Swinging a Cat
May. 4th, 2004 03:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rinueToday, it occurred to me that Garfield might be targeted specifically at housewives. He hates Mondays, not because he has to return to work, but because he doesn't; this is so horrible to comprehend that he inevitably sleeps through them, (at least in the early years of the comic; eventually Mondays become slapstick as more and more ridiculous things conspire to wake him up). His tasks around the house are centered on the preparation of food and keeping the home pleasant by eradicating any pests; he deals with these pests, particularly the mice, through negotiation rather than violence - overall, a more feminine solution.
He is a cat, a traditionally feminine animal, and yet he is labeled a male. Why? Does he act male in any way? Even his agression is typically passive, and his relationship with Jon is a traditional husband/wife division of spheres of influence. For contrast, observe Bucky Katt in Get Fuzzy; he's destructive, power hungry, openly antagonistic, and a skirt chaser. He constantly attempts to wrest control from the alpha male, unlike Garfield, who is happy to keep to the house and exert external power through Jon - the typical explanation for why women "didn't need" the right to vote.
No, Garfield is a male cat because Garfield is a caracture of what a housewife looks like viewed through a male lens: lazy, catty, and overly interested in consuming the fruits of someone else's labor. Intentional subtext? Probably not, but Jim Davis did start the comic in 1978, a time of division and extremism in the feminist movement. I should probably do a more through study and critique . . . but since I hate the comic strip, I will refrain.
He is a cat, a traditionally feminine animal, and yet he is labeled a male. Why? Does he act male in any way? Even his agression is typically passive, and his relationship with Jon is a traditional husband/wife division of spheres of influence. For contrast, observe Bucky Katt in Get Fuzzy; he's destructive, power hungry, openly antagonistic, and a skirt chaser. He constantly attempts to wrest control from the alpha male, unlike Garfield, who is happy to keep to the house and exert external power through Jon - the typical explanation for why women "didn't need" the right to vote.
No, Garfield is a male cat because Garfield is a caracture of what a housewife looks like viewed through a male lens: lazy, catty, and overly interested in consuming the fruits of someone else's labor. Intentional subtext? Probably not, but Jim Davis did start the comic in 1978, a time of division and extremism in the feminist movement. I should probably do a more through study and critique . . . but since I hate the comic strip, I will refrain.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-04 05:13 am (UTC)Or you know, it could just be what a cat looks like through the view of a human lens, as I have often considered cats I know to be lazy who only love you when you feed them. Also, what does Odie represent? An idiot child, perhaps.
To be honest, I liked Garfield as a kid, especially some animated feature of them involving an escaped panther while they all went camping.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-07 01:55 am (UTC)Still don't like Garfield, though. Kind of liked the "and friends" part of the cartoon where there was the pig, Orson, and that duck who was afraid of water. It's not really that I think there's anything inherently bad about Garfield, and it has some good gags - but not very many, and they just keep repeating. I know it's hard to stay original when you're writing the same thing for years, but I got that feeling even looking at the early books. To each his own, though; some people like "Love Is. . .", which is certainly *more* one-note and less funny than Garfield.
Point is: you are TEH BEST EVAR, and I always like hearing from you even when it's to disagree with me and/or try to foil my devious plots.
p.s. Patrick asks that you please friend him (lj = marveloustrick) so that he can read your entries and adore you properly. I know you're about to change journals and all, but it's a standing sort of thing.
love,
Romie
(no subject)
Date: 2004-05-04 07:32 am (UTC)