Critical analysis of the Express cartoon thread

yumicho · **Posted:** Thu Mar 08, 2012 1:00 pm

Looks like the iceberg has made a reappearance. Either that or Kingston is about to be engulfed by a tsunami.

Danson's Forehead · **Joined:** Tue Dec 07, 2010 12:32 am **Posts:** 718

Where there are no bricks, there shall be rivets!

Nice to see the Lilt ladies in amongst the Jamaican dignitaries. It's hard to see how the plane landed at all, though, with that oval wheel.

bluebellnutter · **Posted:** Thu Mar 08, 2012 2:50 pm

Just thinking of icebergs, how pissed off must Thomas (and indeed the right-wing tabloids in general) be that in the anniversary year of the Titanic sinking they have a Government they can't make "sinking ship" jokes / puns about?

shyamz · **Posted:** Thu Mar 08, 2012 8:03 pm

How could anyone beat a cheetah the size of a car anyway? Look at that fucker it's taller than the plane's wheels!

Andy McDandy · **Posted:** Thu Mar 08, 2012 8:25 pm

Without flicking back loads of pages, the airport looks remarkably familiar. It featured (I think) in the 'EU bods go to the Congo' cartoon from a while ago. Even the crowds engender a sense of deja-vu.

Ah, whatever, Paul Thomas probably thought. It's all Bongobongoland anyway, just add a massive Jamaican flag.

Althea · **Posted:** Thu Mar 08, 2012 8:28 pm

Are the Express readers so thick that they actually need the story it relates to told to them in the cartoon itself?

Coupled Moment · **Posted:** Thu Mar 08, 2012 8:30 pm

Althea wrote:

Are the Express readers so thick that they actually need the story it relates to told to them in the cartoon itself?

It's very difficult to underestimate the intelligence of an Express reader.

Andy McDandy · **Posted:** Thu Mar 08, 2012 8:48 pm

Express Cartoons 101:

Express cartoons frequently refer to 'news' stories only covered by the Daily Express. This means that often, unless you are a regular consumer of Desmond's midmarket organ, you may wonder at the subject matter and the treatment afforded by Paul Thomas.

The following are all 'PT Staples':

Two Pod People (identifiable by sausage nose and fingers, beer gut, misshapen hands; categories include shellsuited chav, generic MP/businessman and Ron Weasley in drag) leaning backwards while walking past gigantic billboard, propped up against a random wall.

Royal family members engaging wholeheartedly in popular activity, that one would not normally assosciate the royal family with.

Royal family members voicing Express-friendly sentiment.

Suburban family over-responding to news story. Frequently based in overdetailed kitchen, and exuding an aura of dread and barely suppressed violence last witnessed in the Palmer household of Twin Peaks, Washington State, shortly before the death of Laura.

Professional (indicated by either desk-based Toblerone box sign, or large sign suspended from nowhere by 2 pieces of string) commenting on failure of institution they work for.

Carefully overdetailed 'guest star' commenting on news story in which they feature, surrounded by microphones/acrobatic hedgehogs.

The "I'm a Celebrity..." special - two crocodiles bemoaning the absence of [insert figure in news who the Express disapprove of] to eat.

Now out of use, the much-loved "Gordon Brown is shit" template saw extensive use between 2007 and 2010. It featured Gordon Brown, rendered in magic marker, being told he was shit by Nosferatu/Jack Straw, while Peter Mandelson/David Beckham in a black wig pointed and laughed.

In all of these, the 'corner paper' allows the Express reader to identify the 'news' story from the previous day the cartoon is commenting on. Because the story will likely not have received any coverage in any other media, due to it being bollocks, the additional cue is very much justified to aid news recognition.

Next - Backgrounds - the London Skyline, the Mountains of Madness and other giant scenes for PT tomfoolery.

Althea · **Posted:** Thu Mar 08, 2012 8:55 pm

Ah, thanks for that :p

mojojojo · **Joined:** Fri Mar 19, 2010 1:33 pm **Posts:** 4433

Andy McDandy wrote:

Now out of use, the much-loved "Gordon Brown is shit" template saw extensive use between 2007 and 2010. It featured Gordon Brown, rendered in magic marker, being told he was shit by Nosferatu/Jack Straw, while Peter Mandelson/David Beckham in a black wig pointed and laughed.

Perfectly described!

Also on a couple of occasions the 'joke' was Brown being told to kill himself. :cry:

Messianic Trees · **Joined:** Fri Mar 18, 2011 10:50 pm **Posts:** 2898

mojojojo · **Joined:** Fri Mar 19, 2010 1:33 pm **Posts:** 4433

Erm, why would Charles think anything of the sort? Does he really carry her ER bags to the car for her?

Check out the driver and guard - sweet. The driver looks like Roger Mellie when he turns up to the studio hungover.

Arnold · **Posted:** Fri Mar 09, 2012 9:55 am

Where's the newspaper placard for the hard of thinking?

Bones McCoy · **Joined:** Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:08 am **Posts:** 7417

mojojojo wrote:

Erm, why would Charles think anything of the sort? Does he really carry her ER bags to the car for her?

Check out the driver and guard - sweet. The driver looks like Roger Mellie when he turns up to the studio hungover.

You'd think the Royals would have learned about pissed up chauffeurs.

And at what point did Charles start dressing like a Bo Diddley tribute act.

Fflaps · **Posted:** Fri Mar 09, 2012 12:03 pm

That car looks like something out of Wacky Races.

Critical analysis of the Express cartoon thread

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