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THIS IS AMERICA - From Donald Duck to Biting Commentary, Cartoons in AmericaBy Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: Monday, April 24, 2006

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. This week: how cartoons can tell a story or send a message. Or both.

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VOICE ONE:

The new family movie Ice Age: The Meltdown is written for laughs. But some people might also see it as a serious message about the dangers of climate warming.


Ice Age: The Meltdown

The film brings back the animated² animals from the two thousand two hit movie Ice Age. The main characters are a wooly³ mammoth⁴ named Manny, a sloth⁵ named Sid and a saber-toothed tiger named Diego.

VOICE TWO:

In the first movie, Manny, Sid and Diego faced the dangers of the coming prehistoric⁶ freeze. This time they are threatened by floods from the melting of the Ice Age.

At first, the animals love the water. Later, when they discover the threat, they must warn everyone else and find a way to save their valley.

MOVIE SOUND: It's all part of my 'Accu-weather' forecast. The five-day outlook is calling for intense flooding followed by ... THE END OF THE WORLD!

VOICE ONE:

The world of cartooning has changed a lot since the days when Walt Disney drew his characters by hand. Animated cartoons are especially labor-intensive. Animators create a sense of movement through a progression of many images. Each image is a little different than the one before it. Today many animators, including the ones who made the Ice Age movies, get help from computers.

But Walt Disney's work still influences modern cartooning. He started his company in nineteen twenty-three. He had his first big success five years later. He combined animation⁷ with sound in the nineteen twenty-eight film Steamboat Willie.

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VOICE TWO:Steamboat Willie was the first movie to star Mickey Mouse. Later came other famous Disney characters, including Donald Duck.


Steamboat Willie

Donald Duck is over seventy years old now, but you could never tell by looking at him. To animate¹ something means to give it life. Animated characters can live forever -- or at least as long as they stay popular.

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VOICE ONE:

Another form of cartooning is the comic strip. Comic strips are a drawing or a series of drawings that present a situation or tell a little story. Comic strips are usually good for a laugh or at least a smile.

American newspapers commonly publish a page or more of them each day. These are usually black-and-white drawings. Sunday funnies are often published in color.

Readers of all ages enjoy the comics in the newspaper.

On television, cartoons used to be thought of as mainly for children. But times have changed. For example, Cartoon Network says one-third of the people who watch its programs are over the age of eighteen. So it offers special late-night programming called Adult Swim. These cartoons are meant to appeal to what it calls a grown-up sense of humor and other adult sensibilities.

One of the shows, The Boondocks, is based on a newspaper comic strip.

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VOICE TWO:

The Boondocks is the story of Huey and Riley, two young African-American boys. They come from a rough part of Chicago, Illinois. Now they live with their grandfather in a mainly white community. The characters are known for their sharp observations about life there, and life in general. Huey speaks his mind like a revolutionary.

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The Boondocks often deals with issues of race and social justice. The strip is more political than most comic strip readers are used to. Some think it is great; others think it goes too far.

The Boondocks appears in about three hundred fifty newspapers. Aaron McGruder is the cartoonist who created it. He has been taking a break from the print version since March, and does not plan to have new ones until October. Every well needs refreshing⁸, he says.

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VOICE ONE:

Peanuts is an example of a more traditional comic strip. Charles Schulz is the artist who created Charlie Brown and Snoopy the dog and all their friends. Charles Schulz died in two thousand. But the cartoons he drew are still being repeated. The humor is timeless.


Charlie Brown and Snoopy

Many readers also enjoy comics like Garfield and Friends. Garfield is a fat cat who likes thinking of food and making fun of his owner.

And some readers never miss Dennis the Menace. This single-drawing cartoon is about a five-year-old boy. Dennis is always causing trouble for his parents and a retired⁹ neighbor, Mister Wilson. But to his fans since the nineteen fifties, Dennis is always likeable.

VOICE TWO:

Another form of cartooning is the editorial cartoon. These express the opinion of the artist or the artist's publication.

Nineteenth century cartoonist Thomas Nast drew for Harper's Weekly and the humor magazine Puck. In his political cartoons he drew an elephant to represent Republicans and a donkey for Democrats¹⁰. Today these animals are still used to represent the two major parties in America.

VOICE ONE:

In the twentieth century, cartoonists like Peter Arno, James Thurber and Charles Addams drew for the New Yorker magazine. The New Yorker has a tradition of publishing cartoons as social commentary.

Peter Arno liked to make fun of people of wealth and social position and self-importance. He drew his subjects with heavy lines.

James Thurber's cartoons pointed¹¹ out human weaknesses. He drew his subjects with a light touch.

