3 ms·

I've been reading the entire The Far Side (from the massive two book set) with my 10 y/o daughter. It's interesting to see how apparently the culture of the tim

I've been reading the entire The Far Side (from the massive two book set) with my 10 y/o daughter. It's interesting to see how apparently the culture of the time of Gary Larson's upbringing imprinted itself on the strips. Reading 10 or so strips at a sitting makes it very apparent (along with making apparent Larson's go-to characters and tropes). My daughter commented on there being few depictions of female scientists, academics, doctors, etc (instances if the archetypal The Far Side character in a lab coat) as an example. The strips that feature singles bar-type settings feel a little skeevy, too. I'm not trying to say anything negative about the strips or Gary Larson. It's interesting to me to reflect on something I enjoyed in my childhood "showing its age", even as I enjoy it now.

ghaff 3y ago
Pop culture (and, good as it is, The Far Side is pop culture) always reflects current society to some degree. I would actually say that The Far Side (and Calvin and Hobbes) probably less directly reflects when they were drawn. For a more obvious example, see Dilbert. Leaving aside all the other baggage, with few exceptions, it's really more about 1990s PacBell cubicle life than anything about the current era, certain common stereotypes notwithstanding.
- hermitcrab 3y ago
  So much 'other baggage'. Ugh.
- floren 3y ago
  I think society in The Far Side is built more out of, like, Looney Tunes cartoons and B movies from the 50s. Everybody is a stereotype: scientists in lab coats and glasses, "tough guys" in white t-shirts and pompadours, ladies with beehive hairdos. His cities, his houses, his restaurants, they all default to "stereotypically about 1955". It's easy to draw and it's easy to parse as a reader.
  - ghaff 3y ago
    That's probably fair. It's much less part and parcel of the 60s/70s than a number of other strips are.

ghaff 3y ago

Pop culture (and, good as it is, The Far Side is pop culture) always reflects current society to some degree. I would actually say that The Far Side (and Calvin and Hobbes) probably less directly reflects when they were drawn. For a more obvious example, see Dilbert. Leaving aside all the other baggage, with few exceptions, it's really more about 1990s PacBell cubicle life than anything about the current era, certain common stereotypes notwithstanding.

hermitcrab 3y ago
So much 'other baggage'. Ugh.
floren 3y ago
I think society in The Far Side is built more out of, like, Looney Tunes cartoons and B movies from the 50s. Everybody is a stereotype: scientists in lab coats and glasses, "tough guys" in white t-shirts and pompadours, ladies with beehive hairdos. His cities, his houses, his restaurants, they all default to "stereotypically about 1955". It's easy to draw and it's easy to parse as a reader.
- ghaff 3y ago
  That's probably fair. It's much less part and parcel of the 60s/70s than a number of other strips are.