Vatican Smoke Signals
Team Member Name: Mallory Sandberg
Publication: Cleveland.com Date: 10/22/2014
Cartoonist: Jeff Darcy U.S.
Title of cartoon: Vatican Smoke Signals
Cartoon # 4
What action is taking place in the cartoon?
What is the context?
What “reality” is constructed/framed
about your issue? Any additional discussion or analysis?
The cartoonist framed the issue using metaphors,
using the smoke is used as a metaphor for the Vatican’s government views on gays. Which changes
from welcoming, to unwelcome.
The cartoon is broken up into three frames. They all
feature the Vatican with a smoke stack. In the first
frame, the smoke coming out is white. The frame
reads “new pope”. The second frame has rainbow
colored smoke coming out of the stack. The frame
reads “gays welcomed”. In the third frame black
smoke is coming out. The frame reads “gay welcome
mat burned”.
The event to cause this cartoon is on how the Vatican Synod Report featured less welcoming language
towards gays than the initial draft. (Darcy 2014)
Symbols:
The smoke: It is used to show the progression of the
mindset the Catholic Church has towards gays.
White smoke: The new pope
Rainbow smoke: welcoming of gay rights
Black smoke: The welcoming being “burned”, unwelcome
Tone of the cartoon:
1) positive or negative framing of this issue
2) framing is supportive of or opposed to supporters
3) framing is supportive of or opposed to opponents
Bibliography:
Darcy, J. (2014, October 22). Vatican Smoke Signals [Cartoon]. Retrieved March 30, 2016, from
http://www.cleveland.com/darcy/index.ssf/2014/10/vatican_smoke_signals_editoria.html
Cleveland.com, Darcy, Jeff.
“Vatican Synod’s Mixed Smoke Signals on Gays: Editorial Cartoon.” Cleveland. 22 Oct. 2014. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
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