Southeast Asia, Cartooning in

Humor has played a key role in the cartooning traditions of Southeast Asia, where it has appeared in political cartoons, newspaper strips, and comic books, or cartoon and humor magazines. These comics are invariably meant to spark laughter, poke fun at the foibles of society, or uncover the mysteries of politics and politicians. This entry discusses how cartoons in Southeast Asia have dealt with politics and other topics and describes some of the region’s most popular cartoonists and their works.

Political Cartoons

As they do elsewhere, political cartoons in Southeast Asia employ humor through exaggerated portrayals of personalities, the ridiculousness of current events made more ridiculous, and funny allusions to various metaphors. Frequently, political cartooning has been dwarfed during the region’s many periods of oppression; nevertheless, it ...

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