Generally neglected for their rhetorical power, animated cartoons provide a treasure chest of provocative and comic gems that teach about the seven deadly sins. After a brief history of parables and fables, icons and visual communication, this book explores each of the seven deadly sins as represented in short animated films from Disney, Pixar, the Warner Brothers, and international animators. Terry Lindvall argues that attending to the tropes of the cartoons leads to exemplary and revelatory discoveries, to seeing more of what pride, envy, wrath, sloth, avarice, gluttony, and lust mean across cultures and historical eras.

Terry Lindvall is C. S. Lewis Chair of Communication and Christian Thought at Virginia Wesleyan University.