"Little Nemo in Slumberland" dated November 25, 1906:
Transcript of Tweets by @LittleNemo1905 (JULY 25, 2020):
Oh, Flip… you think that you'd have learned your lesson after last week's near miss. But, sadly, no. You go right back to your mischievous ways… - 1/20
To be completely fair, this is his last (?) large-scale trick before becoming a more stable member of Nemo's companions and I don't blame him for wanting a bit of pay-back… so I forgive it. - 2/20
I just love the top tier. It's beautiful. As the dawn begins to creep passed the bottom hyperframe, Flip and the Dawn Guard speak about calling on the sun to melt Slumberland in retribution for Flips experience last week! - 3/20
Meanwhile, Nemo and (presumably) the Princess are casually walking passed a horde of children from different nations waving to them. - 4/20
I say presumably, because the Princess has clearly acquired a wig; she is a dark-haired young girl regularly. I'm interested in why McCay made this choice. She's dark-haired in the strip previous and the one upcoming… - 5/20
Maybe there is a custom about wearing a wig to a formal party? I'm not sure… but the only other explanation is that it isn't the Princess, and I think that's less likely to be the case (she speaks *just* like the Princess). - 6/20
A quick note that the racial/ethnic stereotypes are again used for the purposes of this strip, this time brining in linguistic stereotyping on top of the visual. - 7/20
The Princess explains this away as the individualized languages of their countries of origin. Whether or not the "words" being repeated by each child actually belongs to a language, I'm not sure, but I'd be willing to bet that they do not. - 8/20
I searched for almost all of the phrases/words/sounds expressed by the characters and came up with no real results to speak of. If someone knows more about this, I'd be eager to hear some thoughts… - 9/20
Panel 3 reveals, arguably, the most interesting part of this whole strip; Flip is the SON OF THE SUN. - 10/20
So, this was news to me (how didn't I know this?) and it took me quite by surprise. We've been wondering what Flip's connection actually was to the Slumberland social hierarchy and now it seems to be clearer… - 11/20
It makes sense that Flip is a trickster if he is the sun's son… The sun is sort of antithetical to the entire enterprise of Slumberland, so Flip as a mini-sun also causes trouble for the dreamscape however he can. - 12/20
I immediately wonder though, why he has to ask his uncle, the Dawn Guard, to bring up the sun? Why can't he just call for Dad's help himself? Furthermore, why isn't the sun personified? - 13/20
The fact that the Dawn Guard must always act as proxy actually makes a lot of logical sense, enhancing the relationship between the Dawn Guard and the sun in Slumberland. - 14/20
Since the sun can't rise without the dawn coming first, it makes sense that he is personified as a "guard"; could his physical function within the dreamscape be to warn Slumberland about the sun's impending arrival? - 15/20
If so… he does a really bad job at it! More often than not, he just seems to use the sun to surprise melt the Slumberlandians at his (or Flips) wanton desire. Either way though, it's an interesting storyworld moment. - 16/20
I really love the use of the solid red background as Flip and the Night Mare, Dawn Guard and his steed advance on Slumberland with the sun at their backs. It again signals that Flip has the power in this moment (Bellantoni, 2013, p. 2). - 17/20
That the sun ruins the Thanksgiving feast is no new trick. We've seen this before. As the brilliance of the sun beats down on the gathering, only Nemo remains in solid form; the result of Slumberland fades and begins to melt. - 18/20
And, of course, it is the voice of one of Nemo's parents that wake-him up here. By contrast to last strip, this time it is external stimuli (sun/parent voice) that pulls him form the dreamscape. - 19/20
This is my reading of "Little Nemo in Slumberland" #59. What's yours? - 20/20
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