As a child, Dwayne Booth wanted to save the world from the constraints of censorship. His solution: write obscene works, be discovered, get arrested and then prove to the judge, the jury, and the whole courtroom, that there is no reason to be offended.  

Instead, his sister found out and told his mother. Mission failed.  

This is how “Mr. Fish: Cartooning from the Deep End” opens. The film delves into Booth’s struggle to make a profitable career in the dying industry of political cartooning. Directed by Pablo Bryant, the documentary was shown at the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium Monday night following a Q&A with the artist.  

Booth had a not-so-conventional path to his not-so-conventional career. 

“I accidentally fell into political cartooning,” Booth said. After he dropped out of college, Booth started drawing gags and would later match the words to them. The result was a stack of unsigned jokes that looked like cartoons, but ones he wouldn’t sell.  

Booth said when he first began political cartooning, he saw a majority of cartoonists displayed their work condemning right-wing politics from a left-wing point of view.  

Aware of this, the young Booth submitted work that instead was more broad, though still focused on politics. 

During the George W. Bush administration, he said readers had a polar reaction to his work — some thought he was the “greatest cartoonist around,” while others wanted to drive him out of the country.   

During the Obama era, Booth continued to criticize power and ended with the same result. Some people supported his work while others wished he was silenced.  

As a rogue cartoonist without a publication to call his only home, he felt he could get away with speaking more openly, which is something he said others in his field couldn’t afford to do. 

“Sadly, many organizations have responded to these attacks by not running cartoons,” Booth said.  

While Booth has never been censored by a publication, he did have to exercise self-restraint on one occasion, he said. 

After the Parkland shooting, Booth wanted to represent the relationship between the U.S. and gun culture, he said. He said he drew President Donald Trump engaging in a sexual act with a gun. 

The cartoon never ran. Booth, after taking advice from some first amendment experts decided to censor himself. Booth put a black box in front of Trump with a long paragraph explaining the censorship.  

“I sat back and said, ‘there is a willful way to misread this as a threat against the president,’” said Booth, and he ran the cartoon without the box.  

But Booth didn’t change the trajectory of his cartoons meant to critique leaders in office. The question on whether or not the public sees his work as virtuous or shameless is up to them, he said.  

It’s that same sentiment that Booth believes makes the film resonate with so many people. He said while the majority of people coming to the screening may not be cartoonist or artists, people can connect through their own political voices.  

Booth said he has many more cartoons, books, and even a graphic novel to publish. His effort to change the world as a kid and fight back against current authority is far from over.  

Published on September 17, 2019 at 12:10 am

Contact Mateo: mtestlin@syr.edu