Table of contentsSummaryWho is Z?The objectives of the studyLiterature reviewMethodologyData analysis of “Z” political cartoonsDiscussionConclusionReferenceSummaryRecently, cartoons Policies have attracted great interest from researchers and have become a powerful area of ​​interdisciplinary research across different researches such as sociology, education, communication and psychology. Political cartoons become a powerful tool for conveying thousands of words and diverse messages through a single image. This research article aims to investigate the political caricatures illustrated by the anonymous Tunisian cartoonist “Z” and how he uses his caricatures to reflect socio-political issues in Tunisia. The investigation will be oriented towards the main themes and visual elements of selective political cartoons taking into account the style of the cartoonist. This study adopts a qualitative approach to analyze the samples. The methodology used in this article focuses on analyzing the context of political cartoons based on semiotics and with a major emphasis on themes and visual representation. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayKeywords: political cartoons; Semiotic; Z; Themes; visual representation. The old English adage “a picture is worth a thousand words” is true; due to the dominance brought about by visual communication in our world. Today, tons of words can be easily reduced into a single image. In this regard, Gunther Kress and Theo Van Leeuwen in their revised version of their book "The Grammar of Visual Design" state that "...what is expressed in language through the choice between different word classes and clause structures can, in visual communication, expressing oneself through the choice between different uses of color or different composition structures. » Thus, political cartooning has occupied niches in “media discourse” as a prevalent subgenre alongside magazines, newspapers, television, posters and printed matter. It has also invaded social media platforms like Facebook, blogs, websites, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter…etc. All over the world, caricature becomes the mirror of the social and political life of countries. It is known as a weapon of criticism and propaganda rather than an art form. Political cartoons have proven their capacity and effectiveness in trivializing the most complex issues and conflicts. Unlike texts, articles or speeches, the political cartoon has the power to immediately expose the most sophisticated problems. In similar terms, Neighbor states that political cartoons "...can often have more truth and insight than hundreds of words of textual analysis." Its ability to convey messages to people with minimal reading skills is the reason for its great popularity. History has always been proof of the power and danger that political cartoons represent; especially in totalitarian countries. For example, Charles Philippon; a French lithographer, caricaturist and journalist, was arrested for depicting Emperor Louis Philippe as "the pear" and got off with a fine and an apology. Also in Britain, during the reign of Queen Victoria, drawing members of the royal family in caricatures was considered an offense; in fact, nowadays it is becoming a fashion in the West. Contrary tothe West, where cartoonists enjoy their freedom of expression, cartoonists in the Middle East still suffer from the repressed forces exerted by dictatorial regimes. In Tunisia, before the "Jasmine Revolution" and under the presidency of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, all kinds of freedoms, including "freedom of expression, press and art", were almost non-existent or were under the control government censorship. It is therefore obvious that the power of the caricature threatened the authorities. In other words, political cartoons can express thoughts that may only be in the back of people's minds. It can clarify nebulous and ill-formed attitudes and bring them to life. Cartoons can be moving, partial, extremely critical, provocative and teasing at the same time; where other printed modes of communication cannot venture. During the reign of Ben Ali, the art of drawing political caricatures was considered a crime. Furthermore, Tunisian cartoonists were prohibited from drawing anything related to the government, its policies or its politicians. The authorities are trying to blur reality and prevent cartoonists from projecting the real Tunisia through their drawings. In the midst of this immense despotism, “Z” the Tunisian political cartoonist chooses to draw and criticize Tunisian politics and government anonymously to exercise his freedom of expression and avoid the leader's repression. Who is Z?Z (often stylized as "Z") is the nickname of the Tunisian political cartoonist and online activist. He launched his online blog "DébaTunisie" on August 28, 2007. His caricatures targeted the government of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and the administrations that followed the 2011 Tunisian revolution. He chooses to hide his true identity to avoid publicity. self-censorship. “I don’t have any red lines in me. I am the only Arab cartoonist who is completely free in his art,” he says with sadness rather than pride. Even after the revolution, he did not reveal his identity. He