This metaphor was, and remains, antisemitic. The most eye-catching thing in the box is a big pink squid, which seems puzzling until you remember that in 2009 Matt Taibbi, writing in Rolling Stone, famously described Goldman Sachs as “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money”. Rowson calls this “the standard accessory of the just sacked” (although that begs the question why it is a Goldman Sachs box and not a BBC one, when he has just lost his job at the latter). Then there are the contents of the box that Sharp is carrying. The fact that his pen veered, however unthinkingly, towards these antisemitic motifs shows how easily, and unthinkingly, they can rise to the surface. For centuries our world has taught us that this is how to imagine wealthy, powerful Jews, especially those accused of wrongdoing. Rowson says that Sharp’s Jewishness was not in his mind, but in a way that is beside the point. There is a responsibility on newspapers and cartoonists to ensure that they do not feed this by deploying antisemitic motifs in their critiques of Jews in the public eye. But he is also Jewish, and antisemitism remains a live and at times lethal problem. Sharp is a public figure of national interest and should not be exempt from scrutiny and satire. It’s a racialised depiction of a Jew, and incidentally is another reminder, if Diane Abbott is still wondering, that antisemitism can indeed be a form of racism. All the component parts were there: the large nose, the lips, the Fagin-like sneer, and, of course, what appears to be money. You can find them in medieval woodcuts of the fictitious allegation that Jews crucified Christian children and drained their blood (the ritual murder or “blood libel” charge), in Victorian cartoons in Punch and in the Nazi newspaper Der Stürmer.Īll of which makes it unfathomable that anyone would be so unfamiliar with this anti-Jewish visual lexicon that they would draw and publish a cartoon that depicted Sharp, or any other Jew in public life, in this way: but here we are. The outsized nose and lips, grotesque features and sinister grin have been part of antisemitic imagery for centuries, a way of portraying Jews as repulsive and sinister. Working for a trendy entertainment brand with a ton of great content means that you end up designing some fun stuff, but these are still complex creative and strategic challenges with multiple business goals and even more stakeholders.Rather than drawing a yellow star on each Jewish target, Nazi-style, artists down the ages have instead given their subjects stereotypically “Jewish” features. I worked with creative people who are really passionate about what they do. We rebuilt the site from top to bottom-completely changing the architecture inside and out-at least five times in the ten years I worked there.Ĭartoons are fun! Cartoon Network is hip-as popular with people in their twenties as it is with kids. Needless to say, the site is constantly changing. This is coupled with the additional challenge of designing interfaces or branding that feels young-aimed at a seven or eight year old-that are dismissed by them as being "for babies." Our audience creates content and usability challenges-a six year old is a completely different person than an eleven year old. This means that in my time at Cartoon, a six year old at the bottom end of our demo aged out of the primary focus, and the six year old who replaced him was close to aging out as well. The network’s core demographic is kids aged six to eleven, with older kids (nine to fourteen) and younger kids (two to five) a secondary focus. This means that, yes often I got paid to watch cartoons. Games and promotions have to be true to the spirit of the shows, and the way we use the characters needs to feel true as well. Sites have to be quickly and easily updated to stay topical, with new content for each new episode. Our sites, games, and other interactive pieces are companion pieces to the on-air television experience. We work closely with show teams to create relevant content and promotions.
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