Cartoons Versus Sports

Cartoons versus Sports

One might ask why would anyone compare and contrast an essay about a cartoon to an essay about sports? Margaret Lazarus's essay "All's Not Well in The Land of The Lion King" focuses on the cultural stereotypes hidden within the seemingly harmless children's movie The Lion King (368-70). In Katha Pollitt's essay "Swish, Thwack, Boo: Let's Get Rid of Sports," Pollitt explores the world of sports to see if they are truly as great as people claim they are (405-07). Although these two essays are based on topics that have nothing to do with one another, it is interesting to see the similarities and differences between these two authors' writing techniques. There are many aspects of each essay that make them similar such as their style, tone, and intended audience. Both authors use similar organization structures but their purpose for writing their essays are different.

Both Lazarus and Pollitt write their essays in an informal style. This informal style is first seen in the title of both essays through the use of a contraction. Contractions are used throughout both essays. These contractions include the words it's, don't, and let's. Both authors use a conversational style to appeal to the reader. For example, Lazarus writes, "Picture this (and I apologize for spilling the plot)…" (369). Although it may be subconscious, the reader responds to her apology and continues reading. Towards the end of Pollitt's essay, she also uses this conversational approach: "Forget the whole thing. I don't know what came over me" (407). In both essays, more so in Pollitt's, the writer uses abbreviations and short hand conversational writing. For example, Lazarus writes "movies" instead of the movie theater: "So off we went to the movies…" (368). In Pollitt's essay, she uses multiple abbreviations such as "C.I.A," "Op-Ed," "TV," and "O.K." Although they both lean towards the informal style, Pollitt's essay also gives a formal sense to her essay with her use of long complex sentences. For example, Pollitt's use of words in her opening lines would cause most people to reach for the closest dictionary: "There ought to be a rule that bold proposals for the social and political betterment…" (405). On the contrary, Lazarus's use of adjectives makes her sentences seem long but does not necessarily make her essay formal: "Outside the kingdom, in a dark, gloomy, and impoverished elephant grave yard, are the hyenas" (369).

Both essays are written in a humorous and sarcastic tone but are both dealing with what they believe to be very serious subjects. For example, Lazarus speaks about the animals in the kingdom paying tribute to the infant son. She then proceeds to say, "These royal subjects are basically