insisted on remaining anonymous because he believes freedom of speech might be temporary. He has a very remarkable and precise style in drawing political caricatures. For example, the pink flamingo has become his trademark and the mascot of his blog. The major themes of his caricatures are “the mauves”, supporters of the Ben Ali government, and “the blues”, in reference to the Islamists. He often uses the color purple in his cartoons. The reason for this choice is that purple is Ben Ali's favorite color. The objectives of the study In my research paper, I will investigate 9 drawings by the Tunisian cartoonist “Z” before and after the revolution. The study will aim to discover how “Z” political cartoons can reflect social and political issues and denounce the Tunisian regime before and after the revolution. What are the main themes of the “Z” political cartoons from 2008 to 2017? Can we see Tunisia through the eyes of political cartoons? Political cartoons are capable of projecting the most complex socio-political issues. We can therefore see Tunisia through the eyes of political cartoons. Literature Review Recently, scientific research in applied linguistics has witnessed an increased interest in the study of political cartoons from various perspectives such as pragmatic analysis and discourse criticism (CDA), semiotics, multimodal discourse. analysis (MDA) and visual rhetoric. This has made political cartoons a powerful area of ​​interdisciplinary research crossing different researches such as sociology, education, communication and psychology. Many previous studies of political cartoons have focused ontheir functions and nature. For example, in his study, Streicher examined the function of political cartoons as communication tools and explored their influence on public opinion. His findings prove that political cartoons have the ability to clearly inform people about an event or news and comment on social and political issues. He said visual messages facilitate effective communication. Malawate focused on the importance of political cartoons for newspapers. His study reveals the effectiveness of political cartoons compared to editorials. Many previous scholars use pragmatics as an analytical framework to examine political cartoons. For example, Nonyerem intended to reveal the message or information hidden in the funny stories of the cartoons through the pragmatic analysis of the “leadership” cartoons in some Nigerian daily newspapers. Its results indicate that pragmatic reading of cartoons is essential to interpret their real meaning and project serious messages to the reader.Juprizal, Effendu and Mukhiayar conducted a pragmatic analysis of "online political cartoons" and their impact on students EFL, Pragmatic Competence (PC), Authentic Vocabulary Knowledge (AVK), and Higher Order Linguistic Thinking Skills (HOTS). In another study, Al keyed and kitishat investigated the violation of the Grice maxims in Jordanian newspaper cartoons. They found that political cartoons flout conversational maxims in order to send implicit messages and meanings to readers. Oluremi and Ajepe also conducted a pragmatic reading of the 2015 Nigerian political cartoons published four months before the 2015 elections. His analysis reveals the interplay between the political cartoons and Mey's 2001 pragmatic theory. Furthermore, the analysis Criticism of Discourse (CDA) has been used as an approach to studying political cartoons. For example, Mazid used the semio-discursive aspects of CDA to examine ideological representations in caricatures of Bush and Bin Laden; to expose implicit and explicit meanings, and to express hidden information, strategies and ideologies. Nagy examined media cartoons related to the Gaza conflict, where she explored the role of political cartoons in controlling people's minds and their contribution to the process of reorienting popular ideologies in favor of the Palestinians. She said political cartoons play a crucial role in depicting Palestinians as victims while Israel is the devil. Al Hamdi also examined the use of political cartoons during popular protests. He focused on the Tunisian uprisings of 2011 as a case study. He found that political cartoons were used to critically reflect on the political, economic and social conditions in Tunisia during the transitional phase. Other studies have focused on the visual power of political cartoons to highlight social and political conflicts in society. For example, Tsakona used multimodal theory of humor as an analytical framework to examine the interaction between language and image in cartoons. In her study, she asserted that political humor is a complex process and that the viewer must carefully examine the visual and verbal details involved in each cartoon to reach the message delivered by it. Similarly, Sani studied the role of political cartoons in setting the social agenda by projecting social issues through the media. He explained the importance of communicationvisual to illustrate problems and events. His findings proved that political cartoons serve to set the social agenda. He said caricatures were an effective means of communication. Mateus also focused on the visual rhetoric of Portuguese cartoons. He discovered that political cartoons serve as communication weapons capable