Doonesbury cartoon -- "The Retirees"

My interpretation is the guys are not needed, the wives have their own life and activities.
 
For some reason it makes me think of an "I Love Lucy" episode where Fred referred to that women's club that Lucy and Ethel belonged to as the "Cackle and Claw" society. :p
 
pdxgal said:
Wondering what folks think or feel about the Doonesbury cartoon from Oct 31. I'm also curious about whatever backstory inspired Garry Trudeau to draw it. Maybe he was at a recent dinner party...

https://www.gocomics.com/doonesbury/2021/10/31
Click to expand...

One of the comments on that page, below the cartoon, says "This is somewhat sexist." I would agree, but... meh. I didn't think the cartoon was particularly funny or insightful, but it didn't offend me.
 
It's a cartoon, not a thesis on the perils of couples retiring together. I didn't laugh, but still consider it to be a cartoon.
 
I interpreted it as the women preparing for a life without their spouses. The men faded away while the women continued on working on fulfilling projects. Almost a mirror image of the 1950s view of men and women - the men work and the women do things of little value. This cartoon inverts the dynamic.

Note that it is not my belief that women in the 1950s did things of little value - but they were certainly portrayed in the media that way.
 
Last edited:
38Chevy454 said:
My interpretation is the guys are not needed, the wives have their own life and activities.
Click to expand...

Perhaps, but also my interpretation is that the wives have full retirement lives, while the men have none.
Totally false, as I also retired from Wall Street and have a full retirement life with my DGF and also doing solo stuff.
 
mpeirce said:
It’s Doonesbury.

I’ll leave it at that…
Click to expand...

Maybe it's me but I never felt Trudeau had his finger on the pulse of real, average people.
 
It's obvious.

While the women are doing their social activities, their husbands, who are male and older, are slowly dying off. The women are so busy with their social activities that they don't even notice their husbands are gone.
 
Chuckanut said:
It's obvious.

While the women are doing their social activities, their husbands, who are male and older, are slowly dying off. The women are so busy with their social activities that they don't even notice their husbands are gone.
Click to expand...

I think there is a little more to this.

The first woman is working on a Masters, and the second is active in the ACLU, Meals on Wheels, and a book club. While all of this has a social component (what doesn't?) there is a deliberate portrayal of the women as being involved in "larger matters" than then men. The men are unable to articulate on even the most basic level how they are spending their days - I infer from that that the men are absorbed in leisure activities while the women are becoming or regaining their sense of being involved in the greater society.

Or... I may be overthinking this.
 
I don't want to be those women, with their pretentious volunteer stuff. I got my master's while working.

And Lord save me from their hairstyles. I don't know which is worse.

The men are blanks. I don't think that's fair.
 
Doonesbury usually follows characters over a series, so a single panel can be hard to interpret without the context of the week or two that usually unfolds around it.

Other than that, perhaps it's latching onto the typical expectation that men are more likely to define themselves by their careers, and perhaps these two are drifting a bit in retirement, while their wives continue perhaps as they always have? Who knows.
 
Chuckanut said:
It's obvious.

While the women are doing their social activities, their husbands, who are male and older, are slowly dying off. The women are so busy with their social activities that they don't even notice their husbands are gone.
Click to expand...

In our 55+ community, I would guess that every fifth house out of 437 of them is filled with a widow, never married or divorced woman. I know of maybe a handful of guys living alone here.
 
Amethyst said:
I don't want to be those women, with their pretentious volunteer stuff. I got my master's while working.

And Lord save me from their hairstyles. I don't know which is worse.

The men are blanks. I don't think that's fair.
Click to expand...
many...maybe most men are blanks or portrayed as effeminate, clueless, helpless, hapless, ineffectual meat blobs just taking up space on many TV programs and many, many commercials. i have no issue with women being portrayed as strong, intelligent leaders...many are interesting characters... but not at the expense of men.
 
aja8888 said:
In our 55+ community, I would guess that every fifth house out of 437 of them is filled with a widow, never married or divorced woman. I know of maybe a handful of guys living alone here.
Click to expand...

My parents lived in a 55+ community that was like that. Often the house started off as occupied by a man and wife. As time went by the man usually died first (they were generally older and we men are apparently more delicate in old age).
 
Chuckanut said:
My parents lived in a 55+ community that was like that. Often the house started off as occupied by a man and wife. As time went by the man usually died first (they were generally older and we men are apparently more delicate in old age).
Click to expand...

Joke around here is that if your wife dies first, get ready for some casseroles to be delivered in a short while. :LOL:
 
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