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The Cemetery Of Women

Cemetery Of Women is a cartoon drawn Judy Horacek (an Australian


cartoonist), showcasing a particular stereotype of women, which is
common in all of her cartoon and proudly showing her feminism. Every
woman has a different level of feminism, Donnellys outlook attempting
to change the perspective of women through humour and drawing
cartoons.
In this cartoon, the main image is of gravestones maybe portraying the
theme for everlasting. Inscription on graves are short mementos to the
one who passed away, a piece of writing that sums up their life in kind
words. However here is the contrast that in this cartoon, the
statements of the gravestones are a humorous approach at the of
recognition women receive for the work they've done throughout their
lives. Headstones read: "A good mother"; "Dutiful"; and "You could eat
off her floors". This reinforces the social stereotype of women as house
women, who cook and eat. Horacek is drawing attention to this social
idea, while using humour to reduce the severity of the claim. Horacek
is additionally attempting to outline how clear and embedded into
society these socially accepted stereotypes by using black and white
colours only, creating a clear picture with no confusion as to colours;
this ensures that overall idea of the cartoon is preserved and shows
the clarity of the issue in hand.
Moreover, in theme of colour, the gravestones which are centrally of
the cartoon, are surrounded by leaves, this could suggest the length of
time that the stereotype has been part of society as leaves have had
enough tine to fall and settle on these gravestones, likewise showing
how the ideas are embedded into human nature. Also the unnatural
black and white leaves could present different messages creating
juxtaposition. The white of the leaves could signify the purity of the
womens heart in trying to be a good wife and creates connations of
heaven. This could be supported by the character in the top left corner
of the cartoon, which could resemble an angel, waiting to take the
women to either heaven or hell depending on their life. Opposing, the
darker side of the leaves could imply the deceitfulness of men in
treating and labeling women in such a way. Due to the addition of
these leaves, it adds another sub meaning the cartoon, in which
Horacek can portray her ideas; however it creates a fairly cramped
image, which in itself could a create a general idea of the number of
women that this labeling happens to; implying an issue that occurs
around of the lines surrounding the cartoon, as the image could just be
a snippet of the whole picture.

The artist allows the viewer to see the gravestones are long-lasting
messages of the deceased, but in this cartoon, rather than the
conventional names and years if life being mentioned and heading the
stone, the engraved message is of women being objectified and being
possessed by men. For example, the mid-right gravestone Daughter
Of, Wife Of, Mother Of. All of these titles are of showcasing women
being owned by other women.
Judy Horacek showcased humour is portraying a delicate issue
attempting to soften the impact and maybe cause offensive. This
shows how she wants to have a positive impact on the world about
feminist views changing the global opinion through her cartoons

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