A partially satirical journal recently analyzed every cartoon that the liberal New Yorker magazine published in 2014 and found that the characters in the cartoons were mostly white males.
The journal, Proceedings of the Natural Institute of Science, published its findings in a series of articles.
Matt J. Michel, one of the authors, analyzed the ethnicity and sex of the characters depicted in each cartoon.
When there was a question about a character’s race, Michel classified the character as non-white, thus erring on the side of minorities. Despite this potential padding, minorities were under-represented in the magazine’s cartoons: out of 1,810 characters, 1,714 (94.7 percent) were white.
The same pattern was seen with gender. Out of the 1,810 characters shown in the cartoons, 1,277 (approximately 70.6 percent) were male.
The analysis also revealed that female cartoonists were much more likely than their male counterparts to draw female characters. Of the characters that were drawn by women, 46.9 percent were female, while men drew 26.6 percent female characters.
Women were also generally depicted as wives, mothers and assistants.
h/t Vox
Interesting. I would have liked to know if these stereotypes have changed over time…but the analysis of 2014 certainly shows we aren’t where we need to be.
This isn’t exactly surprising. Not that it is an excuse, but cartoonists typically rely upon stereotypes to get their message across with ease. People often say that “A picture is worth a thousand words”, but the reality is that a picture is worth about a thousand simplistic words because, without reference points, there isn’t a lot that a picture can tell.
And the stereotypes haven’t changed in some spots for more than a hundred years. For instance, fat people are still used to represent the rich. Some, especially with regards to minorities, have changed a great deal.
They’re yelling “Not so” right about now because this
So, is the stereotype being reinforced that white people are so droll that they aren’t even the tiniest bit funny?
I bet there is a blockbuster follow up on Playboy cartoons next.