"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated March 13, 1910:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (JANUARY 26, 2021):
I'll start off by mentioning right away that the language that Flip uses to describe Impie (ape, squirrel, baboon) in this strip reinforces negative stereotypes about Black Americans and is quite bothersome. - 1/15
Impie's representation as the "savage" or "pickaninny" caricature is (always) visually jarring enough, but having Flip draw the direct connection between him and animals only further problematizes the situation. - 2/15
We've seen this before, but it hasn't been a concern for some months (years?), so I thought it worth making direct mention of here. - 3/15
That said, Panel 8 is monumentous because… I actually didn't know that he was ever directly named "Impie" within the panels of McCay's strip. - 4/15
I thought the name was a paratextual one that was only associated to the character after the fact as a way to speak about him. For this reason, panel 8 caught me by surprise! - 5/15
I wonder if the Professor (another character who's name we've discussed as being complicated) is the one who names him, or if Nemo or Flip have used this term before (off panel at some time). - 6/15
It seems unlikely that it's come from either of the other boys; we follow Nemo pretty closely (I feel we'd know if it was a name given by him) and Flip, as we see in this strip, is more apt to use uncouth animal comparisons than call him by a name. - 7/15
Did this catch anyone else by surprise? - 8/15
Narratively, the strip continues immediately from the last, with Flip chasing Impie up onto the top of the balloon. - 9/15
Yesterday, @pfxbryan mentioned that, in his reading, Flip was jealous that Impie had taken over the role as "agent of chaos" and I really love that. - 10/15
This informed my reading of this strip today quite substantially; Flip takes on an enormous risk to get him down from the balloon, but there really isn't a reason… what harm can he do up there? - 11/15
In my reading, the damage is already done and Flip's jealous attitude is what spurs him on the chase and fuels his temper throughout. - 12/15
Interestingly, a trip that took many, many winds, twists, and turns, to reach Dr. Pill and the Dancing Missionary, has only taken a couple of strips to get us back to Slumberland… we end by seeing the King's massive word balloons filled with "ouch" as we descend on the palace. - 13/15
I'm quite excited because the Mars strips are fast approaching and I'm really looking forward to the rich and collaborative meaning making that we'll inevitably discuss there! - 14/15
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #231. What's yours? - 15/15
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