Chris Madden Cartoons

A searchable archive for licensing

Dr Seuss racism allegation

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Dr Seuss racism allegation cartoon

A cartoon about the news that several Dr Seuss books are to be withdrawn due to claims of racism.

Dr Seuss Enterprises has decided that it will cease publication of six Dr Seuss books in order “to ensure Dr Seuss Enterprises’ catalog represents and supports all communities and families”.

A 2019 study, The Cat is Out of the Bag: Orientalism, Anti-Blackness, and White Supremacy in Dr. Seuss’s Children’s Books, stated that “white supremacy is seen through the centring of whiteness and white characters, who comprise 98 per cent of all characters”.
Drawn: March2 2021
Cartoon reference number: a906

Only watched the news once a day – cartoon

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Only watch the news once a day cartoon

Only watch the news once a day cartoon

A cartoon from a series featuring a life coach and lifestyle advisor called Mrs Walton.
In the cartoon she is advising someone that they shouldn’t follow the news all day long.

Limiting how much time you spend following the news can be seen as a good thing partly because obsessively keeping up with every change in events is ultimately a waste of time which stops you doing other things and partly because the news is so depressing.
Drawn: 2012
Cartoon reference number: a905

Physical activity v. mental activity

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Well read physically lazy person cartoon

Well-read mind cartoon

A cartoon from a series featuring a life coach and lifestyle advisor called Mrs Walton.
In the cartoon she is cautioning someone that “A well-read mind is a sign of a lazy body.”

The cartoon is partly about the cultural divide between physical and mental activity, and the various attitudes of superiority that are generated by both.
Drawn: 2012
Cartoon reference number: a904

Commercial branding and political activism

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CND logo branding cartoon

Branding cartoon

This cartoon was drawn at a time when political and social causes were in decline and individualism and consumerism were on the ascendant. It shows a teenage girl (who is very concerned about fashion and branding) asking her mother (who in her youth was a social activist) which brand the CND logo represents, as the girl doesn’t recognise it as the symbol of a campaign group.

Now (2021) there is a resurgence in social and political activism, however some of the campaigns are deliberately adopted by commercial organisations to boost their profile in the social concern stakes. A typical example is the commercialisation of Gay Pride.
Drawn: 2003
Cartoon reference number: env0027a

Critical Race Theory cartoon – crt applied to a snowman

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Critical Race Theory cartoon

Critical Race Theory cartoon.

Critical Race Theory (CRT) applied to a snowman.

A person is asking why the snowman is white.  One of the points of the cartoon is that once a social theory has been formulated (any theory, not just crt) it is often used to interpret matters to which it does not apply.
Drawn: December 2020
Cartoon reference number: a886

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Chess cartoon. Each side playing with a mixture of black and white chess pieces

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chess cartoon

A cartoon about chess in which the black and white chess pieces are mixed.

In the layout of the chess board depicted the black and white chess pieces don’t occupy opposite ends of the board, but are mixed equally at each end.

The mixing of the black and white chess pieces symbolises the mixing of different types of people (not necessarily linked to race) rather than the polarising effect of each colour of piece congregating at one end.
As a result of the mixing of the pieces, with each ‘side’ in the chess game being made up of the two colours, it’s impossible for the two sides to engage in ‘battle’.

Drawn: December 2020
Cartoon reference number: a881

Covid cartoon – the ‘Rule of Six’ social distancing

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covid-19 social distancing cartoon

The UK government has stated that people must not congregate in groups larger than six – the ‘rule of six’.

In an attempt to stop the cover-19 virus spreading more due to lax adherence to social distancing rules the UK government has introduced a new rule to prevent large groups of people meeting up.

The cartoon depicts the characters from the famous Hollywood Western film the Magnificent Seven adhering to the new rule.
Drawn: 10th September 2020
Cartoon reference number: a844

Ethnic diversity cartoon

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ethnic diversity cartoon

Diversity and inclusion cartoon.

The cartoon shows a lecture about the desirability of ethnic diversity. Almost the whole audience is white.

The inspiration for this cartoon came from the phrase that performers at some events use when describing the audience as ‘a sea of white faces’.
Of course the audience at some events may be predominantly white because that reflects the ethnic mix of the locality or because of the differing interests of different ethnic and cultural groups, however sometimes it is a result of issues around discrimination concerning opportunities and access, as is implied in this cartoon.
A cartoon about race, racism, bame issues, discrimination, unconscious discrimination, cultural discrimination, racial bias.
Drawn: 8th Sept 2020
Cartoon reference number: a843

Cartoon – what art is offensive?