of enhancing political understanding and reconceptualization of events, through specific frameworks of understanding.MethodologyMy research paper seeks to answer two main questions:; First, what are the main themes of “Z” political cartoons from 2008 to 2017? Second, can we see Tunisia through the eyes of political cartoons? To answer these questions, data was collected on the online blog of the anonymous designer Z www.Débatunisie.com. The study examined 8 political cartoons to prove that political cartoons are able to reflect socio-political issues in Tunisia and easily communicate to the population by exploring main themes and analyzing visual elements. The study uses a qualitative approach to analyze political cartoons. . It focuses on analyzing elements of cartoons such as participants, captions, symbols, metaphors, facial expressions, and irony to illustrate main themes. The methodology used for the analysis is based on the theory of visual semiotics. More specifically, the study focuses on the content of political cartoons and visual communication. It is important to note that the corpus of eight drawings analyzed in this article includes captions in two languages; French and Arabic. So, I will translate what is in French and Arabic into English. The analysis pays attention to the context of the cartoon and its graphic elements. The analysis of selective cartoons is approached with the theory of visual semiotics presented by Kress and Van Leeuwen in their revised book "The Grammar of Visual Design". The study focuses on the language and themes provided by visual and verbal cues in political cartoons. Since the research focuses on visual semiotics, the study will focus on the meaning of colors, shapes and signs taking into account the style of the designer. The study not only focuses on the main themes provided by the cartoons, but also on the integration of the themes with visual representation by considering the style of the cartoonist and his imprint in each cartoon.Data Analysis of Political Cartoons “Z” The following political cartoon represents the Emirates project in Tunisia which was to be founded in the southern lake of the capital. In August 2008, "Z" began drawing a series of caricatures against government policies in order to raise awareness among the Tunisian population of the long-term danger that would be caused by the project. He uses pink flamingos to indirectly convey serious messages to the population without directly referring to the Tunisian government. He uses drawing as a communicative weapon to alarm the Tunisian population. The first drawing published on his blog in August 2008 under the title "flamingos demonstrate against the occupation of the emirate" is a photo of a group of flamingos protesting against the occupation of the emirate. joint venture between the government and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Flamingos have a double meaning. On the one hand, they symbolize the ecosystem and the particularities of the lake. And on the other hand, they symbolize the oppressed citizens to whom the lake was sold without their consent. These pink flamingos brandish three banners bearing slogans against the “Leave”, “it’s ours” and “we will stay here”. Metaphorically, the designer personifies the birds and gives them the opportunity to speak and express their opinions on the creation of the project. He resorts to drawing animals instead of humans to indirectly convey his messages without referring to the government. The choice of the title of this caricature is very significant, in particular the expression “the occupation of the emirate” which connotes a warning about the indirect establishment of the emirate in public properties. The following political cartoons were published in 2009. The cartoonist tries through his caricatures to highlight his opinion on the elections in Tunisia. According to the website Cartooning for Peace, in 2009, a university professor and activist blogger named "Fatma Riahi" was arrested by Tunisian authorities, accused of being Z because of a cartoon by Z entitled "The Comedy electoral”, two a few days after the re-election of Ben Ali. The authorities, hours after arresting Fatma, released her because Z had drawn another drawing containing a direct message to the government. This cartoon was an image of his “flamingo” with two captions “I am not Fatma” and “We are all Fatma”. The political caricature thus constitutes a certificate of innocence for Fatma. In more detail: Cartoon No. 2 published in October 2009 and entitled "the electoral comedy" depicts the president in a white suit with a purple tie standing in a theater encircling his supporters dressed in Ben Ali's favorite color "purple" applauding and cheering the president. Ironically, Z chooses the theater to draw Ben Ali and his political party with a title above “the national theater of Tunisia presents for the fifth time!” The electoral comedy” to convey the idea of ​​the false and that the election is only a big play performed by the same actors for two decades “for the fifth time! ". On either side of the curtains, two legends. On the left, “100% suspense” sarcastically contradicts the expression “is running for the fifth time” to indirectly express that the result of the 2009 elections is predictable, and that