Muhammad Cartoons: Collision of Comic and Tragic Worldviews

• In Event: Sense-Making Across Cultures and Worldviews

Abstract

This study applies Kenneth Burke’s comic and tragic frames to the controversial Danish Muhammad cartoons. Through this analysis, it became clear that the cartoons inhabited the comic frame, as did the responses of most Western nations, whereas the violent responses elicited from many Islamic nations inhabited the tragic frame. The clash between the comic and tragic frames in this instance illustrates one example of opposing rhetorical worldviews between the West and the Middle East.

Author

• Ashley Rae Muddiman, Wake Forest University