Memes and cartoons in times of war

Cartoons as a humorous form of social criticism have a long tradition. The 2010s also saw the emergence of memes — reworked images that exaggerate or ridicule the content originally depicted. With the help of a simple image editing program, anyone can easily create a meme from photographic material. Some memes are elaborate, others simply have an additional sentence or idiom.

Their creators are rarely known, not only because the memes are shared by the thousands on social media, but also because unauthorized use of the photo or video footage often violates copyright laws.

The number of caricatures and memes skyrocket when times are tough, perhaps because they can be a way to deal with real-life horrors, such as the current war in Ukraine. Despite the heavy subject matter, they ideally make people smile, serving as a form of encouragement to not be defeated. They also ridicule, subtly or overtly, people in power, exposing truths those rulers may try to deny.

Various cartoons and memes suggest that Ukraine might turn out to be more resilient than Russian President Vladimir Putin thought.

Theo Moudakis has Putin riding a bear in a cartoon for the Canadian Toronto Star newspaper. Especially in the West, a bear has often been used to refer to Russia's geographical size. The surprised-looking bear in Moudaki's cartoon loses a paw in a trap when it enters Ukraine, leaving his rider almost childishly perplexed.

The British daily The Times had this cartoon by Norwegian cartoonist Morten Morland: Russian invaders bounce off Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as Putin, quite out of touch with reality, recites a long list of demands.

German cartoonist Nadia Menze focused on the fact that other countries stand by Ukraine. In her cartoon, Russia is a shark that faces not just the smaller Ukraine but many smaller fish that together are stronger than the big aggressor. Menze's symbolism appealed to the international hacker network Anonymous, which shared the cartoon on Twitter.

The meme community had fun with the absurdly long table at which Vladimir Putin received French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz shortly before the invasion of Ukraine. In this meme, anyone who likes this particular piece of furniture can now look forward to the "Putin" model at the Swedish Ikea furniture chain.

In other memes, the table functions as a seesaw and even as a badminton table.

Tango Gao also lampooned the political meetings at Putin's table on Instagram. However, the cartoonist from Shanghai turns it into a coffin: Putin and his generals make decisions that cost lives.

Of course, XXL sizes aren't necessarily limited to furniture. How about the longest horse in the world? In the past, Putin enjoyed having his picture taken bare-chested, riding a horse when on vacation.

There has been plenty of speculation about the connection between the pompous presentations and Putin's lack of self-confidence as a person. This caricature stages the Russian military might as compensation for any deficits in the commander-in-chief's self-esteem.

In this cartoon, Belgian street artist Loic Monk links a typical symbol of the West, namely a popular fast food chain, to the Russian president's violent actions, crowning him "Murder King."

As a two-term prime minister and currently four-term president, Vladimir Putin has been steering Russia's fortunes since 1999. He was targeted by caricatures and memes even well before Russian troops invaded Ukraine, but the war in Ukraine has once again made the Russian ruler a focus of lampooning cartoons around the world. 

This article has been translated from German.