Zapiro's 'Fifty Shades'

After writing last week's post, "Why Zapiro Has Nothing On Madam & Eve" , I was told by a couple of friends that my judgement of Zapiro was a bit unfair and the high praise I gave to Madam & Eve ( at least in relation to the recent strips that have been published) wasn't completely well deserved. There were indeed some very good points made. Zapiro and Madam & Eve are very different comic strips. Madam & Eve is a particularly narrative based strip with intentionally subtle satire, while Zapiro falls more specifically under the category of 'statement art'. His satire is meant to be hard, fast and strictly based on a specific visual as opposed to a narrative. Therefore to compare the two strips might be a similar case to comparing 'apples and oranges'. On another note, since the departure of Harry Dugmore from the Madam & Eve team, the strip has declined in quality somewhat. Though still amusing, the strips I've read do seem to lack a certain charisma and energy that the comic used to have. All the elements are still there but the punchlines certainly aren't as anticipated and rewarding as they were before.I also agree that Zapiro (or rather Jonathan Shapiro) does have his moments of brilliance in his dual roles as cartoonist and satirist.




However, the latest cartoon to stimulate an uproar from both the government and the public proves that, as clever as his work may be, even Shapiro has his Fifty Shades. I guess this is a term I'm going to use to describe all works that employ crass and pointless representations of sex and genitalia. In the case of the latest controversial Zapiro cartoon, this term is particularly appropriate. Its take on the Jacob Zuma/ Brett Murray debarkle in relation to the upcoming Social Cohesion Summit has many parallels with E.L. James's steamy bestseller Fifty Shades of Grey which I have discussed in two previous posts, " Fifty Shades of Shame" and "In Defense of Fifty Shades of Grey. Take a look at the cartoon as proof:









The primary weakness of the writing in Fifty Shames is that, when her narrative fails her, James resorts to putting the novel's many S&M scenes into literary overdrive, overindulging unnecessarily in graphic details. She does this, of course, to hide the fact that her novel is really just a conventional Danielle Steele-like romance. Zapiro's weakness here is very similar. The well of ideas for the week had clearly dried up and, in desperation, Shapiro turned to the trusted image of Zuma's penis to compensate for his creative dry spell. In his mind he might have thought that the idea of Zuma in penis form was "clever" enough to hide the inconsistencies of this cartoon. Or maybe he actually thought he was being really, really "clever" by pushing this image to the extreme. Why not jump further onto the Murray bandwagon and push the conservative values of South African society to their limits?




Whatever the case, the biggest flaw of the cartoon, for me, is not the penis but rather the juvenile poem that is written besides it. The skill of a cartoonist relies on the strength of their visuals to transmit a message. When words make up the bulk of the cartoon, particularly in Zapiro, the cartoonist has clearly failed in creating his satire. This, for me, is definitely the case here. Much of the poem is entirely unnecessary except for the last line- "He's as big a dick as we thought" which is central to the poem's punchline. Yet this line itself is problematic.The ANC Women's League was right in finding fault with Shapiro using the word "we", presuming that South Africans are a collective voice which share his perspective. I ,for one, do share this perspective but a large majority of South Africans, as we all know, have found The Spear to be completely disrespectful to Zuma's dignity. For them it's not a matter of free expression but, rather, tasteless exploitation. As I have stated previously, Zapiro is a platform for a one-man soapbox. In this cartoon, however, Shapiro makes the mistake of thinking that he is the voice of the people which is far from the truth.




In looking at the Zapiro 'Jacob's Dick' cartoon, I share the ANC's perception in the sense that I too find it a piece of tasteless exploitation. However, this is not based on the belief that Shapiro is being a 'dick'by insulting the president's dignity. It's based on the fact that this cartoon is either really just an innately flawed and lame cry for attention or just a matter of scraping the creative barrel. Like Fifty Shades, the cartoon presents a very conventional liberal point of view ( actually a pretty dead horse) covered up in smut. If Shapiro thinks it's a work of comic genius, he is sorely mistaken.