Creating Humor in Gary Larson’s Far Side Cartoons Using Interpersonal and Textual Metafunctions

Abstract

Cartoons, one of the most frequently encountered forms of humor, have a venerable history. Eighteenth-century Britain saw the establishment and widespread acceptance of cartoons as a medium for expressing political and moral opinions, most notably in Hogarth’s The Rake’s Progress. Such cartoons had, and still have in the case of editorial cartoons in newspapers, an overtly political purpose achieved primarily through satire and irony. The nineteenth century saw less politically focused cartoons emerge as a common genre. Gag cartoons initiated in magazines such as Punch are designed primarily for entertainment with the picture and accompanying caption creating humor. The analysis of such cartoons therefore falls within the domain of humor research.