English Paper about comic strips

Sample Paper #3 for A2

Marital Roles in Comics: June 1971

The comics found in the Dayton Daily News in June 11th through June 24th 1971, covered many topics such as environmental issues, marital roles, military, racism, and the role of children in society. Children characters were predominating in many comics during this time and these strips included: Peanuts, Sally Bananas, Nancy, Wee Pals, and Henry. The comic strips that I want to focus on are the strips about marriage and family roles. These strips include Hi and Lois, Dennis the Menace, and Andy Capp. Hi and Lois is a comedic comic strip following a married couple and their children, showing different roles of family members and children out-smarting the parents at times. Dennis the Menace is also about an old married couple who live next door to the little boy named Dennis who is always up to mischief. The third marital comic strip, Andy Capp, is a comic strip about a grumpy husband and his stay-at-home wife who argue with each other often.

Looking through the comic pages in June of 1971, marriage is a predominate topic. Taking a closer look, aspects of marriage and the role of women and men are shown throughout many of the popular comic strips. Comics in 1971 seen in the Dayton Daily Newspaper depict cultural topics such as marriage roles and family dynamics during that time period.

The year 1971 can be seen as a transition year between two eras for women: taking care of the home, and joining the work force. However, as shown in diagrams of the U.S. census, marriage rates were still at an all time high (Census Bureau.Introduction). This parallels the large amount of “marriage-focused” comic strips found at this time. The major strips seen in the Dayton Daily News focusing on marriage are Hi and Lois, Dennis the Menace, and Andy Capp. All of these strips highlight the humor in marriage as the couples in the strips are placed in difficult situations and have to overcome them together. However, the difficulties of marriage are also clearly spelled out which marks the transition of marriage in the time period. In a couple more years, divorce rates will begin to rise, and marriage rates will begin to decline (Census Bureau.Introduction).

In years to come, divorce rates will continue to creep up on the charts, which is talked about in the comic strip, Andy Capp. This strip presents the husband in a negative light, always out late, being lazy, and not devoting time to his wife, Flo. On the other hand, Flo works around the house all day, but never gets any credit from Andy. In a particular strip, Andy is out late and when he comes home, his wife accuses him of cheating and even hits him on the head. This is suggestive of divorce because it shows the struggles of marriage instead of blinding the audience with only happy depictions.

(Andy Capp, June 13 1971)

During 1971, one of the most popular television shows was An American Family. Despite the suggestive title, the show actually brought up the bad parts of marriage as the husband and wife had to deal with problems in the home. In a particular episode, the wife character asks her husband for a divorce, which was shocking for audiences because divorce was not common at the time (PBS). However, divorce rates are slowly rising which makes this situation appropriate to talk about in a television show, and gives meaning to the Andy Capp comic strip where the wife expresses her anger towards her husband. Before this time, wives were presented as quiet women who cleaned and cooked around the house without expressing opinion or authority over their husbands. In 1971, the idea of passive wives began to change based on statistics and what the comic strips were talking about.

Although the role of wives is beginning to change, women are still shown as stay-at-home mothers in not only television programs, but in comics as well. The famous television sitcom, The Brady Bunch, first aired in 1969 and starred a big American family with husband Mike and wife Carol and their six children. The show encompassed all the funny and happy times of a large family, and how they overcome hardships together (The Brady Bunch). Perhaps the show gained popularity from viewers because of the comedic lines, but more likely from the abundance of marriages and importance of family at the time. In 1971, women were getting married at an all time low age, which suggests an increase of stay-at-home moms (Census Bureau.Introduction). Because women were married at a young age, there was more time to have children, which is a possible cause for the popularity of large families. Also, based on statistics, women were mainly working at home instead of joining the workforce, and the employment rate of mothers was low as well (Facts Over Time). Employment rates of women were about to increase, but during 1971 they were at the bottom of the growth curve. This justifies why the mother characters in comic strips in 1971 were for the most part, stay-at-home mothers. Hi and Lois was a popular strip about a married couple and their children. Hi would go to work and Lois would stay at home with the children who were always getting into trouble. It wasn’t until much later in 1980, that Lois finally gave up her role as the housewife, and got a job as a real-estate agent (The Family). This makes sense when comparing the time periods because it was not until the later seventies and early eighties that it was common for women to be employed and not staying at the house all day. Also in the strip, Dennis the Menace, the old married couple were continuously on the lookout for the mischievous neighbor boy, Dennis. The wife in the comic strip was often seen cooking or doing dishes while the husband would walk in grumbling about the boy next door.

(Dennis the Menace, June 14 1971)

Again with Andy Capp, the wife even wore a maid outfit because she was constantly cleaning up after her ungrateful husband, Andy. Although the children of the couples in Dennis the Menace and Andy Capp are not shown, the wives still play the role of staying at home and cleaning all day while the husband is at work. Even though in most comic strips the husbands are not shown actually working, it is implied that they are going to their job because of their business attire. The idea of big families is shown in the abundance of children characters in comic strips. Most of the comic strips during this time either involve child characters, or are completely made up of child characters. Examples are Peanuts, Nancy, Wee Pals, Henry and Sally Bananas. All of these strips, and television shows such as The Brady Bunch, can be used to show the popularity of big families and women’s role as stay-at-home wives.

Shifting into a new culture where divorce, and women working is more popular, the comic strips in 1971 depict women testing authority over their husbands. In the strip, Hi and Lois, there are many situations where Lois asks Hi to take care of the troublesome children for a change. Comedic moments arise when Hi makes a mistake or gets out-smarted by the children, but still this shifting of parental roles is significant.

(Hi and Lois, June 19 1971)

Another popular television show in 1971, Family Affair, is a comedy about a middle-aged man taking care of two orphaned children (Plot Summary). This is an introductory of men taking on motherly roles, instead of having the wife always being in charge of the children. Hi and Lois, and Family Affair, are comedies because since it was the culture for women to take care of the children, it was a common belief that men were somehow incompetent of doing that task. Many instances of making mistakes or children being wiser than the father occur often, because up until this point, men were seen more often working at a job instead of at home. In Andy Capp, after numerous times of Andy not being grateful for his hardworking wife, she finally hits him on the head after he has been out late. In another strip, Flo cooks Andy dinner and he is yet again ungrateful. She mutters to herself her frustration, which shows that women are starting the realize that they are not being treated equally, and that they want to do something about it.

(Andy Capp, June 20 1971)

So although the wife is still working from home, she is expressing her authority over her husband, depicting wives and husbands as somewhat equals. However, women and men are not shown as completely equal yet because the majority of media still showing women staying at home while the husbands are working at a job during 1971. Yet, these comics and television programs show the first steps of the shift to new marital roles.

Comics are a powerful form of media that express many cultural and social issues occurring in the time period. In 1971, marriage was an important cultural turning point as the role of women became less about cooking, cleaning, and taking care of the children, and more as a partner in helping to provide for the family financially.

Works Cited

"The Brady Bunch." TV.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2015.

Census Bureau.Introduction (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 4 Oct. 2015.

"Facts Over Time." Women's Bureau (WB). N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.

"The Family." Hi Lois. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.

Ketchum, Hank. Dennis the Menace. Warner Bros. Dayton Daily News. June 14 1971.

PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.

"Plot Summary." IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2015.

Smythe, Reg. Andy Capp. Creators Syndicate. Dayton Daily News. June 13 1971.

June 20 1971.

Walker, Mort. Hi and Lois. King Features Syndicate. Dayton Daily News. June 19 1971.