ALFRED MCCOY’S
PHILIPPINE CARTOONS
CONTENT AND CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS
Political cartoons and caricature are a rather recent art form,
which veered away from the classical art by exaggerating
human features and poking fun at its subjects. Cartoon
became an effective tool of publicizing opinions through
heavy use of symbolism, which is different from a verbose
written editorial and opinion pieces.
Alfred McCoy, together with Alfred Roces, compiled political
cartoons published in newspaper dailies and periodicals in his
book.
Philippine Cartoons:
Political Caricature
of the American Era
(1900 – 1941).
Born on June 8, 1945 in Concord,
Massachusetts, United States
Dr. Alfred “Al” W. McCoy, who is
Professor of SE Asian History at the
University of Wisconsin at Madison
where he also serves as director of the
Center for SE Asian Studies. He’s spent
the past quarter-century writing about
the politics and history of the optimum
trade.
McCoy has spent the thirty years
writing about Southeast Asian history
and politics. His publications include
Philippine Cartoons (1985), Anarchy of
Families (1994), Closer Than Brothers:
Manhood at the Philippine Military
Academy (2000) and Lives at the
Margin (2001).
Alfred “Al” W. McCoy
Philippine political cartoons gained full expression during the
American era. Filipino artists recorded national attitudes toward
the coming of the Americans as well as the changing more and
times.
While the 377 cartoons compiled in this book speak for themselves,
historian Alfred McCoy’s extensive research in Philippine and
American archives provides a comprehensive background not
only to the cartoon but to the turbulent period as well.In his book,
Philippine Cartoons: Political Caricature of the American Era (1900-
1941), Alfred McCoy, together with Alfredo Roces, compiled
political cartoons published in newspaper dailies and periodicals in
the aforementioned time period.
For this part, we are going to look at selected cartoons and
explain the context of each one.
The cartoon shows a politician from Tondo, named Dr. Santos,
passing his crown to his brother-in-law, Dr. Barcelona. A Filipino guy
was trying to stop giving Barcelona the crown because it is not his
to begin with
We see a Filipino child who stole a skinny chicken because he had
nothing to eat. The police officer was relentlessly pursuing the said child.
A man wearing a salakot, was grabbing the officer, telling him to leave
the small-time pickpockets and thieves and to turn at the great thieves
instead.
The third cartoon was a commentary on the unprecedented cases of
colorum automobiles in the city streets. The Philippine Free Press
published this commentary when fatal accidents involving colorum
vehicles and taxis occurred too often already.
The fourth cartoon depicts a cinema. A blown-up police officer was at
the screen saying that couples are not allowed to neck and make love
in the theater. Two youngsters looked horrified while an older couple
seemed amused.
The next cartoon was published by The Independent on November 27.
1915. here, we see the caricature of Uncle Sam riding a chariot pulled by
Filipinos wearing school
We can see Uncle Sam rationing porridge to the politicians and
members of the Progresista Party (sometimes known as the Federalista
Party) while members of the Nacionalista Party look on and wait for their
turn.
