No Hollywood Ending

This cartoon, titled 'No Hollywood Ending', by Fiona Katauskas was published in The Echidna on the 15th of March 2023. It is in landscape orientation, measuring 31 by 22 centimetres. Fiona Katauskas is the Museum's 2023 Political Cartoonist of the Year.  

At the top of the cartoon, over a backdrop of mint green watercolour, hangs a caption in all-caps: 'Life imitates art'.  

In the centre of the piece, a woman's figure sprawls on a lilac floor, buried beneath a pyramid of papers. Capital letters blare like headlines on the papers – 'rent rise', 'gas bill', 'inflation up', 'grocery bill', 'petrol', 'car rego', 'rate rises', 'kid's birthday', 'school expenses', 'electricity bill', 'internet', 'medical bills', 'phone bill', 'surprise bill'.   

The figure's face and body are mostly hidden by the pile of bills. To the left, a head of dark hair emerges. Below, one arm with beige skin pokes out. Her legs and neat black shoes stick out to the right. Her red dress peeks out from underneath the pile of paper.   

The woman and her papers are sketched in sharp-edged black pen, filled in with softer watercolours. The woman casts a faint shadow on the floor, giving the impression that she is being driven into the ground by the flood of expenses.    

The woman's voice escapes the pile in a speech bubble hovering in the space between the prone figure and the top caption. It reads: 'Everything, everywhere all at once' – a reference to the title of the 2022 film from directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. The cartoon turns the title into a comment on the overwhelm felt by many at the sharp rise in the cost of living.  

The cartoonist's signature 'Katauskas', with blocky letters in black ink, is scrawled in the lower right corner.    

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The label text for this cartoon reads: Fiona Katauskas's cartoon perfectly encapsulates the challenges of 2023 for many people: a person lies sprawled on the floor swamped by a pile of common household bills, from 'Rent rise' to 'Surprise bill'. The title of the 2022 Academy Award–winning film, Everything Everywhere All at Once, ironically illustrates the feelings of Australians facing cost-of-living pressures.