Politics of the Funnies Part 1

Imaginary Worlds

Eric Molinsky

Arts, Science Fiction, Fiction, Society & Culture

4.8 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2022

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Once upon a time, the funnies or the comics pages dominated newspapers – back when newspapers were the main source of information for most Americans. In those days, Walt Kelly and Al Capp were titans of the funnies. Their strips Pogo and Li’l Abner were cultural sensations. Both artists were groundbreaking in the way they incorporated satire into their fantastical worlds, back when the comics page was supposed to be an apolitical neutral zone. Even though their strips are not front and center in pop culture today, we are still feeling the ripple effects of what they accomplished. In part one, I talk with Mercer University professor Jay Black, BYU professor Kerry Soper and Harper College professor Brian Cremins about how Pogo met the enemy, and why he is us. Link to Jay Black's book, "Walt Kelly and Pogo: The Art of the Political Swamp" Link to Kerry Soper's book, "We Go Pogo" Our ad partner is Multitude. If you’re interested in advertising on Imaginary Worlds, you can contact them here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Tab for a cause is a browser extension that lets you raise money for charity will do
0:04.8	in your thing online.
0:06.6	Whenever you open a new tab, you'll see a beautiful background photo and a small ad.
0:11.6	And part of that ad money goes towards a charity of your choice.
0:15.6	It's free and incredibly easy.
0:18.1	Transform your tabs into a force for good in just 30 seconds.
0:22.4	Sign up at tabforacaws.org slash imaginary worlds.
0:29.4	We're listening to imaginary worlds.
0:31.1	I show you how we create them and why we suspend or disbelieve.
0:34.8	I'm Eric Mullinsky and this is part one of a two part episode about the comics page
0:40.4	in the newspaper.
0:43.3	For listeners under a certain age, it might be hard to imagine how huge newspaper comics
0:49.0	drugs used to be.
0:50.6	The comics page, the funny pages or the funnies used to be the stars of the newspaper.
0:57.2	They drove circulation.
0:59.3	They were read by people of all ages.
1:01.5	They were a big part of the culture back when our culture wasn't broken up into niche
1:05.2	demographics and information silos.
1:09.4	And in the mid 20th century, there were a few Titans of the comics page.
1:14.6	You've probably heard of Charles Schultz who did peanuts, but there are two other artists
1:19.0	that were huge.
1:20.8	Al Cap and Walt Kelly.
	...

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