SIMILARITY – IMITATION…

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Again about similarity in the Art of cartoon


It is not interesting to speak about plagiarism in modern Art of cartoon. Plagiarist is a simple thief.
The similarity of cartoons is going to be the problem of every cartoonist all over the world.
The cases of the similarity of cartoons by different cartoonists will happened more and more often. The development of the Art of cartoon from the beginning of 20th century reaches a real crisis. Because:

1. The messages sending by cartoons are second hand. They depend on well-known philosophical and social ideas. For example, very popular problems for the modern humanity now are the Terrorism, global warming, Olympic games… The messages sending by cartoons contain these and other known problems very often.

2. The methods of the creation of cartoons are similar for every artist. The theory of the Art of cartoon means that exist only limited ways of creation.
For example, according to the Suls, J. (1972) exist a two-stage model for the appreciation of jokes and cartoons.
Basic concepts in conceptual integration theory by Fauconnier & Turner (1994; 1998) include mental spaces, frames, or cultural models, and mappings.
The research by Alan F. Blackwell and T.R.G. Green (1999) suggests that graphical metaphor should increase the usability of visual programming languages by providing an instructional aid when learning to use the language.
Very interesting is An Affordance Theory Analysis of Cartoon Humor by Dean H. Owen (1990). General Theory of Verbal Humor by S. Attardo and V. Raskin (1991) means joke similarity. We can use the main ideas of this great theory for cartoon art with success, etc.

3. The images using in the field of the Art of cartoon are stereotypical. These images have to be well-known for the spectators. The Dove of Pease, Pizza tower, Knight, terrorist etc. are the symbolical images for cartooning.
In conclusion, we can speak about real crisis in the Art of cartoon. The methods of creation of cartoons are the similar for every cartoonist, the messages, sending by cartoons are similar and the images of cartoons are similar. And they are limited! So, in time we will find more and more often the cases of the similarity of cartoons more and more often. And the crisis will go on deeper and deeper…
We have to find a new ways in cartooning world.

Vladimir Kazanevsky – Ukraine