VOICE TWO:

James Thurber also wrote many humor books. He created the character of Walter Mitty. Walter Mitty is a mild little man who daydreams¹² of doing exciting things.

Cartoonist Charles Addams created the Addams Family. They looked like a scary family out of a horror movie. But Addams made funny situations from these strange characters. Somehow his artistry made normal people seem strange.

VOICE ONE:

Today, New Yorker cartoons are still known for their sharp humor. For example, a lawyer advises a man that the best defense¹³ in his situation is to lie.

New Yorker cartoonists can find humor in almost any situation. A well-known cartoon that appeared in nineteen ninety-three was drawn¹⁴ by Peter Steiner. Two dogs are at a computer. One says to the other, On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog.

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VOICE TWO:

One of America's most influential¹⁵ political cartoonists worked at the Washington Post for fifty-five years. His name was Herbert Block. But readers knew him better as Herblock, the name he used to sign his work.

During the nineteen fifties, Herblock was known for his cartoons against Senator Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy accused many people of being communists. Finally, the Senate condemned¹⁶ McCarthy for his actions.

Over the years, Herblock won three Pulitzer prizes and a Presidential Medal of Freedom. He continued drawing until shortly before his death in two thousand one, at the age of ninety-one.

VOICE ONE:

Cartoons can make powerful statements about events. In nineteen sixty-three, President John F. Kennedy was shot. That led cartoonist Bill Mauldin to draw another president who died that way. He drew the statue of Abraham Lincoln in Washington. In the cartoon, President Lincoln is crying.

Almost forty years later, in two thousand one, cartoonists drew the Statue of Liberty crying in New York Harbor. That was after the September eleventh attack on the nearby World Trade Center.

VOICE TWO:

Cartoons can make people sad. They can also make them angry. Last September a newspaper in Denmark published cartoons that insulted Muslims. Other newspapers later republished these cartoons. Protests and deadly riots took place in a number of countries earlier this year. The cartoons and the reaction led to international debate about responsibility and freedom of speech.

VOICE ONE:

Cartoons can make us think, they can make us laugh, they can make us cry. Cartoons can make a difference in how we look at life.

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Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson. Caty Weaver¹⁷ was our producer. I'm Faith Lapidus.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. You can read and listen to our programs at www.unsv.com. And listen again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 animate   

v.赋于生命，鼓励；adj.有生命的，有生气的

参考例句：

• We are animate beings,living creatures.我们是有生命的存在，有生命的动物。
• The girls watched,little teasing smiles animating their faces.女孩们注视着，脸上挂着调皮的微笑，显得愈加活泼。

2 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

3 wooly   

adj.毛茸茸的；糊涂的

参考例句：

• I like the feel of this cloth and it has a warm wooly feel.我喜欢这块布的手感,它摸上去毛茸茸的很暖和。
• He wore a brown t-shirt with jeans and a pair of shoes,with a wooly hat covering his hair.小贝身穿一件棕色t恤，搭配牛仔裤和皮鞋，头戴一顶盖住头发的羊毛帽子。

4 mammoth   

n.长毛象；adj.长毛象似的，巨大的

参考例句：

• You can only undertake mammoth changes if the finances are there.资金到位的情况下方可进行重大变革。
• Building the new railroad will be a mammoth job.修建那条新铁路将是一项巨大工程。

5 sloth   

n.[动]树懒；懒惰，懒散

参考例句：

• Absence of competition makes for sloth.没有竞争会导致懒惰。
• The sloth spends most of its time hanging upside down from the branches.大部分时间里树懒都是倒挂在树枝上。

6 prehistoric   

adj.（有记载的）历史以前的，史前的，古老的

参考例句：

• They have found prehistoric remains.他们发现了史前遗迹。
• It was rather like an exhibition of prehistoric electronic equipment.这儿倒像是在展览古老的电子设备。

7 animation   

n.活泼，兴奋，卡通片／动画片的制作

参考例句：

• They are full of animation as they talked about their childhood.当他们谈及童年的往事时都非常兴奋。
• The animation of China made a great progress.中国的卡通片制作取得很大发展。

8 refreshing   

adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的

参考例句：

• I find it'so refreshing to work with young people in this department.我发现和这一部门的青年一起工作令人精神振奋。
• The water was cold and wonderfully refreshing.水很涼，特别解乏提神。

9 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

10 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

12 daydreams   

n.白日梦( daydream的名词复数 )v.想入非非，空想( daydream的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• Often they gave themselves up to daydreams of escape. 他们常沉溺进这种逃避现实的白日梦。 来自英汉文学
• I would become disgusted with my futile daydreams. 我就讨厌自己那种虚无的梦想。 来自辞典例句

13 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

14 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

15 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

16 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

17 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。