
When I was in high school I was a raging Reagan hater. I followed the Iran-Contra hearings, and still can’t forgive Elliot Abrams – not for his crimes – but rather for his disdain for Congressional authority. (I grew up in a VERY political family.)
At the time, Doonesbury was a real inspiration for me. I still have the cutouts from the paper of the long list of Reagan administration officials who were indicted or resigned under a cloud. It went on for days. Garry Trudeau was my hero and I, like everyone else, knew very little about him – other than he married Jane Pauley.
The Washington Post Magazine did a story today on Trudeau that is a must-read for any Doonesbury fan. As he has been chronicling B.D.’s story of being wounded in Iraq and his recovery, he has connected with real wounded vets and, through B.D., is telling their stories. These episodes have been just released in a book.
This reminds me that while video is HUGE and important and changing how we communicate, lets not abandon the writing and the art and, yes, the cartoons, that have their own deep source of power and, in the case of Trudeau, genius.
