notwellread's review against another edition
3.0
This is certainly an interesting medium for re-living such a chaotic and catastrophic year – I think, on the whole, cartoons lend themselves to absurdity pretty well. I like that the introduction explains the argument that we British take an interest in American politics because it affects us (this is my personal view), and because it is ultimately more consequential. I also agree that our own politics is markedly different, more contested within party ranks, and less reverent towards leadership figures than the Americans’, though simultaneously in recent years the US system and norms have influenced ours just as all American culture is ‘exported’ here in some form. However, Ralph Steadman saying that Nixon was ‘a poor man’s Donald Trump’ doesn’t make much sense to me, since at least Nixon wasn’t stupid, and the idea the intro states that we should really laugh at the President is clearly the view of the unaffected observer (in reality, we wouldn’t be / aren’t laughing in either case – Hillary would have done excellently and Trump is causing too much terror for any real mirth to provide relief) – but these aren’t really points related to cartoons. (I bring them up because I think it’s important to contextualise these collectively just as the descriptions do on an individual basis, especially since labelling them the ‘best’ infers that the views expressed are valid.)
I have to note that the cover fell off mine pretty quickly, so I would issue a warning to those purchasing (and those taking out from libraries) to handle with care as it doesn’t seem to hold together very well. As I’ve said, 2016 was a highly eventful year, so the 2015 inclusions seemed unnecessary (and not what the cover advertises!). I also would have liked more American stuff as the introduction seemed to promise, since their politics has more impact than ours in the grand scheme of things, and was more bizarre this year than ours, which was mostly just depressing. On that subject, I found the tone to be detrimental to the book – many individual cartoons were effective, but I found that a medium typically used to make light of serious issues made them all the more troubling; reading the book made me sad more than it got laughs out of me. It made me think British politics of the last year has been dreary and bleak – we don’t have the ‘reality TV’ spark that the US has acquired. As an antidote to this dark era, we’re often promised that art will blossom in defiance – that popular music, films, and counter-cultural movements will all improve in opposition to Trumpism and its associated symptoms – but in the cartoon medium this hasn’t yet become apparent. In all, some entries here are insightful, but the project as a whole hasn’t fulfilled its potential.
I have to note that the cover fell off mine pretty quickly, so I would issue a warning to those purchasing (and those taking out from libraries) to handle with care as it doesn’t seem to hold together very well. As I’ve said, 2016 was a highly eventful year, so the 2015 inclusions seemed unnecessary (and not what the cover advertises!). I also would have liked more American stuff as the introduction seemed to promise, since their politics has more impact than ours in the grand scheme of things, and was more bizarre this year than ours, which was mostly just depressing. On that subject, I found the tone to be detrimental to the book – many individual cartoons were effective, but I found that a medium typically used to make light of serious issues made them all the more troubling; reading the book made me sad more than it got laughs out of me. It made me think British politics of the last year has been dreary and bleak – we don’t have the ‘reality TV’ spark that the US has acquired. As an antidote to this dark era, we’re often promised that art will blossom in defiance – that popular music, films, and counter-cultural movements will all improve in opposition to Trumpism and its associated symptoms – but in the cartoon medium this hasn’t yet become apparent. In all, some entries here are insightful, but the project as a whole hasn’t fulfilled its potential.
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