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Offensive art cartoon

To what extent should art galleries reflect contemporary concerns?

A cartoon about changing the exhibits in art galleries and museums to reflect contemporary society and to avoid offence.

It’s quite common in art galleries that exhibit contemporary art for the art to reflect contemporary concerns (or at least the contemporary concerns that concern the art world).
This cartoon shows a historical artwork being judged by contemporary mores (or rather, the mores of a particular sector of society that embraces ‘woke’ values).
Drawn: August 2020
Cartoon reference number: a841

Code switching cartoon

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Code switching cartoon

Code switching cartoon.

A cartoon about the concept of code switching.

Code switching in its current definition is the phenomenon of a person changing their behaviour in order to fit in with other people. It’s often used when people of a minority culture alter their behaviour in order to fit in with a majority culture.
Code switching is often interpreted as something that people shouldn’t really have to do, as it stops them being themselves.
This cartoon illustrates an example of when code switching would be a very good thing.
Code switching is in many ways a rebranding of the normal social activity of modifying one’s behaviour in different social settings. It is currently viewed by some people as a bad thing partly because of the current philosophy that you should “be yourself”.

Drawn: August 2020
Cartoon reference number: a837

Code switching cartoon – from working class to a class at Oxbridge

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working class code switching cartoon

Code switching cartoon.

A cartoon about the concept of code switching.

The current usage of the term code switching refers to the action of people changing their behaviour when they are in different cultural settings, usually in order to blend in. In this sense it is most often used with reference to ethnic minority people who are interacting in predominantly white social groups.
The cartoon illustrates a relatively less well remarked upon example of code switching, which is when white working class people need to blend in with white people from higher social classes, here exemplified by the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. In education the working classes tend to have lower attainment levels than other classes as a result of social discrimination.

Drawn: August 2020
Cartoon reference number: a836

You can be whoever you want to be – cartoon

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You can be whoever you want to be – cartoon

A flaw in the aspirational concept of “You can be whoever you want to be”.

The cartoon illustrates a problem with the currently popular encouragement to schoolchildren that when they grow up they can be whoever they want to be.
The aspirational, motivational expression makes the assumption that everyone will strive for a worthy goal. I don’t think this is necessarily the case.
In fact the concept gives people license to aim towards whatever they desire, which wouldn’t be a good thing.

Drawn: August 2020
Cartoon reference number: a835

The blame game – cartoon

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I blame you cartoon

The blame game – cartoon.

A cartoon showing a protester with a banner proclaiming “I blame you”.

The cartoon is about people who need to place the blame for things on other people rather than on circumstances. This includes blaming people for their attitudes rather than analysing the circumstances that make people hold those attitudes.
A cartoon about protestors, political demonstrations, guilt.
Drawn: August 2020
Cartoon reference number: a830b

Conspiracy theory cartoon

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Conspiracy theory cartoon - road sign

Conspiracy theory cartoon – sign of the times.

A road sign with multiple roads leading to conspiracy theories.
One road leads to truth, but the road is closed.

The cartoon is about the current proliferation of (and acceptance of) conspiracy theories, as we now seem to live in a post-truth fake news world.
The climate of conspiracy theories is a sign of the times, hence the sign and the title of the cartoon, Sign of the Times.

Cartoon drawn: 30th July 2020

Cartoon reference number: a826
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Diversity cartoon – inclusion and employment policy

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workplace diversity inclusion cartoon

Diversity cartoon – inclusion in the workplace.

A cartoon about diversity and inclusion policy in employment and in recruitment.

The cartoon shows an interviewer in an organisation’s hr department interviewing a man. The interviewer is saying that her organisation promotes a policy of diversity and inclusion, however the policy doesn’t extend to the man being interviewed.
Diversity policies that are aimed at reducing discrimination tend to be targeted at race, gender and sexual orientation. This frequently puts white working class males at a disadvantage, partly because they do not belong to a recognised disadvantaged group under the UK government’s 2010 Equality Act and partly because they do not have enough points under the concept of intersectionality.
Drawn: 19th July 2020
Cartoon reference number: a821
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Cancel culture cartoon

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Woke cancel culture cartoon

A cartoon about cancel culture and historical thought crimes.

