Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Oh, My Sainted Aunt...I Must Scrub My Brain Out with Soap

Sometimes, when I'm reading The Family Circus, I find myself thinking, "Good grief, this is appalling. Oh well...at least I know it can't possibly get worse."

And then it does.

Today's Family Circus may be one of the most horrifying single-panel comics I have ever seen. At first, it looks innocuous. Billy is taking Dolly's measurements as PJ looks on. How precious! How cute that the widdle childwen are acting just like adults...

...and fixating...over Dolly's...bust size...*

Heavens to Murgatroid, Keanes. What the hell is wrong with you?

The humour here is probably supposed to be inherent in the fact that Billy innocently calls Dolly's funny pear-shaped measurements "perfect." Perhaps the Keanes think they are being progressive in describing Dolly's lumpy body as "perfect." However, what we actually have here is a tiny little girl buying into the myth that women should have "perfect" measurements. How old is Dolly? Five? Six? Isn't it nice that she's already learning to obsess over her body? Look at that coy, self-satisfied smirk on her face. Any minute now, she's going to strike a Paris Hilton pose and go around modelling bathing suits.

The Keanes are clearly trapped in the past. Their outmoded portraits of women make me want to punch brick walls for fun. Go back to the Middle Ages, Keanes. You wouldn't be considered progressive there either, but at least you'd be out of my hair.



*It is entirely possible that my head has just exploded.

2 comments:

CrackerLilo said...

Wow, Family Circus is getting weirder and weirder, and not in a good way!

They shouldn't try to blend in with 21st century America anymore. Comes out all wrong. I like it your way better.

Michael said...

This is disturbing in several ways. Not only is Dolly buying into the "perfect female body" syndrome, but her brother is aiding and abetting this ideal.

There's the further point that Dolly is fat. When her waist size is larger than her upper body, she's fat. A man's or boy's chest measurement should be larger than his waist measurement, when the waist is larger then the person is fat.

Lastly, why is a boy measuring his sister? It may be perfectly innocent, but that's not the way it appears to me*.

*Perhaps this says more about me than about the Keanes.