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Topic: An Interview with Peter Schilling about Carl Barks
(5 messages)
Arild
An Interview with Peter Schilling about Carl Barks
Message 1 -
2015-02-27 at 13:44:36
Patrick Hanifin
An Interview with Peter Schilling about Carl Barks
Message 2 -
2015-02-27 at 18:11:28
I'm in the process of reading Peter Schilling's CARL BARKS' DUCK AVERAGE AMERICAN and have really been enjoying it. I read his comments as I reread Carl's stories that he discusses. I don't necessarily agree with everything Peter says but I'm having a great time with it all. I hesitated ordering this but I'm sure glad I did and it's given me quite a bit to ponder. It's also very reasonably priced on eBay.
Patrick Hanifin
www.PatrickHanifin.com
www.SqueakyCleanComedy.com
Patrick Hanifin
www.PatrickHanifin.com
www.SqueakyCleanComedy.com
Thomps2525
An Interview with Peter Schilling about Carl Barks
Message 3 -
2015-02-27 at 23:19:59
Arild, thank you---or should I say "mange takk"?---for posting the link to that Peter Schilling interview. I was intrigued by two comments in particular. Regarding the Carl Barks biography, Schilling says "the person who has never read a Donald Duck book is really the audience that I??m trying to reach." A person who has never read a Duck comic will probably not have any interest in Schilling's book. And Schilling made the observation that "any time Daisy Duck shows up, she??s such a poorly developed character. There are no good female characters [in the Barks duck stories]. There are very few women in them, and when they are in them, they??re never well portrayed." I would say that Magica De Spell and Goldie O'Gilt are very well portrayed. They are not the typical "helpless female" or "damsel in distress" that was so common in books and movies in the first half of the 20th century.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have a book to order.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have a book to order.
Dutch Duckfan Down Under
An Interview with Peter Schilling about Carl Barks
Message 4 -
2015-03-05 at 20:51:11
Quote from user: Thomps2525And Schilling made the observation that "any time Daisy Duck shows up, she??s such a poorly developed character. There are no good female characters [in the Barks duck stories]. There are very few women in them, and when they are in them, they??re never well portrayed." I would say that Magica De Spell and Goldie O'Gilt are very well portrayed. They are not the typical "helpless female" or "damsel in distress" that was so common in books and movies in the first half of the 20th century.
While it's true that Barks didn't write "helpless females" like many writers of his time, I still think his portrayal of female characters is a bit problematic sometimes. He's not exactly flattering towards them. Sure, there's Goldie, but she appeared exactly once. There's a couple of those one-shot characters, Madame Triple-X is the only one I can think of right now, but they're pretty few and far between. You could make a case for Grandma, but I'm not sure how much he had to do with her, if anything at all. Magica appeared only a handful of stories near the end of his run, and let's not forget she's an evil witch who is obsessed with a dime.
On the whole, and this may be a subconscious thing, if women appear in Barks stories (and let's face it, it was the 50s, so they're often pretty marginalized), they're never very flatteringly portrayed. I'm not saying Barks was a misogynist (but I could imagine some people doing so), I'm not saying it was his disastrous first two marriages, I don't know, but portraying women well was not one of Barks' strongest points.
While it's true that Barks didn't write "helpless females" like many writers of his time, I still think his portrayal of female characters is a bit problematic sometimes. He's not exactly flattering towards them. Sure, there's Goldie, but she appeared exactly once. There's a couple of those one-shot characters, Madame Triple-X is the only one I can think of right now, but they're pretty few and far between. You could make a case for Grandma, but I'm not sure how much he had to do with her, if anything at all. Magica appeared only a handful of stories near the end of his run, and let's not forget she's an evil witch who is obsessed with a dime.
On the whole, and this may be a subconscious thing, if women appear in Barks stories (and let's face it, it was the 50s, so they're often pretty marginalized), they're never very flatteringly portrayed. I'm not saying Barks was a misogynist (but I could imagine some people doing so), I'm not saying it was his disastrous first two marriages, I don't know, but portraying women well was not one of Barks' strongest points.
Arnaud
An Interview with Peter Schilling about Carl Barks
Message 5 -
2015-03-09 at 19:52:41
Captain Ramrod is such a strong female character ! Well, sort of :D
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