Vulgar Army

“NOT EVEN-HANDED JUSTICE: Crushing the scorpion of anarchy...

Sun, 13 Nov 2011 02:38:00 -0500

“NOT EVEN-HANDED JUSTICE: Crushing the scorpion of anarchy but sparing the octopus of monopoly”, Artist William A. Rogers, published in Harper’s Weekly, January 21, 1888.

(Snark: Seems kind of apt, given the Occupy movement and response to it. Some things don’t change.)

Image source: Railroad Cartoons Home, http://sophia.smith.edu/~maldrich/topics/political_influence/1888harpersjan21.htm (accessed 12-11-2011)

Do you have a favorite octopus propaganda metaphor? I lean towards British Empire, but octopus-as-capitalism is often very stylish as well.

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:34:00 -0400

Not so much a metaphor, but I am ever bemused that in political cartoons & propaganda - and metaphor in general - that the number of legs an octopus has … is well, only a matter of convenience.

“Union-busting, 1950s (or early 1960s)” [VA: I have...

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:29:00 -0400

“Union-busting, 1950s (or early 1960s)”

[VA: I have no words]

[VA: I’ve lost who submitted this, I thought the information would be ‘stuck’ to the post, but apparently I was wrong. If it was you, and you want your name/website associated, please contact me via “Ask” button.]

Know your communist enemy

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:19:00 -0400

“I was amazed when I discovered your website because it reminded me of a picture that I found campy—but still evocative—even when I was in high school. It is something that /should/ be shared with the world, and where better than a website devoted to octopodes in politics.”

[VA: …snip…]

[Submitted by: Kevin Deegan-Krause (http://www.pozorblog.com)]

[VA: Source is “Know Your Communist Enemy” p.3 in Robert B. Watts (1977), “Our Freedom Documents”, The Supreme Council, Washington]

"Shanghai Trader"

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 22:06:00 -0400

“Found this an old issue of Dragon Magazine (#136, August 1988). Don’t know anything about the actual game, alas.”

Submitted by: Richard Pilbeam

[VA: see The Mongolian Octopus - Phil May and “Yellow Peril”]

Submissions

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 17:44:02 -0400

A quick note: purely by chance I’ve found submissions are being made to Vulgar Army that I’ve received no notification of *insert sad confused face*. I will look over these when I get back home in a few days. Lots of tentacled goodness to come.

Attwod, F.G., “He Gathers Them In: A Pacific...

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 18:10:55 -0400

Attwod, F.G., “He Gathers Them In: A Pacific Sketch”, in Life September 24, 1885. It shows Grover Cleveland (22nd and 24th President of the United States).

Source: Period Paper (15 Aug, 2011), http://www.periodpaper.com

Private collection.

Giant Squid Captured

Wed, 18 May 2011 05:59:00 -0400

I received a note from David Pope on Twitter, that read “Will plead guilty for this [redacted]. Will plea bargain with this [redacted]”, I will leave it up to you to decide which was guilt, and which redemption.

The first is a response to the proposed mining tax in Australia (and unfortunately gutted - and I say this as someone who works in the mining industry). The second uses images associated with Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility (what a spectacular euphemism).

The first cartoon, even though it uses a familiar trope, does it is a knowledgeable way. It takes the symbology of the octopus/big business and uses it as a continuation to saga, not a repeat. Or, to put it another way, takes advantage of the trope and gives it a novel twist.

Or maybe I’m just besotted with the idea of a planet-sized octopus smoking a cigar.

(Many thanks to David Pope for letting me reproduce these images).

“Socialism” octopus by Louis Wain, circa 1902. Many...

Fri, 06 May 2011 23:25:05 -0400

“Socialism” octopus by Louis Wain, circa 1902. Many thanks to Jack Graham for providing a rather unusual political cartoon.

Another monopoly octopus from “drafts” folders with...

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 07:37:23 -0500

Another monopoly octopus from “drafts” folders with no information or notes. I think I may have poached it from Getty Images… Circa 1920s.

For your viewing pleasure a decontextualised octopus political...

Wed, 19 Jan 2011 07:32:15 -0500

For your viewing pleasure a decontextualised octopus political cartoon. … This was sitting in my drafts folder. Unfortunately I have no idea where I got it from, nor had I written any notes on it.

