Memes — that oh-so-funny package of photos, animations, video clippings, texts and everything in between — have become such an integral part of social media that it is difficult to imagine a world without them.
And, they are the new weapons of mass defamation as politicians, actors and sport stars get roasted in a high flame of cutting humour. But ironically, their popularity has forced even political parties, the favourite whipping boys of social media, to lap them up and use them as part of their propaganda material.
But where does this leave the art of cartooning, particularly political cartooning, the crown jewel of journalism?
Memes do raise the bar for political cartoonists, says Bala, an author and editorial cartoonist working for a leading Tamil magazine. “Very often we would be planning a cartoon in a certain way only to see the idea presented in a meme. Also, we need to make sure our cartoons are not seen as mere copy cats of popular memes.”
On the other hand, Madan, another leading cartoonist, author and film critic, says memes are no match for the creative heft of cartoons. “You cannot compare a film review written by someone like Derek Malcolm [of The Guardian fame] and what someone tweets during the intermission — mokka padam [boring movie]. Cartoons are profound.”
But there is no wishing away memes, Badri Seshadri, Publisher and Promotion of New Horizon Media, says.
“Memes are here to stay. Just like how blogging and then later Facebook and Twitter opened the gates to tens of thousands of writers, we will see more and more people, who primarily want to emulate cartoonists but do not have the artistic ability to draw, take up memes. And it is only natural that this [memes] will mature with the passing of time. So, we may soon have a new breed of serious-amateur meme creators.”
Drawn to last
Even as they acknowledge this “great democratisation of the art of satire” and term it “inevitable,” both Bala and Madan contend that unlike memes, cartoons have a life span that is sometimes longer than the cartoonists.
Says Madan: “Decades ago when MGR asked AIADMK cadres to tattoo the party symbol on their body, I drew a cartoon that had a tough-looking man, complete with huge sideburns and moustache and a nose ring, telling another, ‘Our leader has asked us to pierce our nose [ mooku kuthikko ]’. I did not use the phrase pachai kuthikko [Tamil for inking/piercing of the body] at all. But the characterisation and the silliness of the whole proposition evoked instant laughter and the cartoon is remembered to date. That is the power of cartoons.”
However, memes — given their anonymous origins — are not afflicted by the holy cow syndrome. Sometimes, we operate under certain constraints that make us go easy on certain personalities. Memes do not play by these rules, and in fact, thrive on the fact that they can hit below the belt,” says Bala.
This could be a huge safety valve in the pressure-cooker world of editorial cartooning, where a small misstep and a big overreaction from the powers-that-be could even land an editor in jail. In the late 1980s, the editor of Ananda Vikatan was jailed for a cartoon that allegedly showed MLAs and Ministers in bad light.
Sums up Madan: “I am not saying all memes are unexciting because I know that there are bad cartoonists as well. But the way one falls in love with someone like R.K. Laxman and even the subtlest of his lines simply cannot happen with memes.”
