Snake Oil
I was trying to come up with something on Donald Trump apparently leading in polls for the Republican Presidential nomination, and read that he and Sarah Palin spoke at some tea party rally in Wisconsin over the weekend. This got me thinking about how the tea party has co-opted the “Don’t Tread on Me” rattlesnake flag from the American Revolution, so I began thinking about doing something with a snake charmer, when I realized snake handling would make a more appropriate (if not quite as immediately recognizable) metaphor, both because it usually involves rattlesnakes instead of cobras, and because it’s best-known for being practiced by religiously backwards hillbillies in the Deep South who think faith in Jesus essentially gives them magic powers.
While I think the illustration turned out quite well, here, I’m afraid I may have made it a bit too hard to read the metaphors with the more daring and dramatic composition, similar to problems I had with this cartoon.
What do you think, readers?
3 Responses to “Snake Oil”
Maybe it’s because I’m a hillbilly from the South, but this was all immediately clear to me. I think it’s a great comic, and while I was initially confused by the man’s face – I was thinking of some other Biblical overtones – once I saw the snake I knew automatically what you were going for. As always, extremely well done.
Only problem I have is the writing on the snake; somehow, my eyes keep reading it as “PTAERAT Y”.
I agree. It took me a while to read it as “Tea Party.”
Otherwise, great commentary.
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