The Tentacular Undead...

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 07:13:53 -0500

Please note: This is an earlier draft, more a bunch of ideas and notes than an actual argument).

… Or why are there no zombie octopuses in political cartoons?

[Author note: this is only a first pass, lots of vague arguments, and logical fallacies. And far to many “it could be argued, it has been argued, studies have shown” - well, you get the idea… Feedback welcome.]

The tentacular undead make an appearance in the vernacular of political cartoons as vampiric octopuses and skulltopuses (1), but never as a zombie octopus (2).

SKULLTOPUS!

A handful of cartoonist have used a tentacled skull to represent: Al Qaeda, Drug Habits and the USA (military).

DRUG HABIT, Winsor McCay (date unknown)

NUNCA MAS, Haik Hoisington (2006)

AL-QAEDA NETWORK, Ann Telnaes (2001) (3)

BLUTSAUGER - Blood Sucker.

“Erkenne die Gefahr! Wähle Österreichische Volkspartei, Wien 1949”

In contrast to the skulltopus, the vampiric or blood-sucking octopus is really, quite common in political cartoons. And it is all Victor Hugo’s fault (4):

‘What, then, is the devil-fish? It is the sea vampire.’ (NB: This depends on your translation, in The Modern Library edition it is ‘What, then, is the devil-fish? It is a suction pad.’ p.350)

‘English sailors call it the devilfish or the bloodsucker’ p351

‘A tearing of the flesh is terrible, but less terrible than a sucking of the blood.’ (In The Modern Library edition: ’ A bite is fearful, but less so than a suction’ p.353)

But does blood-sucking octopus analogous to a leech - something living and natural - and not to the undead vampire? Well…

A giant red vampire squid used to depict the “blood-sucking aspect of trying to make profit … out of people getting sick” (2010) (5)

… No, the word ‘vampire’ comes up often enough to dismiss this argument. For example:

Political parties appeared and disappeared like the thick grounds at the bottom of Turkish coffee cups. Gipsies read fortunes and played addictive violin music that made one lascivious and light-headed. All this frivolity rested like a multitentacled vampire above a huge, backward peasant mass that lived in hunger and rags in villages. The aristocratic vampire with its grotesque appetites sucked dry the energy of millions of wretched humans. –Andrei Codrescu, ‘The Posthuman Dada Guide: Tzara & Lenin Play Chess’ (2009) Emphasise added. (6)

China Miéville

the octopus is identified with the Medusa, demon, and, repeatedly, with the vampire, reacquainting it, if unstably, with ‘traditional’ teratology. The octopus is obsessively depicted as evil – indeed, such a ‘perfection of evil’ that its existence is a vector of heresies of a double god, a cosmic parity of good and evil. (7)

“In the case of the octopus and the vampire, the oral sadism attributed to them seems to stem primarily … from the unconscious urge to recover only the first phase of the nursing situation, i.e., the sucking, not the biting phase — the warm blood a substitute or symbol of the warm milk.” (8) The result is, that “by sucking on the victim, the vampire may be said to merge with the victim” (9).

But where are the Zombie Octopuses in political cartoons?

FOOTNOTES

Also known by the uglier name of octoskull (and, in my opinion, just wrong). Octoskull = Eight-Skull or Skulltopus = Skull-Foot. Also, Octopus derived from Old Greek, Skull from Old Norse or something like that. Ah, neologisms.
Why no zombie octopuses in political cartoons? They exist in popular culture. I dare you to do an internet search for “zombie octopus”. Are these metaphors - in pol. cartoons - incompatible? If varies studies lampooning zombies as the mass proletariat/consumers, and the octopus and vampire as capitalist/bourgeois/aristocrat: does this mean there will never be a zombie octopus in a political cartoon?
Image Source: “Reading” Political Cartoons, Global Connections, PBS (2002?)
Well, maybe it was Victor Hugo’s fault. Page references are too: Hugo V. The Toilers of the Sea. New York: The Modern Library; 2002. English edition. Also The Victor Hugo link originated with Moncelet and Mieville.
Quote from audio in: Julie Rovner (2010) Protesters, Including ‘Vampire Squid,’ Picket Health Insurers’ Confab - Shots - Health News Blog : NPR (Accessed: March 16th 2010).
Via: http://blogs.warwick.ac.uk/ttooulig/entry/the_many-tentacled_vampire/
Miéville C. M.R. James and the Quantum Vampire. Collapse. 2008;IV:105-128.
American Imago, Wayne State University Press, 1956 vol 13-14 p16
Kayton, L., 1972, “The Relationship of the Vampire Legend to Schizophrenia.” Journal of Youth and Adolescence 1:303-314 in Bloody Mary in the Mirror: Essays in Psychoanalytic Folkloristics by Alan Dundes.