This cartoon is about the current (2020) phenomenon of cancel culture. This is the concept by which a person is ostracized or shunned if they are judged to hold unapproved views or have attitudes that run counter to those of the arbiters of what are acceptable views. It is a subsection of woke culture.

Cancel culture is responsible for such phenomena as no platforming, where people with proscribed views are denied the ability to put their views forward for debate, particularly in universities.
It is often applied to people based on attitudes that they held in the past. By this criterium practically everyone on the planet should be cancelled, which is one of the points of this cartoon. The saying “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone” comes to mind.
Cancel culture is often applied to historical figures from several centuries ago, particularly (at the moment) to those involved in some way in the transatlantic slave trade, and is manifested in the current campaigns to remove statues.
Cancel culture can be viewed as having a stifling effect on culture and debate, with its, to me, zealously censorious woke attitudes and its Orwellian implications.

Drawn: 7th July 2020

Cartoon reference: a815
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Popular culture caricaturing of race and gender cartoon

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Racist & sexist demeaning caricatures cartoon

A cartoon about racist & sexist demeaning caricatures.

This cartoon is about changing attitudes to race and gender in popular culture.
The cartoon shows someone watching the tv programme The Black and White Minstrel Show in 1975, and someone else watching RuPaul’s Drag Race in 2020.
The cartoon draws attention to the jolly, pantomime portrayal of black men in the first show and of women in the second, and tries to make the point that while the cartoonish portrayal of black men in black face is now deemed unacceptable, the caricaturing of women as over-sexualised grotesques (similar to glamourised pantomime dames) is currently promoted in some parts of society as celebratory and ‘fun’.

The Black and White Minstrel Show was an extremely popular programme in the 1960s. I was a child at the time, and even I liked it, despite the fact that I was of an the age at which Top of the Pops was essential viewing. It was considered to be harmless family entertainment. The show was on the tv during a time of rapid social change, including a large increase in the black population of some parts of Britain, so by the mid 1970s the show was viewed in a different light and was finally discontinued because of its outdated attitudes.

RuPaul’s Drag Race is a contemporary (2020) manifestation of part of lgbtq culture.

Drawn: 6th July 2020

Cartoon reference: a814
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Leicester lockdown cartoon – and pubs reopening

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Leicester lockdown cartoon

Leicester lockdown and pubs reopening cartoon

A cartoon about the fact that pubs are about to reopen in England next weekend as the coronavirus lockdown is eased, just as the city of Leicester is put back into a higher state of lockdown (with no pubs allowed to open).
The possibility of young people leaving Leicester and getting very drunk in pubs outside the lockdown zone seems very likely to me. They will have to drive out of Leicester, and then return in a state of intoxication. A very worrying prospect.

Drawn: 1st July 2020
Cartoon reference: a811
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Offensive and approved terms in politically correct and woke language – cartoon

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politically correct and woke language crime cartoon

A cartoon about the concept that the use of any term that is not politically correct or woke-approved to define race or gender is offensive.
Language crime cartoon

This cartoon is about the tendency within woke culture for the use of unapproved terms to describe people, especially in the spheres of race and gender politics, to be viewed as offensive and open to condemnation, even if used innocently.
The terms that are approved and disapproved sometimes change quite regularly, so it can be hard to keep up.
Notice that I’m not giving any examples of approved or disapproved terms here, in case I inadvertently get it wrong. Also, as the cartoon states, to merely mention a disapproved term as an example is viewed as offensive itself.
At the time of drawing this cartoon the tendency to police language for political purity seems to be on the rise, however it’s been there for as long as I remember. In fact I drew my first cartoon about it in the 1980s.
A cartoon about woke language, political correctness, linguistic purity, Orwellian language, political purity.

Drawn:16th June 2020
Cartoon reference number: a807
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Covid-19 coronavirus cartoon – lockdown enforcement

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coronavirus covid-19 lockdown enforcement cartoon

Covid-19 coronavirus cartoon – enforcing the lockdown.

As part of the coronavirus lockdown people are allowed outside only for limited reasons, one being taking exercise.
In city parks the police have been moving people on who they see sitting on park benches, as this is not exercise.

A cartoon about policing the lockdown, social isolating.
Drawn: April 2020
Cartoon reference number: a772
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Feminist art cartoon

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Feminist art cartoon

Feminist art cartoon

An art installation in an art gallery, consisting of a washing line with souvenir tea towels from art gallery gift shops hanging from it.
The tea towels are of famous artworks, all by male artists.
A cartoon about the dominance of men in the art world (and by extension in a few other places).

