Cartoonistry: Older Palm Beach cartoons cause introspection on circumspection
Looking back over 30 years of editorial cartooning for the Palm Beach Daily News, I can’t help but notice indications of how times have changed — some subtle and some not so subtle.
The Shiny Sheet has always been a unique publication with its diverse mix of lifestyle content, news articles and society coverage. Because of this, when I first started, I decided to straddle the line between the hard-edged editorial cartoon style popular in metropolitan newspapers and a more whimsical magazine gag cartoon style.
One of my early favorites that blended current events and lifestyle was the October 1992 cartoon I did when Madonna released her highly controversial erotic photography book ''SEX.''
In those days, it was common in Palm Beach to display the latest expensively-wrought coffee-table book as part of one’s décor. The lavishly illustrated, portentous and often-gilded tomes ran the gamut in subject matter and spoke volumes about the taste of the owner.
It didn’t matter if anyone cracked it open; one glance at the cover would reaffirm the homeowner’s taste in food, design, travel experience or artistic taste — an early form of personal branding before the advent of Facebook and Twitter.
Madonna’s salacious book, along with her co-released music CD ''Erotica,'' was also an obvious branding exercise. Having just turned 30, the 80’s Material Girl probably knew she had to reinvent herself for her former teen fans who had grown into 20-something hipsters.
The book project with photographer Steven Meisel was meant to be headline-grabbing. It pushed the boundaries of mainstream publishing propriety, combining erotic art and soft-porn to explore themes of domination, bisexuality and homosexuality. Full male and female nudity and sexual situations abounded, with Madonna most prominent.
The book sold 1.5 million copies worldwide in its first printing and is still considered one of the most successful art books ever published. With all the hoopla, I could only imagine what it was doing to coffee-table book culture in staid Palm Beach.
Interestingly, as I look back over many of my earlier cartoons, quite a few found humor in risqué material and double-entendre gags. There was a willingness to go there that I don’t see in my more recent cartoons. It might be that it’s only me that’s has changed. I am 30 years older, of course. But I also think that there has been a shift in public sensibilities.
Probably no single phenomenon has more to do with that than social media. The experience has become very tribal. Nowadays, people brand themselves by aligning with causes and ideology — be it feminism, LGBTQ culture, MAGA or Never Trumper — and often they strongly rebuke those who run afoul their views. How can one not be more circumspect in this environment?
I hate to think that, as humanity has become more connected online, with all of its inherent benefits, we’ve reverted to a more primitive and less-tolerant nature. But it certainly appears so.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach cartoonist looks back at changes in our behavior
