It's Not That Long Ago

[poliphilo]

Back in the early '50s Malcolm Muggeridge (as editor of Punch) published a cartoon of Churchill (then prime minister) as a senile old man (which he was) with a caption politely suggesting it was about time he stepped down- and there was all hell to pay!

In the same era it was taboo to publish a caricature of the Queen. If you absolutely had to have her in your cartoon, it was allowable to show her from the back or with her face artfully concealed. I believe it was Gerald Scarfe in Private Eye who finally demolished that convention.

And of course cartoon representations of God and Jesus and other holy personages were absolutely unthinkable.

Comments

[four-thorns.livejournal.com]

yeah, but the difference is that (i'm guessing) no cartoons of the queen, churchill, god, or jesus resulted in buildings being burned, trade relations being severed, or people being killed.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's true. History never exactly repeats itself, but themes recur.

I suppose I'm particularly interested here in issues of taboo and self-censorship. There were no legal sanctions against caricatures of the Queen (though there were and still are against "blasphemy") but cartoonists censored themselves rather than risk offending public opinion.