on the contrary, there is no suspense. While on the right, the caption “100% extras” ironically and indirectly indicates the idea that nothing is new. In other words, for two decades, it's the same play and the same ending. According to Donis, circles imply infinity. So, surrounding Ben Ali and forming a circle implies that the fake elections, repression and everything else continues. Ben Ali is also shown in a white suit. According to Kress and Van Leeuwen, the color white tends to express purity. The cartoonist uses the color white not to express the purity of Ben Ali but on the contrary to mean that this drawing represents a masquerade where the oppressor wears the fabric of purity and forgiveness. The drawing above, published on November 6, 2009, is an image of her trademark "flamingo" and a mountain in the back with angry facial expressions bearing the slogans "I am not Fatma" and "we all Fatma.” These slogans are a direct message to the government to inform it that Fatma is not “Z”. Symbolically, he uses the mountain of “Boukornine” to refer to Tunisia and the Tunisian people and their anger at the arrest of Fatma. Thus, her drawing represents for her a certificate of innocence. This is one of his most powerful drawings. It was published on his blog on December 28, 2010 (15 days before Ben Ali's flight) and titled "soon". The title makes it clear that this is a prescient and predictable cartoon. It depicts a prediction of Z due to recent events in Tunisia and illustrates the dream of the Tunisian population to free themselves from dictatorship andauthoritarian regime. The analysis of this drawing and the exploration of its symbolism indicate that if the eruption of the "Bukornine Mountain" like a volcano which occurs in the background of the drawing symbolizes the indignation of the Tunisians and connotes the revolution against the regime, Ben Ali and his family board a plane to flee to Saudi Arabia. The choice of the plane number "Air Force 7" evokes the date of Ben Ali's inauguration as president of Tunisia, November 7, 1987. Symbolically and deliberately, the cartoonist uses the number "7" to represent two events main; past power and current loss. In this cartoon, Ben Ali's family carries a box with them as they climb the stairs. The box symbolizes all the money stolen from Tunisians and is a warning to the Tunisian population that their money would disappear with the ousted president. Sarcastically, Z depicts Ben Ali supporters holding bags and asking "what about us?" while the bodyguard prevents them from boarding the plane and the president bids them farewell and calls them “ungrateful people”. Thus, the “mauves” are left behind to face the indignation of the revolutionaries, while the president flees security with his family. Cartoon No. 5 and Cartoon No. 6 were published on January 16, 2011, after the ouster of Ben Ali. , and entitled “the new Tunisia”. The title evokes Z's dream about the rebirth of Tunisia after freeing its population from the oppressive regime. In cartoon No. 5, Z represents a table covered with the Tunisian flag where a group of people are sitting around the table, with smiles on their faces. Here, the table covered by the flag symbolizes the start of a free debate. The participants in this debate symbolize the different categories of society; where we can see the Islamist, the liberal, the blogger, women and men sitting down together and starting a democratic debate to reform Tunisia. Typically, drawing No. 6 represents Tunisia after decades of the jasmine revolution as Z dreamed of. Here he conveys his prediction about Tunisia and what it would be like after the reforms. The designer represents a grandfather sitting and talking with his granddaughter in a garden. The little girl, with a smile on her lips, asks her grandfather about the revolution as it is represented in the bubble “grandfather!” Tell me about the jasmine revolution.” In addition, the designer represents on the back of his drawing two couples walking on the road hand in hand. Thus, Z represents the freedom, peace, calm and harmony that Tunisia would achieve. He predicts a colorful future for Tunisia without purple. As seen in this drawing, all colors are presented in the drawing except "purple" which symbolizes the dictatorial regime. The color green is dominated in this cartoon. According to De Bortoli and Maroto, the color green implies peace and calm. The cartoonist therefore expects a bright future for Tunisia. Also, the flying pink flamingo in the drawing symbolizes the designer and evokes his freedom of expression, while the two pigeons universally evoke peace. Drawing No. 7 and Drawing No. 8 were published on September 14, 2017, and successively titled “Reconciliation with the dictatorship”. and “National Reconciliation”. The first structure of the title is based on the contradiction “reconciliation and dictatorship”. This contradictory composition reveals what is hidden behind the scenes of the transitional government. The two drawings expose the real situation in Tunisia after the revolution and the deconstruction of the dream explained in the previous drawings. In more detail: Drawing No. 7 represents a group of politicians such as the current president “El Baji Kaid El Sebssi” and the leader of Enahdha “Rashid El Ghannoushi” and.