Sunday’s “Blondie” comic strip (which apparently isn’t yet available online) shows Blondie dragging Dagwood, much against his will, out to the mall for the after-Christmas sales. And he’s not the only husband out there suffering in this way. Now, Blondie and Dagwood Bumstead have been married, apparently happily, for over 70 years, so far be it from me to criticize their marital arrangements. But why would a wife insist on, or a husband agree to, something that makes him so unnecessarily miserable? Why couldn’t Blondie just go to the mall by herself, or with a friend who would actually enjoy being there? Or if she just needs someone to follow along behind her carring all her bags and boxes, couldn’t she just rent a pack mule?
Does this sort of thing happen often in Real Life, and if so, why? Are you part of a couple wherein one person hates to shop but “has to” accompany the other anyway?
Well, my parents and my aunt and uncle often go shopping together. My father and my uncle take turns driving and spend a great deal of time sitting in the men’s section. My dad browses, but should my aunt return and not see my uncle in the men’s section, she panics he gets browbeaten.
The wives take their husbands to have someone to carry the packages. One of the oldest gags in the Blondie book. I’ve been reading the funnies for 40+ years now, and I’ve seen that image (Dagwood, all burdened down with bags, bundles and boxes, trailing Blondie through stores) t many times to count.
I think the real Dagwood question is – how does he get those giant sandwiches into his mouth? Or, how does he keep his shirt closed with only one great big button?
Judging by thousands of previous strips, Dag figures going along is the lesser of two evils. She might spend more if he stays home. This plot device persists despite the fact that Blondie’s catering business probably makes as much as Dagwood makes at Dithers & Co.
Ummmm…I’m a husband, and I go shopping with the wife. Mostly to carry stuff, but also as a feedback giver. If I think something is too ugly for words, she puts it back on the rack. This doesn’t happen too often, because she has excellent taste, but she likes the feedback anyway.
Dagwood goes shopping with Blondie because it promotes Domestic Tranquillity.
See, this is why a lot of my straight guy friends like me. I will go shopping with their wives sometimes. Ok, mostly I admit it’s because we go have martinis for lunch but it’s also kinda fun. I can say anything I want about clothes they’re trying on and get away with it. Their husbands, on the other hand, would face a violent, slow death if they made comments like: “Make way, wide load coming through!” while making truck backing up noises.
“Do those pants make you look fat? Honey, it’s like watching two pigs fighting under a blanket back there!”
As for the pack mule option…I can’t speak for other areas, but around here malls have been trying to discourage people from bringing pack mules. Which is odd, because I’ve never heard them say a bad word about pack llamas, and they…well, they spit. Very unpleasant creatures.
She does go shopping alone, because he has been surprised at what she bought while he was not with her. So the to limit spending seems valid. Also to carry packages, I know I like hubby along for that reason, and for feedback.
Maybe there is another reason. Blondie is very hot. I am sure she can take care of herself, but perhaps him being there helps shield her from unwanted attention.
Because Dagwood goes shopping he is whipped? What makes a guy whipped? What else besides the shopping makes him whipped?
Going on ancient memory here, as I stopped reading the strip a long time ago (and it may have changed since then), but I recall fairly often seeing Blondie getting Dagwood to agree to do pretty much anything she wanted to do, and he usually got shot down whenever he wanted to try something. Besides, how masculine is it for him to do the cleaning while wearing a frilly apron? You think he chose to wear that, or did she tell him to?
Look, whoever draws “Blondie” has been on autopilot for decades, now. Certain behaviors have been established, and they can’t be changed, at this late date.
I could ask a HUNDRED questions about “Blondie,” like
Elmo’s walked in on Dagwood taking a bath 3 or 4 million times- so, why hasn’t Dagwood ever thought to put a lock on his bathroom door? Or his front door, for that matter?
Why does Dagwood eat at the same greasy spoon diner every day, when he KNOWS the food is always terrible?
Why doesn’t the mailman ever step aside to avoid getting run over by Dagwood?
Why is Dagwood STILL wearing a bow tie, when nobody’s worn bow ties in almost 40 years?
The answer: the same reason Dagwood always goes shopping with Blondie! Because the strip has used that same stupid image and that same stupid joke since time immemorial, and the octagenarians who read the strip wouldn’t have it any other way!
Just recently there was a strip that pointed out to Dagwood his bizarre fashions like the shirt with one huge button. I’ll have to see if it’s in the archive.
There aren’t any really new jokes in strips unless they get too topical so I’m inclined to cut the strip a little slack, that and because Blondie is such a fox.
Padeye, married to a fabulous stacked blonde who makes him giant sanwiches but who isn’t 'whipped.
My wife views shopping as part of our together time but luckily for me she doesn’t view it as sporting event. For some odd reason she wants me to go grocery shopping with her and wants to come along with me when I go to get them. I don’t understand it but I live with it.
Because if he just said “Okay, have a good time, I’m staying home and watching the game on tv”, the joke would end there, and in comparison, Family Circus would would win the Nobel Prize for literature.
For the same reason that Wile E. Coyote doesn’t move left or right, but always tries to outrun the rolling boulder - cartoon physics. I think it may be the Fourth Cartoon Law of Motion: An object moving at any speed faster than a brisk walk cannot be dodged.
