far-side-and-beyond

CARTOONS

A cartoon is a graphic that tells a funny and / or satirical story in one picture – usually with a punch line. No words were originally used for the image joke. Seriously drawn comments on political events with a critical intention are called caricatures. However, the transition is fluid. Picture stories over several panels are called comics. Cartoons appear mainly in daily newspapers and magazines.In English (animated) cartoon also refers to cartoons.
Cartoon has a broad tradition in US and British newspapers. Renowned magazines like The New Yorker (founded in 1925) decorate every issue with a large number of cartoons and employ their own cartoonists.
The British satire magazine Punch (founded in 1841) printed the first cartoons in today’s sense. Punch also coined the term cartoon in the English language, which was initially meant ironically, but then became the regular name for humorous drawings. Dialogues between the protagonists were printed under the drawing. The cartoons of the punch dealt not only with politics, but also – often in a very concise way – took up “hot” social issues, comic situations and everyday conflicts.
This is the difference between cartoons and political caricatures and depictions of individuals (whose tradition can be traced back to antiquity): Even a cartoon can transform every aspect of social life into a succinct, funny picture narrative; as a comic drawing, it has its own entertainment value and is not only valid as a commentary on current events or as political criticism. With this he forms his own art form.
Accompanying texts and dialogues of the protagonists are usually kept very short and pointed in cartoons and are printed above or below the picture or inserted in speech bubbles. Mostly cartoons are drawn and texted by one person, but there are also permanently working teams of illustrators and copywriters, e.g. B. Katz and Goldt or Greser and Lenz. The range of content of cartoons is very wide – it ranges from simple puns to the funny treatment of daily politics to drawings whose comic is based on ironic quotes from pop culture. A special division are the cartoons on scientific topics and facts as they are designed by the American cartoonist Sidney Harris.
As in comics and cartoons, elements of graphics themselves in cartoons can become the subject of the narrative and the subject of comedy. Cartoonists often develop an individual graphic style that makes them recognizable and helps them find a position in the highly competitive market.

FAR SIDE

Most Larson comics consist of a picture with a caption and often the joke is in the combination of picture and text. Recurring themes are people stranded on desert islands, extraterrestrials, hell and cavemen. Many cartoons also use animals such as cows, bears, dogs and ducks. Human characters are often depicted as overweight glasses wearers. The predecessor was the series Nature’s Way.
Every one of these cartoons is just something that great, Gary Larson, from the preface to The Complete Far Side
Revered by its fans as the funniest, most original, most “What the … ?”–inspiring cartoon ever, The Far Side debuted in January 1980 and enjoyed an illustrious 14 years on the world’s comics pages until Gary Larson’s retirement in 1994. The Complete Far Side celebrates Gary’s twisted, irreverent genius in this ultimate Far Side book, a lavish production which takes its place alongside collector’s-edition art books.
A masterpiece of comic brilliance, The Complete Far Side contains every Far Side cartoon ever syndicated—over 4,000 if you must know—presented in (more or less) chronological order by year of publication, with more than 1,100 that have never before appeared in a book. Also included are additional Far Side cartoons Larson created after his retirement: 13 that appeared in the last Far Side book, Last Chapter and Worse, and six cartoons that periodically ran as a special feature in the New York Times Science Times section as The Far Side of Science. Creator Gary Larson offers a rare glimpse into the mind of The Far Side in quirky and thoughtful introductions to each of the 14 chapters. Complaint letters, fan letters, and queries from puzzled readers appear alongside some of the more provocative or elusive panels. Actor, author, and comedian Steve Martin offers his pithy thoughts in a foreword, and Gary Larson’s former editor describes what it was like to be “the guy who could explain every Far Side cartoon. During its 14-year run, The Far Side was syndicated internationally to over 1,900 daily newspapers. It spawned 22 books and has been translated into a total of 17 different languages.
For his work with The Far Side, Gary Larson received the Reuben Award for Outstanding Cartoonist of the Year from the National Cartoonists Society in both 1991 and 1994. The National Cartoonists Society also named The Far Side Best Syndicated Panel in 1985 and 1987. In 1993, The Far Side was awarded the Max & Moritz Prize for Best International Comic Strip/Panel by the International Comics Salon. In 1995, Larson’s animated film Gary Larson’s Tales from The Far Side won the Grand Prix at the Annecy International Festival in Annecy, France. His second animated film, Gary Larson’s Tales from The Far Side II, premiered in 1997 in the United States at the Telluride Film Festival and in Europe at the Venice International Film Festival.

VINTAGE FILMS AND COMEDIANS

Since the distribution of sound films in the 1920s, silent films have been referred to as films without technical and mechanical sound accompaniment. The performance of such films was accompanied almost without exception at least musically. The silent film was made in Western Europe and the United States at the end of the 19th century. The basis for the production and reproduction of the first silent films were inventions in the field of technology and photography (see the article on film history).
During the early days of cinema, there was still no satisfactory way of recording and playing back images and sounds synchronously. Depending on the type of screening, the films were shown in front of an audience by orchestra, piano or pianola, gramophone and the like. a. accompanied or photo players were used. These were self-playing pianos with additional sound effects that could be triggered by hand.
Silent films were also told with the texts inserted, the subtitles. A film critic often accompanied the performance. Nevertheless, most of the action and feelings had to be conveyed through the film images. For this reason, the acting of the actors in earlier films was mostly very physical. The gestures and facial expressions of the actors, especially in dramas, often seem exaggerated from today’s point of view. One advantage of silent film is that it is universally understandable. The language of the actors is irrelevant, as it cannot be heard and subtitles can be translated into other languages ​​with little effort.

PUNS

A Pun is a simple play on words with words of different meanings with the same sound or spelling, puns usually accepts a rather low “amusement” or even uses it ironically. There are several considerations regarding the origin of the term.It is used as a communication tool by writers, comedians, chillers, jokes, advertisers, journalists, comedians and riddles. It is a type of “bidirectional” communication, because, in creating equivocal phrases and allusions, we want to attract the attention of the reader or listener through his interpretative participation. Even in the so-called “political marketing” the pun technique is often used, which (leveraging on pathos) is more effective than many speeches that instead leverage on logos