Doonesbury cartoon -- "The Retirees"

[Timeisprecious]

You forgot pay off mortgage or not, when should they take SS, and if they should do Roth conversions.

 

[Andre1969]

I don't find the comic particularly funny, but then I don't think it's supposed to be side-splitting slapstick. In some ways, I think it's actually pretty genius, in that it's just vague enough that you could assign all sorts of meanings to it, like what we're doing here. And there's just enough ambiguity to the comic strip that just about any opinion on it can have some merit.

 

[Humbooster]

The men are still droning on about their golf game just as they did while they were working while the women have moved on to some new interests. Nothing worse than a golf bore...the wives have heard it all before

 

[target2019]

Do you know why men die before their spouses ?

Because they can?

 

[WestUniversity]

I have no issue with the cartoon as I was more than happy to fade into insignificance in retirement - and leave stress behind.

Bingo!

 

[Amethyst]

If everybody is a golfer, then it's just hobby talk, nothing wrong with that. I notice they also hit the bottle right away, and it was the only time the one guy had a smile.

I find it odd that the husbands aren't in there with the women, the one guy talking up his maven wife for chairperson, the other one talking about all the good works the two of them are doing. That's what the similar couples I've known, would do.

All in all, I'd be more comfortable talking to the men in this strip; I'm sure they have other interests besides the putts they made and what they used to do at work. I bet they like cars and sports.

The men are still droning on about their golf game just as they did while they were working while the women have moved on to some new interests. Nothing worse than a golf bore...the wives have heard it all before

 

[Music Lover]

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.

A friend of my wife is a little bit of a feminist...I once challenged her to name just one TV show where the woman was portrayed as dumb while her male partner was portrayed as strong and intelligent and she was unable to name even a single show. I then said to her, "now imagine if it was the other way around."

 

[REWahoo]

A friend of my wife is a little bit of a feminist...I once challenged her to name just one TV show where the woman was portrayed as dumb while her male partner was portrayed as strong and intelligent and she was unable to name even a single show. I then said to her, "now imagine if it was the other way around."

She didn't name this one?

 

[braumeister]

... or this one?

 

[Music Lover]

She didn't name this one?

I probably said "current" TV show...

 

[MichaelB]

A friend of my wife is a little bit of a feminist...I once challenged her to name just one TV show where the woman was portrayed as dumb while her male partner was portrayed as strong and intelligent and she was unable to name even a single show. I then said to her, "now imagine if it was the other way around."

The Good Place, and it’s definitely “current” https://www.nbc.com/the-good-place

 

[Music Lover]

The Good Place, and it’s definitely “current” https://www.nbc.com/the-good-place

Never heard of it, but if so, that's just one out of how many?

The exception proves the rule...

 

[MichaelB]

Never heard of it, but if so, that's just one out of how many?

The exception proves the rule...

You only asked for one, and you got it.

 

[Music Lover]

You only asked for one, and you got it.

Fair enough

 

[Amethyst]

When I was a kid, I asked my Mother why all the TV shows portrayed the children as being smarter than the adults, and the moms were always smarter than the dads. She said that it was to make people laugh.

A friend of my wife is a little bit of a feminist...I once challenged her to name just one TV show where the woman was portrayed as dumb while her male partner was portrayed as strong and intelligent and she was unable to name even a single show. I then said to her, "now imagine if it was the other way around."

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

I just want to add that I think it’s fine if people choose to be on committees and boards during retirement, regardless of gender.
I also think it’s fine if a person just chooses to hang out and just do what they want, regardless of gender.
So, I don’t find it funny to show one way or the other as being the preferred way.
I don’t rain on people’s travel plans even though I’m not that keen on traveling. Especially not if it involves camping!

 

[pdxgal]

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.

I'm with this thesis, and also what Chuckanut says. Both seem to apply IMO to what Trudeau is suggesting. But I also don't agree wholeheartedly with the premise. Maybe back in the day it was more true, but don't think it is so much anymore. As a kid we had family friends where the engineer husband retired after a career with Chevron. He seemed at a loss after that, and died of a heart attack a few years later. His widow meanwhile was active in all sorts of things, including teaching yoga, went on to remarry an old flame and lived to about 90. But that was 35 years ago. Times change.

Garry Trudeau is married to Jane Pauley, who wrote a book on "reimagining the rest of your life" aimed at retiree-age people. Maybe the cartoon idea sprung from a conversation they had, who knows.

 

[JohnRM]

Right there with you

I have no issue with the cartoon as I was more than happy to fade into insignificance in retirement - and leave stress behind.

Yeah, me too... I am not one to be easily offended anyway. I'm sooo happy to have retired before the covid mess.



The men in this cartoon are saying there are not enough hours in the day... because they are enjoying life and that speeds up the perception of time passing.

 

[CardsFan]

In defense of Music Lover, more often than not, in the end, Gracie and Lucy got the last laugh. AND it was 50-70 years ago!

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

Yeah, me too... I am not one to be easily offended anyway. I'm sooo happy to have retired before the covid mess.



The men in this cartoon are saying there are not enough hours in the day... because they are enjoying life and that speeds up the perception of time passing.

It doesn’t offend me but that doesn’t mean it isn’t incredibly sexist.

 

[oscar1]

My feelings exactly ...

+1 I was in IT for 30 some years and I have opened my laptop maybe 10 times in the last 5 years.

 

[CHBinFL]

You asked, so: It's another one of those not so subtle jabs at old men. His inspiration? His desire to be relevant again.

 

[jollystomper]

The men are dumpy and sloppy, while the women look like they are competing (there's that word again) for Mrs. Thin and Fashionable Seventy-something.

Also, doesn't Trudeau realize not all retired men are white? It's an outrage, he needs to be cancelled!

 

[Irishgirlyc58]

I personally always preferred Dilbert.

 

[indiajust]

stopped being relevant decades ago, had to search to confirm proof of life. xkcd is where proper satire and humor migrated, though by now it might have moved on to babylon bee.