A social thematic analysis of the cartoon strips of La Sallian and \u27Ang Pahayagang Plaridel\u27

The aim of the study is to analyze the social themes in the cartoon strips of La Sallian and \u27Ang Pahayagang Plaridel\u27, two major newspapers in De La Salle University. The time frame was from February, 1986 up to May, 1992. Total population of cartoon strips were 383, 251 from La Sallian and 152 from Plaridel.Themes such as cultural, economic, moral, environmental, political, etc. were utilized. Such themes were applied to external (off campus) and internal (on campus) situations. On the other hand, devices such as satire, wit, irony, hyperbole, pun, sarcasm, spoof, and others were used.Findings show that for external, cultural was the most predominant theme. Next to this was moral, followed by political, economic, environmental, and no theme. Internally, cultural was also dominant followed by political, moral, environmental, economic, political/cultural, and political/economic.In the devices utilized, satire ranked first for both newspapers. This was followed by irony, then sarcasm, spoof, wit, hyperbole, others and pun was the last.Based on the findings, the researchers made the following conclusions: a) La Sallian and Plaridel cartoon strips were more concerned with the cultural aspects rather than social issues prevailing in the Philippine society. b) Cartoon strips in the two campus newspapers do not fully utilize their ability to deliver informative current and social issues. c) Cartoon strips were more concerned with providing entertainment to the readers. d) Satire was the most predominant device found in the study. Since satire involves the use of the combination of irony and wit, it requires some degree of higher education on the reader\u27s part in order for them to fully understand it. e) The cartoon strips of Plaridel as compared to La Sallian are more concerned with delivering socially relevant messages through its strips