Garfield: An Analysis
PostPosted: Mon Jan 29, 2007 9:21 pm
From my Livejournal:
I'll be up front and say it now. As an adult, I've never liked Garfield. I'm talking about the comic strip; the cartoons on TV are actually still fairly amusing (aside from that US Acres crap). Garfield was fine as a kid; it had the tired old gags and slapstick comedy kids love. But as an adult, I grew to love more intelligent humor, hence why Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side, and Dilbert quickly became my favorite strips. Garfield is still pretty much the exact same comic as it was when I was a kid. It hasn't grown or become more intelligent, and so it's just a comic that more or less takes up space now...still better than Family Circus; but then again, watching paint dry is better than Family Circus.
Anyway. This is until one young man had a bright idea. Remove all of Garfield's thought bubbles from the strip. To a person inside the comic strip, Garfield's thoughts cannot be heard (although there have been strips that contradict this assumption, but aside from those oddities it is safe to say no one can hear Garfield). Removing Garfield's thought bubbles not only makes the strip more realistic in a sense, but also gives it new life. Some of the strips are amusing simply because we can only imagine what Garfield is trying to say; some are not funny at all, but make us feel sympathy for Jon, a pathetic loser whose only companion is a cat.
I thought I'd share four or five of my favorite strips and analyze them. Four or five because I know clicking links is annoying.
http://home.comcast.net/~tembre/gar5.jpg
This is a great one, as we can only imagine what's going on that has made Jon angry. We can assume it is some sort of prank Garfield has played. But perhaps more, this is a glimpse at ourselves. We have a bad day, we come home, and we're not in the best of moods, and our cat/dog/whatever is there, and we shoot it a menacing glance. It has not wronged us, but we still may look upon it with disdain. The pet in question however, probably could care less, as evident in Garfield's unchanging expression.
http://home.comcast.net/~tembre/gar10.jpg
Another example of Jon's lousy life. In the original, Garfield probably made some sort of biting remark, that Jon isn't supposed to be able to hear. To a kid, though, they probably read it and assume Jon can hear Garfield, and it is amusing because Jon is sighing to Garfield's amusing insult. In this version, it merely shows how crappy Jon's life is, that not even his pet wishes to listen to him.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b369/jazzpirate/Garfield%20dada/ga0404271.gif
This isn't amusing at all, really. Another glimpse into Jon's life, no deeper meaning, nothing. Just a man eating his dinner while his pet looks on, probably thinking nothing more than "I want that food." Without Garfield's thought bubbles, it becomes deeper, to me, more interesting and thought provoking.
http://static.flickr.com/32/97599577_8433efaf7f_o.gif
A personal favorite. Garfield probably makes an amusing remark in the end; but in this version, all we see is a broken man, asking for answers from his pet. I can empathize, both with the situation and the questions. This strip, more than any other, shows to me how much better this comic can be without Garfield's thoughts (though that defines on your definition of better; if you want cheap jokes obviously this wouldn't fit the bill).
Finally, this one proves why Garfield fails as a comic on its own, and how editing improves it:
http://www.whereaminow.org/jon/ga060111edit.gif
In the original, in the last panel, Garfield says, "Roast dummy takes time to prepare." This statement adds nothing to the comic, and devalues the punchline. The punchline is that Jon has a chicken on his head! THAT'S THE JOKE! You don't continue telling a joke after the punchline, that makes it pointless. The strip is perfect without dialogue, the look on Garfield's face in the last panel says more than the not-so-funny statement ever could. In fact, three panels aren't even necessary. An even better version of this strip would be just the middle panel.
The last one:
http://www.alienripper.com/images/garf13.gif
Another example of how sometimes, no dialogue makes it funnier.
If you want the link to the place I got these from, feel free to IM me and ask. I'd rather not post it publicly; later on in the thread these are in, people complain because apparently some famous guy linked to the thread on his blog, and caused the forum some downtime from all the traffic. It has a lot more ones I thought were great, but didn't share here because I wanted to keep this fairly concise.
