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Unseriously Serious

MAY 15, 2011
Mary Parsons called me a few weeks ago to do something for THE AMERICAN PROSPECT.  I had never worked with her before, enjoyed our initial conversation after the email intros and looked forward to coming up with an image for an article about the conundrum of the Democratic Party trying to re-woo the Old South.  Mary had mentioned right from the start an image making use of the classic movie, GONE WITH THE WIND.  I played around with the familiar poster image as well as some reference pictures from the movie involving Scarlett, as a Republican elephant belle, surrounded by adoring males- white males.  There seemed to be a great opportunity to play up that visual and I was glad when she chose the garden scene instead of the poster image, even though the poster image could have been a hoot as well. 

The important part was to get the expressions and attitudes correct and a number of studies were done before committing to the final drawing that would go to color.  Several false starts and finally a version that took on an energy all its own. One of those assignments that we hope all could be like in terms of fun and playfulness and still manage to say something within the humor.  Thank you, Mary Parsons.  Hope to kick something around with you again.


It was decided after seeing the sketch that the jackass in the background should be a female and not a male. The next trick was to get the right body language and expression on the Scarlett competitor.







"The Case Against Wall Street" in the current ROLLING STONE (with a young non penciled mustache Bob Dylan on the cover) by Matt Taibbi who has been probably the single biggest thorn in the side to the criminals on Wall Street in particular certain firms. Here, again, he concentrates on Goldman Sachs. This was the approved idea. Lloyd Blankfein behind bars.

After reading the rough copy for the piece it seemed that Matt was stressing how 'law enforcement' is seemingly toothless in putting away any of the Wall Street mavens who played such a huge part in bringing about the current economic mess. I tried to concentrate on that theme. Thank you Thomas Nast. All we had to do here was substitute Boss Tweed for a swinish business type- guilty but unbothered by the ineffectiveness of the law.




When it was decided to portray Lloyd Blankfein in the image in jail I went with a couple approaches. Breaking rocks, as here or behind bars. The editors went with behind bars. Thanks to AD Steve Charny once again. This job was great fun. Even Matt Taibbi found the final image funny enough to let me know.


The previous issue of ROLLING STONE titled "The Real Housewives of Wall Street" another in a great series by Matt Taibbi.

© 2024 Victor Juhasz