Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

How QC and webcomics generally relate to the real USA

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Oilman:
Since someone asked what I actually liked about QC, and then locked tbe thread, I'll kick it off as a separate thread.

It's mildky amusing and comes out daily at a time of day when I am not usually doing very much, apart from gathering various correspondence, reading the news etc. The cast are a fairly predictable Webcomic crew of losers stuck in the usual rut of service-industry non-jobs, there is the usual over-representation of homosexuality (seriously, who really knows that many gay oeople?) sexualised view of life and living beyond their financial means with no obvious problems.

The last one is a staple of comics, from Dagwood Bumstead to Homer Simpson, of course.

The AI/AnthroPC angle is interesting. Momo is a genuinely original character, an inversion of the "cute robot girl" trope - she IS a "cute robot girl" but doesn't play the role, she IS an "anime character" but tries not to be. May was a good one-shot as a holo but now she's just tedious, with a side-order of political correctness. She COULD have been interesting, as an exploration of the whole "Robot Jail" scenario but I don't know where that went to. She COULD have been an exploration of the whole issue of robots eroding low-paid employment, but another opportunity lost. Pintsize is a one-joke character that has outlasted his time.

Dale and Marigold are interesting. They are outside the whole "hipster" thing and I think I might quite like Dale IRL. Marigold's whole shut-in scenario is familiar to any parent, although the whole "anime porn" thing is overdone, another Webcomic generality it seems.

The USreadership probsbly haven't seen it, or don't understand it if they have, but one if the huge successes of British tv in recent years has been "Gavin and Stacey", a rom-com of sorts about a rather sweet, and quite unremarkable young couple surrounded by a cast of grotesques and eccentrics. It works much better than it sounds, because you genuinely do care about the eponymous central characters and the secondary characters are genuinely funny.... but it knew when it had done the joke, and stopped.

You can see this in GWS, where the couples - Clarice and Joshua, Maureen and Jameson, to some extent Chrus and Melody - are moving steadily away from the central gag of "anti-social selfish loser and her ditzy friend"

Carl-E:

--- Quote from: Oilman on 26 Jan 2015, 18:27 ---usual over-representation of homosexuality (seriously, who really knows that many gay oeople?)

--- End quote ---

[raises hand]

Seriously, overrepresentation?  We have what, Henry and his new husband (should we count couples as separate people?), Tai, Dora who's bi so counts as half (?), and... well, that's about it.  Thats 3 1/2 people in a cast of what, 30 or so? 

I know more gay people than that in my church, and we have a pretty small congregation!  My daughter went to a school of 1500, her graduating class was about 450, and of the people she knew in that class (not a large group, really - she's a bit shy) there were at least a half dozen that she knew were gay. 

If I had every gay person I know in town over for a party, it would be a respectable sized bash.  Probably could fit them all in the house, but it's a pretty big house.  And it's not a big town - only about 50K in the entire area. 

I'm thinking that either a) you don't get out much, or b) you know more people that are gay than you think you do, because they're not out to you.  That may be an issue of your attitudes about gay people, I don't know.  I understand "gaydar" is pretty sensitive, it not only allows a gay person to tell when another one is around, but also when to clam up to protect themselves.   :roll:


The rest of your post is an interesting analysis, even though there are parts of it I disagree with, but that's all a matter of opinion. 

hedgie:
It also depends on which circles one hangs out in.  Certain subcultures and social groups have a *lot* more LGBT people than the population at large.  This comic centres around Marten's social circle, which just happens to not follow the normal percentages.

Half Empty Coffee Cup:

--- Quote from: Carl-E on 26 Jan 2015, 20:15 ---
--- Quote from: Oilman on 26 Jan 2015, 18:27 ---usual over-representation of homosexuality (seriously, who really knows that many gay oeople?)

--- End quote ---
Seriously, overrepresentation?

--- End quote ---
This is a classic conservative/progressive brainspace difference. Or did you not understand what's going on here by his choice of username and language, Carl-E?

Let's address this in a different way. Oilman: It's over representation for people who project a countenance (with language, demeanor, and mannerisms all contributing) which suggests it may not be safe to be truthful about which way one's attractions lie. On the other hand, for those who exude a sense of safety, inclusion, and nonjudgment, and particularly in a college town as well, this isn't a surprising mix of people and qualities at all, but reflective of lived reality. Homosexuality really can be that abundant in given social spheres.

Which is not to imply that you yourself are judgmental of them, Oilman. I wouldn't assume such a thing. But others might. When we speak, act, gesture, we let off little liberal or conservative tells, and to us it's always the most natural thing in the world because rather than it being a deliberate attack on those who don't think as one does, it is a representation of the way with which we view the world. And while some sets of views are correlated, few are coupled irrevocably. It doesn't do to assume some of one's views by a vocal (textual?) tell regarding other views. But it does mean that your own perception of the world, some of which is what is picked for you to be allowed to know by those who may feel threatened, is not necessarily the truth!

By the way, these tells I'm talking about? They're probably what prompted people to question why you even enjoy QC in the first place. This is because the nature of what a surrounding group considers political is tied (proportionally) to how far from the group consensus a given thought, post, etc... is. Just as you view some comic strips as being a politicized soapbox, there are users here who will hear these tells and think you're on a soapbox of your own.

The takeaway lesson is that everything is political, and there is no escape from it. Even the act of continuing to draw breath is political. The best thing to do is to recognize when we're being irked by someone else's political tells and find a way to acknowledge that they're not necessarily meaning to act in an affront to you.

And if my post itself feels like an affront to anyone at all by addressing the elephant/donkey in the room, then I have no real help but to shrug.

Kugai:
If he turns out to be a Troll, the Ban Hammer will be wielded.

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