The Family Circus: Difference between revisions

Line 6:

'''Todd Gaines:''' ''[[Bile Fascination|I hate it, but I'm compelled to read it.]]''|Dialogue from the movie ''Go''}}

In its literal form, Bil Keane's ''The Family Circus'' (originally ''The Family Circle'') is about the innocent childhood adventures of young siblings Billy, Dolly, Jeffy, and infant P.J. Occasionally, parents Bil and Thel will contribute some insightful comment about the children's exploits, like when they all were imitating ''[[~~Waynes World|~~Wayne's World]]'' and Bil says "Makes sense to me. [[NOT!]]!"

In its literal form, Bil Keane's ''The Family Circus'' (originally ''The Family Circle'') is about the innocent childhood adventures of young siblings Billy, Dolly, Jeffy, and infant P.J. Occasionally, parents Bil and Thel will contribute some insightful comment about the children's exploits, like when they all were imitating ''[[Wayne's World]]'' and Bil says "Makes sense to me. [[NOT!]]!"

Other characters include random neighbor children, pets, extended family members [[Spirit Advisor|(many of whom are dead)]], and various [[The Ghost|ghosts]] representing childhood excuses. A standard ''Family Circus'' trope is for a parent to ask the children who broke something, only for them all to say "not me"... just as a ghost named "Not Me" flees the scene, damning evidence of the crime in hand.

Line 16:

While it's ostensibly a humorous comic strip with a wide circulation, ''The Family Circus'' has been more popular as the butt of jokes at least since [[The Nineties]]. Amazon.com's user-contributed book reviews are infamous for containing snarky reviews of the printed collections of panels. Such reviews usually fawn over the tremendous symbolism and deep philosophical meaning in its plain single-panel storylines, often discovering hidden [[Freud Was Right|Freudian]] or [[Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory|religious]] symbolism. [[The Comics Curmudgeon]] blog takes particular delight in mocking the strip and its characters. In the ''[[Diary of a Wimpy Kid]]'' novels, which are aimed at preteens, it's parodied as ''Li'l Cutie''.

The early days of the Web (1995-99) saw a [[Web Original]] feature called ''Dysfunctional Family Circus''. Family Circus strips were posted without the original caption, inviting readers to submit alternate interpretations of the scene. [[Hilarity Ensues|Hilarity ensued]]. DFC's creator said "A number of people have told me they don't like ''The Family Circus'' because they don't think it applied to them -- they never experienced anything remotely like it." One newspaper called the DFC a "twisted Rorschach test." Perhaps this explains why Todd Gaines, the cynical drug dealer from the 1999 film ''[[Go (~~Film~~)|Go]]'', was compelled to read ''Family Circus'' every day.

The early days of the Web (1995-99) saw a [[Web Original]] feature called ''Dysfunctional Family Circus''. Family Circus strips were posted without the original caption, inviting readers to submit alternate interpretations of the scene. [[Hilarity Ensues|Hilarity ensued]]. DFC's creator said "A number of people have told me they don't like ''The Family Circus'' because they don't think it applied to them -- they never experienced anything remotely like it." One newspaper called the DFC a "twisted Rorschach test." Perhaps this explains why Todd Gaines, the cynical drug dealer from the 1999 film ''[[Go (film)|Go]]'', was compelled to read ''Family Circus'' every day.

For all the abuse it gets, it's clear that ''The Family Circus'' speaks to a lot of people. As another newspaper observed at the height of the DFC controversy, no one would bother making a Web site called ''The Dysfunctional Fusco Brothers''.

Line 43:

* [[Remix Comic]]: The aforementioned Dysfunctional Family Circus, which despite being taken off the web at Keane's request in 1999, survives to this day in various archives.

** There is an even newer example, [http://scottmeetsfamilycircus.tumblr.com/ Scott Meets Family Circus], which still updates now and then.

** Less well-known, perhaps because it is not for the faint of heart, there's the comic The Other Family, which can be found [http://theotherfamily.com/ here]. Warning: may [[Cursed ~~With~~ Awesome|make you unable to read Family Circus ever again]]. I mean, uh... warning: may disillusion you forever.

** Less well-known, perhaps because it is not for the faint of heart, there's the comic The Other Family, which can be found [http://theotherfamily.com/ here]. Warning: may [[Cursed with Awesome|make you unable to read Family Circus ever again]]. I mean, uh... warning: may disillusion you forever.

** ''[[Pearls Before Swine]]'' consistently and constantly makes fun of ''Family Circus'', occasionally in the form of Gag Dubs. The storyline where the family accidentally harbors Osama bin Laden ([[It Makes Sense in Context]]) is an example.

*** On at least one occasion, there's been a deliberate crossover -- Rat dropping oatmeal into the ''Circus'' strip below him, where Billy insists he didn't make the mess.