It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s Super Treasurer Jim Chalmers
Even heavy political issues like tax changes can be ‘super’ fun in Mark Knight’s cartoons
READING LEVEL: GREEN
I like to use colourful metaphors* and analogies* to make my political cartoons more fun for my readers.
They help describe complex political issues that would take hundreds of words to explain. Take this week, for example, when Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers made changes to taxes on superannuation*, known as “super” for short.
Dr Chalmers needed to find some savings so he could reduce our budget* deficit*. So he increased taxation on people’s superannuation accounts with more than $3 million in them.
He copped a lot of criticism for breaking an election promise not to touch these super accounts, which are the compulsory retirement savings of Australians.
Sounds pretty dull and boring I know, so how can I make a drawing on finance more fun and interesting? This is where analogies and visual metaphors come to the rescue!
When I hear the word “super” my cartoonist’s brain immediately defaults to the DC Comics stable of super heroes and Superman himself.
So why not draw Treasurer Chalmers as “Super”man, saving us from financial ruin?
As soon as I doodled him in the blue outfit with the big “S” on his chest, red underpants on the outside and his cape, I knew I was on to something.
More sketches of him sweeping down from the skies and seizing a bag full of tax cash from well-off super account holders led to the line “the man of steal”. Clearly I was having a ball!
The other thing I like to do is to conflate* two separate issues into one cartoon, like superannuation policy and an airshow.
“What,” I hear you say.
Let me explain. Melbourne is holding it’s big airshow this week, so I thought why wouldn’t the Federal Treasurer as Superman be an attraction at an airshow?
“Look up in the sky. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s Jim Chalmers, the treasurer!”
There were some great pictures this week taken by our photographers from the back loading ramp of a giant C-17 Galaxy military transport aircraft. They were photographing our new strike fighter, the F-35, which was following the Galaxy in the skies above Melbourne. The pictures were amazing.
I drew that scene in my cartoon but I inserted our Superman Treasurer into it, with the jet fighter right on his tail.
This was a perfect representation of the political pressure he was under for breaking his election promise on super.
I was happy that I had drawn a cartoon on high finance and superannuation that you didn’t need to use a calculator to understand!
GLOSSARY
- metaphors: imaginative ways of describing something by referring to something else which is similar in some way
- analogies: comparisons between one thing and another
- superannuation: money an employer pays into a special fund for a worker’s retirement
- budget: the record of the money the government collects and spends
- deficit: the amount of money owed because more money is being spent than the amount being received
- conflate: to combine two or more separate things
EXTRA READING
Cartoon shows worries keeping Treasurer awake
QUICK QUIZ
- Why does Mark Knight like to use colourful metaphors and analogies in his cartoons?
- Who is Australia’s Federal Treasurer?
- What is superannuation known as for short?
- What two issues did Mark conflate in this cartoon?
- What is Mark representing by drawing a jet fighter on the tail of the Superman Treasurer?
LISTEN TO THIS STORY
CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. What happens next?
Imagine this cartoon is part of a story that is made up of three cartoons. The three cartoons tell a complete story, and Mark’s cartoon is the start of the story. Think about what the story could be and draw the next two cartoons that tell the story.
Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Visual Arts, Visual Communication Design, Critical and Creative Thinking
2. Extension
Being able to draw is only one of the skills needed to be a great cartoonist. Write a list of all of the other skills that you think cartoonists like Mark need to do their job.
Next to each skill, write a sentence that explains why that skill is important or helps them to do a great job.
Time: allow at least 20 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Personal and Social Capability, Media Arts, Visual Communication Design
VCOP ACTIVITY
Stretch your sentence
Look at the cartoon and write down three adjectives to describe Super Treasurer. Now add a verb to your list. What are they doing? Add an adverb about how they are doing the action.
Using all the words listed, create one descriptive sentence.