Red Lines by Cherian George

Red Lines by Cherian George

A lively graphic narrative reports on censorship of political cartoons around the world, featuring interviews with censored cartoonists from Pittsburgh to Beijing.

Why do the powerful feel so threatened by political cartoons? Cartoons don't tell secrets or move markets. Yet, as Cherian George and Sonny Liew show us in Red Lines, cartoonists have been harassed, trolled, sued, fired, jailed, attacked, and assassinated for their insolence. The robustness of political cartooning--one of the most elemental forms of political speech--says something about the health of democracy. In a lively graphic narrative--illustrated by Liew, himself a prize-winning cartoonist--Red Lines crisscrosses the globe to feel the pulse of a vocation under attack.

A Syrian cartoonist insults the president and has his hands broken by goons. An Indian cartoonist stands up to misogyny and receives rape threats. An Israeli artist finds his antiracist works censored by social media algorithms. And the New York Times, caught in the crossfire of the culture wars, decides to stop publishing editorial cartoons completely. Red Lines studies thin-skinned tyrants, the invisible hand of market censorship, and demands in the name of social justice to rein in the right to offend. It includes interviews with more than sixty cartoonists and insights from art historians, legal scholars, and political scientists--all presented in graphic form. This engaging account makes it clear that cartoon censorship doesn't just matter to cartoonists and their fans. When the red lines are misapplied, all citizens are potential victims.

Sonny Liew is a Malaysian who now resides in Singapore. For a variety of comic and game publishers, he has worked on comics, computer games, and artwork. In the critically acclaimed Flight series, he was a featured illustrator.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780262543019
ISBN 10	026254301X
Title	Red Lines
Author	Cherian George
Series	Information Policy
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	MIT Press Ltd
Year published	2021-08-31
Number of pages	440
Prizes	Short-listed for PROSE Award - Art History & Criticism 2022
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.