Silencing dissent with 'decorum'

If democracy has got you down, just use decorum!

Here’s a little window into the upcoming animation, which was sparked by the outrageous and anti-democratic antics of Montana state Republicans.

Even though Republicans are in control of Montana’s House, they just couldn’t handle criticism of their newly-minted anti-transgender bill — especially when it came from the state’s first transgender lawmaker, Representative Zooey Zephyr.

So they shut her up and barred her from the House floor.

I’ll include more links to the news behind the cartoon when I post the completed animation, but in the meantime, be sure to watch video of Zephyr speaking out.

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First up: the script

The most important part of every animation is the script, which looks like this when it’s in my sketchbook.

After reading it aloud, rewriting and scribbling some more, I print out a clean copy of the script. I’ll then add small thumbnail storyboard sketches to the script.

It’s not pretty, but next I add important notes to the script, including the wording for any signs or labeled papers that will appear in the animation. (Those little “2” and “3” numbers you see on the right side tell me which take of the voice over session to use.)

Next step: drawing!

Now that I’ve got the script and storyboard nailed down, I start sketching out the drawings for the new scenes. Here I’m setting up a very simple animation of Zephyr raising her microphone on the House floor.

And of course a new villain, Montana’s speaker of the House, Matt Regier. (This will also be animated — mainly eye blinks and mouth movements, he won’t have a speaking role in this cartoon.)

There is much more to come, and more scenes to create, including rolling in other instances where “decorum” (and censure and expulsion) were used to silence lawmakers — and by extension, voters — that a Republican majority didn’t want to hear.

Thanks so much for subscribing to my newsletter and thank you for sharing this far and wide!

-Mark