Patterns of Continuity and Change

Book excerpt: In this book, Helen Yu-Rivera challenges the conventional use of written documents in delineating the course of Philippines-Japan relations. Using editorial cartoons, the author proves that pictorial documents are potentially as rich in information as written documents. This book highlights the perspective of the popular press instead of the commonly solicited viewpoints of policy makers. More importantly, the author reads the editorial cartoons as symbolic language where images and text reveal more than what they signify at a cursory glance. By so doing, the author has identified, interpreted, and analyzed different levels of synthesis used to represent the Japanese in Philippine editorial cartoons of this period. While many of the symbols used were reflective of the inherent tensions in Philippines-Japan relations, factors such as conventions of the medium of cartooning, individual styles, and personal interpretation also significantly affected the occurrence, change, and continuity of the images.