From Swarthy Ape to Sympathetic Everyman and Subversive Trickster: The Development of Irish Caricature in American Comic Strips between 1890 and 1920

Abstract

Observed from a distance, the prevalence of ethnic stereotyping in late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century cartooning in the United States is disturbing. All one can see, initially, is that turn-of-the-century readers seemed to enjoy seeing blacks, Native Americans, and non-Anglo immigrants reduced to simplistic caricatures and made to say and do outrageously stupid things. The Distorted Image, the Balch Institute's exposé on the evils of ethnic caricature, agrees with this assessment, suggesting that “the strips from the early years of this century [the twentieth] are inevitably suffused with crude, even gross stereotypes” in which blacks and ethnic immigrants are “maligned and mistreated with blithe insouciance.” However, a closer inspection of particular characters, mediums, and creators, reveals that there was greater complexity to these “crude” images – a rich history, in fact, of shifting meanings and uses. There were, of course, some blatantly racist depictions of ethnic minorities in cartoons and comic strips during this period, but there was also a complex spectrum of ethnic characters who played out shifting comedic and social roles. By properly contextualizing some of these cartoons – considering how meanings and uses changed according to where the cartoons appeared, who created them, and who read them – many images that initially seem just like more entries in a long line of gross stereotypes begin to reveal layered, ambivalent, and even sympathetic codings.

Brogues and Blarney

“…To date, there has been comparatively little research into the portrayal of the Irish in comic books, with most works focusing on their representation in political cartoons and comic strips from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Examples include studies on the depiction of the Irish in satirical magazines, such as Punch (Perry Curtis Jr. 1971;Weimer 1993) and Puck (Appel 1971), and on the evolution of the image of the Irish in caricatures more generally (Appel & Appel 1973, 1990Dowd 2018;Pearl 2009;Soper 2005). Much of the attention in these works has been on the visual portrayal of the Irish, on the unflattering, ape-like appearance of these dumb and often violent Irish characters, an image that persisted to some degree well into the late twentieth century (Burke 2019;Drennig 2010).…”

“…According to Appel and Appel, "traits once regarded as objectionable or ludicrous -for example, the Irish propensity to fight and quarrel, and their love of strong drink and blarney -were, within a generation or two, transmuted into amusing foibles or quaint, endearing traits" (Appel & Appel 1990: 14). Even Frederick Burr Opper, an artist who had been responsible for some of the most objectionable images of Irishness in Puck, began to soften and created the long-running comic strip Happy Hooligan, with an Irish tramp as its loveable hero (Soper 2005). This shift to more positive portrayals of the Irish in comic strips can be attributed not only to protests by Irish groups, such as the Ancient Order of Hibernians, but also to advertisers' desire to appeal to the widest possible audience, thereby forcing publishers "to increasingly tone down ethnic jests and offer something more open and culturally inclusive" (Dowd 2018: 166).…”

When ethnic humor goes digital

“…Constrained by relatively limited space, comics rely on stereotyping as a way to enhance narrative effectiveness. Prejudice is often highly evident in comics, since race and ethnicities are condensed into graphic language (Royal, 2007;Soper, 2005). 2 Both the association of ethnic humor with national borders and its examination through specific genres have been challenged in the digital age.…”