"In the Land of Wonderful Dreams" dated February 25, 1912:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (MAY 6, 2021):
By virtue of the fact that this strip is a water-centric one, I'm sure that you all know how much I enjoyed it. - 1/24
I could stare at the third and fourth tier for quite some time and notice nothing but the water… but the aquatic life that McCay draws is also breathtaking. - 2/24
His fish are delightful, his whale is hilarious, and the sea serpent is very well imagined! It's one of the most beautifully drawn at the American thus far, I think. - 3/24
It also seems as though we're getting a bit of a new series here? This is the same gag as last strip (modified slightly). Even though it is still Flip/Impie against Doctor Pill, the animal transformation is a two-time new twist on the old narrative. - 4/24
The actual transformations are a bit less technically impressive than last week (though, to be entirely fair, there is MUCH more going on in this strip when you account for the water), but they still work. - 5/24
Rather than losing his staff to Flip this time, the Magician is duped by Impie who steals the staff as he hides it from Flip. Not the brightest bulb, this Magician… - 6/24
Doctor Pill probably shouldn't have placed his faith in him… In panel 3, he responds to the Princess' meta-question by saying that he is "no fool"… but that's exactly what Flip and Impie make him. - 7/24
And does Pill ever pay for it… though the motion of the swing could have been better drawn (or gesturally executed), Flip's not entirely wrong when he says that Pill deserves the wallop that he hands him at the end. - 8/24
A couple things of note about Impie in this week's strip. - 9/24
First, the act of stealing the staff gives him a substantial amount of agency that he has been missing for a very long time (long before the switch to Hearst's NY American). - 10/24
Not only this, but his involvement in beaching Pill with Flip also signals his part in the larger narrative. It gives him a role to play that is more than simply *being there*. - 11/24
This doesn't in any way negate the harm caused by his caricature, but it makes his presence more than a visual reminder of the era's racist ways; he is a character here, not a prop. - 12/24
I'm also wondering about Impie's request in panel 6. He asks to be turned into a "whopper of a alligator". - 13/24
Though Impie isn't a carbon copy Picanninny caricature, McCay's "Jungle Imps" share many, many characteristics of the abhorrent racial caricature of black children: - 14/24
Of particular note here, is the Picanniny trope that involved these characters being frequently attacked by alligators. - 15/24
While it is undeniable that McCay's "Jungle Imps" were frequently beat up on by *many* different animals (see link for more), I see Impie's request to become an alligator as significant here. - 16/24
Because Impie is frequently caricaturized as a picaninny, it could be argued that McCay putting this desire into Impie's mouth is both an allusion to the racist tradition, but also… - 17/24
…is it possible that McCay was giving Impie some sort of wish fulfillment here? As if becoming that which has often terrorized him would protect him from future assaults? - 18/24
I'm honestly not sure, but I think that the reading is, at the very least, plausible. If he *had* turned him into an alligator, I think it would've been all but certain… that said, the sea serpent is still a strong (if imaginary) creature. - 19/24
It isn't like he transformed him into a guppy… In fact, it could be argued that Impie is transformed into the most impressive of all the animals depicted. - 20/24
Sadly, he is also the only animal depicted that doesn't exist in the waking world… in this way, even when stepping out of the human realm, Impie continues to be marginalized and "othered". - 21/24
There is a lot of complicated nuance to Impie's presence in this strip; his return has reminded me of just how problematic he is. - 22/24
With respect to our readings of the strips (and Impie in particular), I think that it is important to continually interrogate that which the strip shares with us so that we can call attention to these problematic elements. - 23/24
This is my reading of "In the Land of Wonderful Dreams" #327. What's yours? - 24/24
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