Cartoonists celebrate 100 Years of Titanic metaphors

This headline from the satirical news source, 'The Onion' accurately describes what is perhaps the Titanic's biggest legacy; the plethora of metaphors left in its wake has been nothing short of, well, titanic.
The English Blog writes: 'The Sinking of the Titanic' has given rise to a number of metaphors which are commonly used in the media to refer to current news events. For example, 'Rearranging the Deckchairs on the Titanic' is a metaphor commonly used to describe futile, irrelevant actions taken in times of crisis.
'And the Band Played On' refers to the fact that the band continued to play as the ship went down, supposedly to calm the passengers. As a metaphor it represents a denial of the reality for some, stoicism for others.
More generally, the idea of the ship colliding with an iceberg or the sinking ship are commonly used as metaphors for disaster, the iceberg as a metaphor for the cause of a catastrophe, and the lifeboat as a metaphor for rescue.
Cartoonists worldwide are amongst the most appreciative of the metaphorical treasures left behind by the Titanic, as this collection demonstrates. We have also salvaged some original Titanic cartoons from the time of the sinking.

Also read: Titanic as Metaphor (Encyclopedia Titanica)

Posted on Apr 13, 2012 by Africartoons