This may be a very early use of the term ‘Meta’ to describe a world (Metaworld) or a universe (Metaverse). When I thought it up computer technology as we know it was in its infancy. I think I was using one of the first Macs at the time. The pages of Metaworld were drawn with pencil and paper.
Drawn: 2009
Drawn when there was a craze for adult colouring books in the mid 2010s.
The cartoon was drawn in 2015, five years before the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol in 2020. I expect the campaigns and protests to remove statues of other controversial figures such as Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College, Oxford University (Rhodes Must Fall) will now be given new momentum.
To see my philosophy cartoons please click the image on the right, or the link below
Welcome to my selection of cartoons about the environment
To see my environment cartoons please click the image or click here
In the cartoon the coach from the Magical Mystery Tour has come to a stop at the top of a rainbow, which is a reference to the hippy psychedelic drug culture that was prevalent at the time of the two films. The Beatles are standing on the rainbow, with one of them asking “What did you put into the sat-nav John?”. Part of the joke in the cartoon is that sat-navs (GPDs) didn’t exist at the time. There’s also a double meaning it the phrase “What did you put into the…” as this can refer to putting hallucinogenic, pychotropic drugs such as LSD or other mind-altering drugs into such things as drinks, cakes etc.
This picture doesn’t mean anything specific. I just made it up. Having said that, it obviously has hidden unconscious meaning.
This hat may be a fashion item or a helmet.
It may imply that the wearer is a slow thinker, with a snail brain. Slow thinking isn’t necessarily a bad thing by the way – it might mean considered thinking rather than rash impulsive thinking. Maybe you were being rash to jump to the conclusion that slow thinking might be bad!
An illustration about thinking, unusual headgear, molluscs.
There may be a meaning to this cartoon related to global warming. Perhaps the hourglass, which is an illusion, represents the concept of climate change denial (where man made climate change is said to be an illusion). However, despite the fact that man made climate change is said to be an illusion the deserts are still getting bigger (and the polar caps smaller).
The cartoon shows a person looking out through a panel in a newspaper. The meaning is meant to be slightly ambiguous. Is he on the inside or the outside of the press? He looks a bit like a spy. Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Are the regulators good or bad? It depends on the country or regime under which they operate.
The origami horse in this illustration represents the horses depicted in children’s fiction aimed at young girls. The horse is made out of folded paper that represents the pages of children’s fiction.
The way that the child is riding off on the horse (almost flying) represents the flights of fancy and fantasy created by fiction and literature, and the sense of adventure and escapism.
The public cannot see the important news stories because they are hidden behind the trivia of the pop press.
This cartoon isn’t so much a criticism of the popular tabloid press as an observation of how things are. I usually find myself reading the ‘human interest’ stories in newspapers when I think that I really ought to be reading more weighty articles. It’s what we find interesting.
My own feeling is that it’s normal to see the image as being of a beautiful young woman first. The old hag is only seen after a bit of searching. There are several possible reasons for this. One is that people (especially men?) have a tendency to notice beautiful young women more than ugly old hags. Another is that the image of the old hag is more exaggerated and less naturalistic than that of the young woman.
I’ve tried to make the old hag more easily distinguishable by giving the two people in the image mirrors so that you can tell which direction they are facing.
One of the modern buildings looks like a salt cellar.
The architects realise that the builders have taken their salt cellar by mistake, instead of the architectural model.
A cartoon about the trend in modern architecture for oddly shaped buildings. Such unconventionally shaped buildings include the ‘Gherkin‘ and the Shard of Glass. Not to mention Anish Kapoor’s Orbit tower and City Hall.
Soon cities like London will end up looking as though they are full of modernist architecture in the form of giant kitchen utensils (the cheese grater) and cruet sets or condiment sets (salt cellars and pepper pots).
One is that the games that children play are more serious than some people would like to think. Play is a preparation for adulthood, so playing with toy guns is in some ways an actual preparation for using real guns in adult life.
The soldier is using a toy water gun to highlight the link between childhood play and adult aggression.
The illustration is definitely not a simple interpretation of the feminist phrase toys for the boys – an expression that I take strong exception to as it misinterprets the nature of play and attempts to trivialise and infantilise the male personality.
While I was drawing this picture it occurred to me that it had something of a piece of Banksy artwork to it, in both its subject matter and its style, so I checked that I wasn’t just unconsciously copying a piece of Banksy graffiti, and as far as I can tell there is no equivalent Banksy picture. By the way, I’ve drawn in this style and on this type of subject for more years than I wish to remember, so there’s no question of Banksy plagiarism involved here!
A cartoon about the nature of play, toy guns, warfare, male aggression, toy weapons, water cannon, male psyche, psychology of warfare, the military mind.
