Road to 5**﹕Interpreting a cartoon
【明報專訊】Cartoons are common in liberal studies examination questions. They represent a cartoonist's views towards a phenomenon, such as a hotly-debated social issue, a trend or a particular person or body (such as a government department, public body, political party and specific politicians). A cartoonist might express their dissatisfaction about something in an ironic way. Unlike writers of an article, a cartoonist does not tell readers what they think directly. Instead, they express their views through all sorts of "symbols".
Symbols of a cartoon
Generally speaking, a cartoon's symbols can be classified into a number of groups:
(see table)
How to respond
When responding to questions with a cartoon, candidates have to examine all sorts of signs and make conjectures about their implications, before summarising the motif.
◆Source A
"Oh no! The steel bars have not been twisted into the couplers! What a big problem that can be! Cover them with concrete, now!"
Source: a cartoon by 尊子, published in Ming Pao on 13 July 2018
◆Question and answering guidelines
1. Intepret the message of Source A. (4 marks)
(see table)
■Two reminders
1. Read newspapers more
When answering these questions, students might encounter a number of difficulties. They might fail to identify the issue that the cartoon is related to and therefore write aimlessly. They might ignore the message expressed implicitly in the cartoon and just describe what they see plainly. Reading newspapers more often can help students develop the powers of observation necessary for tackling these questions.
2. No "one-size-fits-all" structure
To teachers, the teaching of a structured answer can be helpful in the sense that it helps students think logically and demonstrate coherence in their answers. However, the meaning stops here. The amount of marks a candidate can get from an answer depends on whether or not he succeed in capturing the message of the cartoon. Such being the case, giving a "well-structured" answer does not necessarily mean high marks, and there is not a "one-size-fits-all" structure for all answers.
Text：張兆聰, liberal studies teacher at Queen Elizabeth School
Old Students' Association Tong Kwok Wah Secondary School
Translation: Terence Yip
[通通識 第578期]