Anyway, your thoughts?
I'll be up front and say it now. As an adult, I've never liked Garfield. I'm talking about the comic strip; the cartoons on TV are actually still fairly amusing (aside from that US Acres crap). Garfield was fine as a kid; it had the tired old gags and slapstick comedy kids love. But as an adult, I grew to love more intelligent humor, hence why Calvin and Hobbes, The Far Side, and Dilbert quickly became my favorite strips. Garfield is still pretty much the exact same comic as it was when I was a kid. It hasn't grown or become more intelligent, and so it's just a comic that more or less takes up space now...still better than Family Circus; but then again, watching paint dry is better than Family Circus.
Anyway. This is until one young man had a bright idea. Remove all of Garfield's thought bubbles from the strip. To a person inside the comic strip, Garfield's thoughts cannot be heard (although there have been strips that contradict this assumption, but aside from those oddities it is safe to say no one can hear Garfield). Removing Garfield's thought bubbles not only makes the strip more realistic in a sense, but also gives it new life. Some of the strips are amusing simply because we can only imagine what Garfield is trying to say; some are not funny at all, but make us feel sympathy for Jon, a pathetic loser whose only companion is a cat.
I thought I'd share four or five of my favorite strips and analyze them. Four or five because I know clicking links is annoying.
http://home.comcast.net/~tembre/gar5.jpg
This is a great one, as we can only imagine what's going on that has made Jon angry. We can assume it is some sort of prank Garfield has played. But perhaps more, this is a glimpse at ourselves. We have a bad day, we come home, and we're not in the best of moods, and our cat/dog/whatever is there, and we shoot it a menacing glance. It has not wronged us, but we still may look upon it with disdain. The pet in question however, probably could care less, as evident in Garfield's unchanging expression.
http://home.comcast.net/~tembre/gar10.jpg
Another example of Jon's lousy life. In the original, Garfield probably made some sort of biting remark, that Jon isn't supposed to be able to hear. To a kid, though, they probably read it and assume Jon can hear Garfield, and it is amusing because Jon is sighing to Garfield's amusing insult. In this version, it merely shows how crappy Jon's life is, that not even his pet wishes to listen to him.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b369/jazzpirate/Garfield%20dada/ga0404271.gif
This isn't amusing at all, really. Another glimpse into Jon's life, no deeper meaning, nothing. Just a man eating his dinner while his pet looks on, probably thinking nothing more than "I want that food." Without Garfield's thought bubbles, it becomes deeper, to me, more interesting and thought provoking.
http://static.flickr.com/32/97599577_8433efaf7f_o.gif
A personal favorite. Garfield probably makes an amusing remark in the end; but in this version, all we see is a broken man, asking for answers from his pet. I can empathize, both with the situation and the questions. This strip, more than any other, shows to me how much better this comic can be without Garfield's thoughts (though that defines on your definition of better; if you want cheap jokes obviously this wouldn't fit the bill).
Finally, this one proves why Garfield fails as a comic on its own, and how editing improves it:
http://www.whereaminow.org/jon/ga060111edit.gif
In the original, in the last panel, Garfield says, "Roast dummy takes time to prepare." This statement adds nothing to the comic, and devalues the punchline. The punchline is that Jon has a chicken on his head! THAT'S THE JOKE! You don't continue telling a joke after the punchline, that makes it pointless. The strip is perfect without dialogue, the look on Garfield's face in the last panel says more than the not-so-funny statement ever could. In fact, three panels aren't even necessary. An even better version of this strip would be just the middle panel.
The last one:
http://www.alienripper.com/images/garf13.gif
Another example of how sometimes, no dialogue makes it funnier.
If you want the link to the place I got these from, feel free to IM me and ask. I'd rather not post it publicly; later on in the thread these are in, people complain because apparently some famous guy linked to the thread on his blog, and caused the forum some downtime from all the traffic. It has a lot more ones I thought were great, but didn't share here because I wanted to keep this fairly concise.
Anyway, your thoughts?
