"In the Land of Wonderful Dreams" dated December 07, 1913:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (AUGUST 06, 1913):
While I'm impressed with McCay's ability to draw the fountain gag out into another week here by introducing a hair tonic and soup fountain, I don't find much here of interest. - 1/11
Really, the only thing that I found particularly noteworthy was the fact that it is Doctor Pill who takes the first shot this week. -2/11
This is in line with the suggestion last week that we're slowly returning to the earlier style of strips where Pill tries to get rid of Flip and Impie to the detriment of the group… -3/11
Like those strips that came before, had he simply left well enough alone Flip and Impie wouldn't have come back in a blaze and Pill wouldn't have gotten tossed into the hot soup. - 4/11
The fact that we don't see Pill fall in is a blessing… a boiling hot soup fountain is a bit different than a hair tonic fountain… Though we might've established a couple months back that he can't die, I bet he can still feel pain. - 5/11
The only thought that I had while reading was about the way the hair tonic fountain effected Flip versus Impie. - 6/11
Flip grows a beard… he has no hair grow on the green part of his face, nor are his hands hairy upon emerging… but Impie has hair *everywhere*! - 7/11
Visually, this is a simianization tactic. Impie, covered in hair, resembles a frizzly haired monkey; the water has revealed his "savagery". - 8/11
Flip, on the other hand, simply grows a beard; he remains human in appearance and his new facial hair does nothing to challenge his social standing or position. - 9/11
It's disappointing, though not surprising, to see McCay utilize this visual othering technique. The stark comparison between the two characters in panel 10 makes the insinuation very obviously derogatory. - 10/11
This is my reading of "In the Land of Wonderful Dreams" #411. What's yours? - 11/11
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