"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated March 22, 1908:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (OCTOBER 2, 2020):
Yesterday, we left Nemo slipping from a haystack, which I thought might mean that we were going to find ourselves in some sort of farming community or agrarian area of Slumberland… - 1/22
Apparently that was a deceit because, today, we find Nemo walking through a forest… still garbed in his new colourful costume… followed by a wolf. - 2/22
Obviously, there is something special about either Nemo (or his new magically appearing costume) because rather than attacking Nemo, the wolfpack follows him. - 3/22
At first, I thought maybe they did so to protect him, but they run away and abandon him so quickly when the bears arrive that, if that was their intention, they failed miserably at it… - 4/22
But it doesn't even really matter because the bears too stick close to Nemo and don't cause him harm… what is going on? - 5/22
There's no explanation given in story for why this is occurring… we've seen so many animals before and many of them are not gentle and protective as these ones seem to be… so what gives? - 6/22
As I mentioned earlier, I really think it has to do with his new costume… I wonder if there is something special about it that causes the animals to respect Nemo rather than attack him… I've no evidence of this beyond my own thoughts, however; it could be anything. - 7/22
What I like most about this strip is that it challenges the literary notion of the "feral child/wild child" in interesting ways. - 8/22
Unlike characters like Tarzan and Mowgli, who, after being raised from a young age by animals are accepted into their communities, Nemo just drops right in and finds himself stranded here in the Bougiest clothes one could possible have… - 9/22
This visual dissonance between a person wearing high-society clothing and fraternizing with lowly animals really draws attention to the fictional contradiction… - 10/22
Normally, when we see animals and children in pop culture, the child has, more often than not, "gone feral" and lives as the animals do. This certainly isn't the case here; it's almost reversed here, as if the animals have become civilized . - 11/22
The decision *not* to attack Nemo must go against their animal instincts, meaning that the choice they make to walk with Nemo (for whatever reason) is one against their nature. - 12/22
This is why I wonder about the influence of the clothing. Even if it's metaphorical, it seems as though the clothing has power to keep Nemo safe… - 13/22
Resultant form Nemo being alone, and therefore only able to talk to himself, we get a lot of text-image congruency in this strip. - 14/22
Nemo describes the leafless forest and the barren path as "dismal" and, when he sees it, calls Shantytown a "ramshackle" city. The pictorial depictions don't contradict this… Nemo is simply reinforcing for the reader what we're seeing. - 15/22
Which works well in this strip. We're used to seeing such glamourous and bustling areas of Slumberland, to see one so lackluster and decrepit is a bit surprising. Nemo's words support this initial surprise. - 16/22
Finally, I'm intrigued by the choice to use a diptych in the final tier (panels 9 & 10). McCay is no stranger to breaking the grid structure at this time to depict a single panel across the tier… so why not here? - 17/22
The diptych is a conscious choice which functions to maintain the vertical gutter down the centre of the strip… I almost wonder if the gutter is meant to distance Nemo from the "ramshackle" Shantytown? - 18/22
Maybe it's because McCay wants to emphasize his entry into the town next week (and keeping him distanced from the heart of the town here helps that) or… - 19/22
…maybe he wants to reinforce the class structure that we've previously discussed in Slumberland one more time before he completely dismantles it in the next series… - 20/22
I'm really eager to hear what other people think of this strip! - 21/22
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #128. What's yours? - 22/22
Comments