Rebecca Howland and The Real Estate Octopus

Sat, 11 Dec 2010 07:06:17 -0500

“Real Estate Octopus and Dead Horse”.

Photo by the Drawing Center (1983)

Photo by Becky Howland (1983)

Victor Hugo as both Apollo (the lyre) and Gilliatt (from...

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 22:06:00 -0400

Victor Hugo as both Apollo (the lyre) and Gilliatt (from ‘Toilers of the Sea’). Artist: G. Deloyoti. Published as front cover of “Le Hanneton” 6 June, 1867 issue no. 17.

This is not a political cartoon, but I thought it relevant given Victor Hugo’s role in the development the octopus metaphor.

Image Source: bridgeman.co.uk

“The War Octopus” - “Ondanks onze beschaving...

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 20:55:00 -0400

“The War Octopus” - “Ondanks onze beschaving (of beschavingspeil)”, via Google translate: Despite our culture (or civilisation level).

Published 27 August, 1939 in Algemeen Handelsblad (Amsterdam).

Image Source: International Institute of Social History, Collection: IISG (Pieck, H.), Call # BG D55/850. (Accessed 23rd Oct 2010).

Book cover for “De groote Olie octopus, door Truth...

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 20:46:00 -0400

Book cover for “De groote Olie octopus, door Truth onderzocht” (The Great Oil Octopus by Truth Examined)‎. ‎Amsterdam, L.J. Veen. Conflicting dates: first published 1910, reprinted 1925?

Dutch Anti-trust/Anti-capitalism criticising oil companies including Esso and Rockefeller.

References: Antiqbook, http://www.antiqbook.nl/boox/vvliet/12028.shtml
Image Source: International Institute of Social History, Collection: IISG, Call # BG C12/589. (Accessed: 23rd Oct, 2010)

Artist Jules Grandjouan published in La voix du Peuple on the...

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 20:19:26 -0400

Artist Jules Grandjouan published in La voix du Peuple on the 1st May 1907 no 341, printed by Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT).

It shows Clemenceau attempting to hide the Capital octopus beneath the head of Marianne (patrie - homeland?). I’ve been unable to find a clear enough reproduction to make out the text at the bottom, but is “Clemenceau” and “Le Peuple”

Reference and Image source: Caricature - Les “viles”… - Caricatures et Caricature

“Old policies! Old values! No future!” - 2002 via...

Fri, 08 Oct 2010 06:15:35 -0400

“Old policies! Old values! No future!” - 2002 via State Library of Victoria

Howard Government refers to Australian Federal Government. They were re-elected.

They introduced several policies such as removing student union fees (that supported a whole raft of services such as counsellors, advocacy for students etc as well as social events) while massively increasing university fees, and making universities more reliant on business for funding.

“Erkenne die Gefahr! Wähle Österreichische Volkspartei,...

Sun, 03 Oct 2010 00:40:00 -0400

“Erkenne die Gefahr! Wähle Österreichische Volkspartei, Wien 1949” (Recognize the danger! Choose Austrian People’s Party, Vienna 1949)

The Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) and the dangers of Communism (1949) With a view to the parliamentary elections due to be held on 9 October 1949 in Austria, the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) warns the country’s voters against the threat posed by the ‘Communist octopus’.

Source: “The Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) and the dangers of Communism”, European NAvigator (Accessed: 3rd Oct 2010)

“John Bull in Egypt”, no information for this one....

Sun, 03 Oct 2010 00:24:34 -0400

“John Bull in Egypt”, no information for this one. However, can be compared to 1888 Punch cartoon, and is probably of a similar age.

Image source: BradlyHardin.com