Most of you will not be familiar with Giles cartoons, but these were very much a part of British life for decades - lots of social and political commentary.
The characters in the background often drew as much attention as the main subject itself - each one was a little episode of British life, from class divisions, to British national events, royalty etc
American here, and while I like the artwork, the cartoons themselves I’m afraid I don’t get. I suppose there’s a context that’s missing?
This alone made starting this thread worth it. Omg, I’m crying. Thanks.
I couldn’t find the Far Side I was looking for, but I found this and this one in the process of looking.
The one I couldn’t find was set in a butcher shop; there’s a fat kid sweeping in the background, a huge lumpy guy in a trenchcoat and hat in the foreground. The butcher is talking secretively with the hulk in the trenchcoat; “Well I never really thought about it before; but I suppose I’d let him go for seven, maybe eight bucks a pound.”
Another cartoon (not a Far Side one though), from Omni I think. A stereotypical scientist stands at a chalkboard covered in equations. Confronting him is a Mafia-enforcer type in trenchcoat and hat pointing a pistol at him. The caption is: “Why? Because you know too much, that’s why.”
Love the Fifi one. Another favorite, which I always think of when I’m introduced to someone named Ginger.
As descriptions are beings accepted - I have actually had this one inside kitchen cabinet for years (as a teen would tack cool pictures on wall, can’t do it as adult, but insides of cabinets are OK cos’ generally out of sight). At any rate:
Guy with hand puppets on each hand, one a clown, one an evil clown with gun pointed at the guy. Clown says “Better do what he says, Bob.”
Who says schizophrenia can’t be fun.
A lesser-known Far Side that can be found on this page.
“Another favorite, which I always think of when I’m introduced to someone named Ginger.”
There is a cat follow-up to this: What cats hear" [nothing but blah blah etc]""
I will explain, however that will probably kill the humour - there is lots of understated stuff.
The 1975 Sex Discrimination Act was a law that made it a criminal offence to pay a woman less for the same work as a man, and also that it was an offence to restrict access to employment on the basis of gender - but in this case there are certain jobs that a female just would not be…er equipped for - hence the stud bull and a field full of lovelorn cows
The British summer weather has always been stock in trade humour, whenever some event is planned it is usually awful weather - here the Giles family has gone out to an agricultural fair, the adults are not at all happy but there is a stoic duty to pretend it is fun for the benefit of the children, one of whom here has just won a pig and is very pleased with it - but what are an urban family going to do with a pig? Its the last thing the father wants on a rotten day. Dad is being scolded for not pretending to be happy for his son’s good fortune
This is the soccer hooligan, and he is trying to prepare a defence for his loutish actions by putting the blame on some terrible tragedy in his childhood - I suppose its really a condemnation of the ‘understand the criminal, and understand the crime’ when there is actually no excuse whatever for being just a yob - clearly this one does not intend to take responsibility for his actions. This is critical of all sorts of things, of our society going too soft, of our criminal justice system which is sometimes seen to be too forgiving on the basis of spurious extenuating circumstances
Ah, wonderful children and the games they play. Here the kids are slamming the door as hard as they can in an unfeasible attempt to make the house fall down, the joke, as any parent of a large family knows, is how the mom is completely unperturbed by this disruptive behaviour - as a parent knows, you have to find ways of tolerating such actions merely to survive the experience of children entertaining themselves in the loudest way possible.
Clearly the other adults, who are tea drinking guests have not developed this immunity to extremely noisy children.
It seems here that dad did something stupid, possibly to impress his son, maybe its just a man thing, but he has entered some sort of competition and won a bright shiny new speedboat, and the son is like - wooaa this is way cool, full of boyish enthusiasm.Of course the boat will need lots of work and money to keep it all together and ultimately its just a big boys toy
To get this joke you have to look in the kitchen window, at the domestically overworked mom who has overheard the conversation outside - you just know there is going to be a huge row.
My favourite Far Side is also probably the darkest one he ever did.
I am perpetually grieving because Gary Larsen quit “Far Side.” Such cruelty!
ONE of my favorites (can’t find it) is a bunch of cows sneaking out of the farmhouse, and the caption says something to the effect that “a gruesome, yet strangely hilarious scene was found in Farmer Brown’s home in an incident with a milking machine.”
Or a bunch of men in white lab coats standing next to a cobbled-together missile, and one says, “Let’s face it, we’re just not rocket scientists.”
Or the lady coming from the henhouse with a basket of eggs, and a chicken is leaving the farmhouse carrying a baby.
Far Side cartoons have the ability to reduce me to a quivering puddle of tear-streaked hysteria.
~VOW
Too hard to choose just one – many of my favorites have been named.
The Rejection Collections are great sources – cartoons rejected by the New Yorker because they were too risque, tasteless or strange:
Rejection Collection
Fixed link:
My favorite Far Side.
How do you zoom in?