Cartoon drawn: 2019
Cartoon reference number: art084
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.
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Regulations about the depiction of children in art

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depiction of children in art cartoon

A cartoon about regulations about the depiction of images of children in art.

The cartoon shows an old oil painting of a child in an art gallery.
The painting has been restored and modified to comply with regulations concerning the depiction of minors.

The child’s face has been pixelated to comply with the rules.
In real life rules on the depiction of children apply to certain media (in which the faces may be blurred), but not to old oil paintings.

Cartoon drawn: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art024
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.
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The etiquette of using a mobile phone in an art gallery

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The etiquette of using a cell phone in an art gallery cartoon

A cartoon about the etiquette of using a cell phone in an art gallery.

The cartoon shows a visitor to an art gallery talking on a mobile phone in the gallery.

The cartoon is about the tensions that can occur in public spaces concerning the inconsiderate use of mobile phones, especially if the user speaks in a load voice and seems oblivious to their surroundings.
Art galleries are usually quiet spaces (although there are some schools of thought that think that they should be more lively (and therefore more accessible to people who feel intimidated by the reverence normally afforded to art).
The other visitors to the gallery are looking very disapproving.

Cartoon drawn: 2019

Cartoon reference number: art015
This cartoon features in my book of cartoons about art.
See the book here.
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Erasing the offensive past, followed by erasing the offensive present.

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Erase the attitudes of the past cartoon

A cartoon about erasing the past because of its flaws, then erasing the present because of its flaws.

This cartoon is about the current trend (2020) for some groups to want to erase evidence of the parts of the past that they find offensive. This is manifested in the pulling down of statues of people who had links to the slave trade.
The point of the cartoon is that I think that such attitudes and approaches are misguided, as they require a (selective) moral purity that is impossible in a complex world full of complex people. The wish to erase the moral imperfections of the past would lead to the wish to erase the moral imperfections of the present, and in an imperfect world full of imperfect people the consequences of that could be a form of repression not dissimilar to some of the religious and political repressions of the past. Bear in mind that people are still capable of creating repressive societies in the misguided belief that they are doing a good thing – people don’t change, just their situation.
The imagery in the cartoon is based on the Bonfire of the Vanities – the burning of objects that the church considered sinful, such as books, art and mirrors which happened in Florence, Italy in 1497. It also relates to book burning by the nazis in Germany and the destruction of degenerate or subversive objects in other states ranging from communist regimes to the Taliban.

Drawn: 3rd July 2020
Cartoon reference: a813
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Edward Colston statue cartoon

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Colston statue cartoon

A cartoon about the irony that Edward Colston’s money was used to benefit worthwhile institutions in Bristol (and London).

This cartoon is about the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston by protesters in Bristol because he was involved in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
It is about the complex and messy nature of financial and social endeavour, and the complex and messy nature of people.
It is about the broader issue of how money is generated to finance society in general, especially its more worthy aspects.
This is not a cartoon defending the statue of Colston (as I’m generally against the concept of statues of prominent people anyway, although I wouldn’t get rid of them either).

Drawn:8th June 2020
Cartoon reference number: a804
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Judging historical figures by contemporary standards

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statue toppling cartoon

A cartoon about toppling statues.

This cartoon is about the judging of historical figures by modern standards of ethics and morality.
The cartoon was drawn during a campaign of statue toppling in 2020 that started with the toppling of a statue of Edward Colston in Bristol. Colston made money in the slave trade. His statue was erected to celebrate his later philanthropic donations.
The cartoon attempts to illustrate the problem of judging historical figures by the moral and ethical standards of today by showing the absurd (and hopefully comic) situation of a statue being toppled because the person represented by the statue was not a vegan. Veganism is generally speaking a very modern lifestyle choice that would be unknown to historical figures.
It is also about the phenomenon of people sometimes committing disproportionately excessive acts if they hold their views with a high degree of righteous zeal.
It is also about mission creep – the current campaigns about statue toppling began with racism but may extend to other areas.

Drawn:11th June 2020
Cartoon reference number: a806
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Sugar and slavery cartoon

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Sugar and slavery cartoon

Sugar and its historic links to slavery.

The cartoon shows someone boycotting the use of sugar because of its historical links to the slave trade.

It’s also a cartoon about people who posture and who take extreme positions on issues.
Drawn: September 2020
Cartoon reference number: a854

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