Anyone ever wanna take Cathy Guisewite's eponymous character, give her Manga hair, a Sailor-Moon outfit, a hammer and a katana and check out the look on Irving's face?
Given the sexist/racist undercurrents in most anime, and the deletrious effect anime is having on US pop culture, you might make things more blatant. Her sidekick could be Osama bin Laden! Pop-Cultural and physical ruin! Don't forget the giant robots! Heck, do what Brigadoon did and have the President of the United States come to Japan to fall at her feet and beg her to save the world from some ambiguous evil! ^^
Don't forget to change her to the proportions of a Barbie doll- and look the same as every other female character.
I dunno- I've grown quite attached to the original Cathy's crazy character and hi-jynx. Her dog is amazing. ^^
It was one of those surrealist moments I had to day, to tell you the truth (and the resulting sketch is still at my desk at work).
When it comes to sexist/racist undercurrents, Cathy's pretty nefarious too. It is a familiar sexism we see in Cathy, and racism is expressed by exclusion. Hell, even Mort Walker has a more racially diverse world in Beetle Bailey than Cathy.
That's just the thing too. Cathy's premise is so promising: the adventures of a single woman in the workforce. But the process is so 1950's. The quest for a man, the constant dieting, the eternal obsessive dissatisfaction with body image, the codependent relationship with her mother. It's all just so . . . so . . . y'know? And while one could argue that Cathy is merely reflecting our culture, I will go one step further and say that that reflection is part of a feedback loop that perpetuates those attitudes and ensures that they stay fixed in society. Cathy's inner-life is the spiritual equivalent of Barbie-doll proportions.
As for Electra - Guisewite's best writing goes to the dogs. She has positioned Electra well as an impartial and somewhat bemused observer of the human condition, and she makes us envy the dogs for their sanity.
Yes, I think harder about comics than is probably healthy; but it amuses me.
And while one could argue that Cathy is merely reflecting our culture, I will go one step further and say that that reflection is part of a feedback loop that perpetuates those attitudes and ensures that they stay fixed in society. Cathy's inner-life is the spiritual equivalent of Barbie-doll proportions.
Cathy is indeedly all about stereotyping, but I'd argue the opposite- that Cathy makes fun of the obsession with men, dieting, body image, etc, like political cartoons: social insight through severe exaggeration of flaws. Like David Craig Simpson likes to do. ^^ Perhaps you are right, and ppl reading the strip don't quite get the exaggeration, and the steretypes are just exacerbated. This would be a kinda troubling insight into an overstimulated population...
The chief complaint I have with anime is that it generally doesn't address the sexism at all, simply taking it as granted- which is prolly the only way to market at all in Japan. I'd rather not see that infecting the US as well... The racism in anime goes way beyond "a subtle variation in races"- it's downright terrifying at times- the kind of stuff that incites riots here. Thankfully, the worst of it stays untranslated. ^^
Yes, I think harder about comics than is probably healthy; but it amuses me
No shame in that ^^ We can start an lj community! ^^
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2004-06-01 09:01 pm (UTC)What is a katana?
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Date: 2004-06-01 09:09 pm (UTC)<i><b>yankee</b></i> desu ka?
Date: 2004-06-02 02:36 am (UTC)Don't forget to change her to the proportions of a Barbie doll- and look the same as every other female character.
I dunno- I've grown quite attached to the original Cathy's crazy character and hi-jynx. Her dog is amazing. ^^
Re: <i><b>yankee</b></i> desu ka?
Date: 2004-06-02 03:11 am (UTC)When it comes to sexist/racist undercurrents, Cathy's pretty nefarious too. It is a familiar sexism we see in Cathy, and racism is expressed by exclusion. Hell, even Mort Walker has a more racially diverse world in Beetle Bailey than Cathy.
That's just the thing too. Cathy's premise is so promising: the adventures of a single woman in the workforce. But the process is so 1950's. The quest for a man, the constant dieting, the eternal obsessive dissatisfaction with body image, the codependent relationship with her mother. It's all just so . . . so . . . y'know? And while one could argue that Cathy is merely reflecting our culture, I will go one step further and say that that reflection is part of a feedback loop that perpetuates those attitudes and ensures that they stay fixed in society. Cathy's inner-life is the spiritual equivalent of Barbie-doll proportions.
As for Electra - Guisewite's best writing goes to the dogs. She has positioned Electra well as an impartial and somewhat bemused observer of the human condition, and she makes us envy the dogs for their sanity.
Yes, I think harder about comics than is probably healthy; but it amuses me.
Re: <i><b>yankee</b></i> desu ka?
Date: 2004-06-02 04:47 am (UTC)Cathy is indeedly all about stereotyping, but I'd argue the opposite- that Cathy makes fun of the obsession with men, dieting, body image, etc, like political cartoons: social insight through severe exaggeration of flaws. Like David Craig Simpson likes to do. ^^
Perhaps you are right, and ppl reading the strip don't quite get the exaggeration, and the steretypes are just exacerbated. This would be a kinda troubling insight into an overstimulated population...
The chief complaint I have with anime is that it generally doesn't address the sexism at all, simply taking it as granted- which is prolly the only way to market at all in Japan. I'd rather not see that infecting the US as well...
The racism in anime goes way beyond "a subtle variation in races"- it's downright terrifying at times- the kind of stuff that incites riots here. Thankfully, the worst of it stays untranslated. ^^
Yes, I think harder about comics than is probably healthy; but it amuses me
No shame in that ^^ We can start an lj community! ^^