Depicting the unthinkable: how the cartoonists coped

By LOUISA CLEAVE

The Statue of Liberty, Uncle Sam and the Stars and Stripes became the obvious symbols for cartoonists who found nothing to laugh about in the wake of the terrorist attacks on America.

The cartoonists who use humour to catch the eye of newspaper readers were tested by the tragic events of September 11.

The Statue of Liberty engulfed by smoke rising from the ruins of the World Trade Center was how Malcolm Evans depicted the attacks the day after in the Herald.

With thousands of column centimetres dedicated to stories of the disaster and round-the-clock television coverage, cartoonists around the world were struggling in their roles as pictorial commentators.

Cartoonist Martin Rowson, writing in the Guardian, said he agonised over the power of the cartoon.

"I knew that there was a great deal to be said ... But I also knew that, for a couple of days at least, a cartoon was too blunt an instrument to say these things adequately without causing huge offence, and without making me feel like an insensitive schmuck."

Rowson drew a "why oh why" cartoon of the Statue of Liberty being engulfed by a monstrous cloud rising from Lower Manhattan.

A taste of how newspaper cartoons around the world depicted the event can be seen on a website, www.cartoonweb.com.

The Statue of Liberty features prominently, along with the message that the ramifications were felt worldwide.

The Sowetan in Johannesburg had the burning Twin Towers atop a globe of the world encircled with a quote: "Oh my God! Did you feel that!"

Toronto's National Post simply showed the world turned upside down.

Evans compares the difficulties in creating a cartoon in the wake of the American attacks to those after the death of Princess Diana.

"It's a matter of doing something that marks the occasion in a meaningful way, that is both tasteful and acceptable and the least trite you can make it."

A week later, the mood had lightened enough for Evans to portray a Kiwi drinker in an Australian bar trying to pass himself off as an Arab.

"As a cartoonist there's a time to be sombre and there's a time to be light, and there's a time to try and tread the middle ground.

"I wanted to perhaps do something that wasn't too heavy and did something that tried to reflect a little bit on what was happening in our own backyard while not forgetting the ramifications of the New York events," he says.

Cartoonists do not always hit their mark with readers, but it does not stop Evans or Weekend Herald cartoonist Paul Ekers drawing it as they see it.

Ekers says his work tends to be on the lighter side, but he makes no apologies.

"Every now and then you are going to offend someone. That's just tough. We all have different views."

Evans, drawing for the New Zealand Catholic newspaper, used the story of David and Goliath to get his point across.

The David character was the terrorist and Goliath the world with its combined military strength.

That David wins through in the biblical story upset some Americans who saw the cartoon and accused Evans of supporting the terrorists.

Evans is in no danger of pandering to American nationalism and warned of its ramifications in a Herald cartoon which showed the Statue of Justice holding scales balancing justice and jingoism.

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