Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau
- October 16, 2009
- From Beginning
- Previous feature
- Show Calendar
- Next feature
- Current
Comics A-Z Navigation
Doodles by Steve Sack and Craig Macintosh
The Doozies by Tom Gammill
About Doonesbury
G.B. Trudeau’s Doonesbury is currently in its thirty-ninth year, tracking its eighth presidential administration. Trudeau maintains his studio in New York and his Web presence at www.doonesbury.com.
Visit The Sandbox
© 2009 Universal Press Syndicate - All Rights Reserved.
Comments (41) Jump to Comments Form
barticle35
said,
about 1 month ago
It is unAmerican. It is French.
rayannina said, about 1 month ago
And Polanski actually IS French, which makes him doubly un-American. Triply, if you throw in the pedophile part.
peternoho said, about 1 month ago
Um. Check your background. He’s Polish.
Honestly. If you can’t even insult someone correctly…
Gweedo Murray said, about 1 month ago
If he was a Pole born as a French citizen, please state as much.
Bill Case said, about 1 month ago
Polanski was born in 1933 in Paris.
Ronshua
said,
about 1 month ago
All agreed… an old French born Pole Pedophile .
GrimmaTheNome said, about 1 month ago
Unfortunately I don’t think the US can honestly claim the moral high ground that pedophilia is a particularly ‘un-american activity’.
Casual racism against the French is, however, perfectly acceptable by any anglophone.
FredTedster said, about 1 month ago
OK, I’m going to lob a grenade…
The French played a major role in securing American independence (lifting blockades, financial assistance, keeping the Royal Navy busy).
They gave you a nice statue in New York.
They’ve been on your side in every major conflict of the Twentieth Century.
They make nice wine.
What gives?
** Disclaimer: Polanski should face trial, whether he’s French or Polish
cryptomaniac said, about 1 month ago
Umm, and the French gave us (or at least strongly propogated) the Metric system, which most of the world follows even though it’s an evil French “invention”…
Disclaimer: I’m not French, I’m not American, heck, I’m not even from the Western hemisphere!
But then, as a blurb I read somewhere wisely stated - “Opinions are like a**holes, everybody’s got one!”
Over to y’all.
Hugh B. Hayve said, about 1 month ago
A short vid about the French.
FredTedster said, about 1 month ago
LoL Hugh.
RW back when he was funny…
GrimmaTheNome said, about 1 month ago
I wonder what America would be like today if the British hadn’t been so busy with fighting Napoleon that it took its eye off the colonies. Or if the French had won … mon dieu, we’d all be dead of unpasteurised cheese by now (but what a wonderful way to go).
Oh yes, they ironically gave us Pasteurization too ;-)
IncognitoPenguin said, about 1 month ago
Here’s another take on “all that is French”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKS0yISz6xQ
As much fun as it is to make fun of the French…racism is racism and molesters (even famous ones) come in all creeds.
DavidDow said, about 1 month ago
Roman Polanski is Polish-French, which, of course, makes him no more un-American than, say, the Eiffel Tower. Of course, “un-American” is hardly a bad thing any more than “American” is a good thing. As Grimma points out, pedophilia is American activity as much as it is activity throughout the rest of the world. After all, one way for news shows to gain ratings: discuss sex with children. Americans love the titillation of sex with children, because we live in overt denial about the sexuality of children. Thus, these discussions become that much naughtier, dirtier, more exciting.
I am sorry that Boopsie & BD are getting so rabid about this, particularly lumping Woody Allen in with Polanski. All they have in common is that they are great film-makers who married much younger women.
Kerovan said, about 1 month ago
FredTedster, those are good points, and well taken. The problems with the “French” is mostly stereotyping. The French are seen as being rude and obnoxious. Let’s face it, the reason there is a sterotype is because there is a grain of truth in it, but you could as easily put the word “New Yorker” in that statement as the word “French,” and be just as valid. I don’t think Trudeau is making that point though.
As I read it, he’s using the political cartoonists right to point out what he sees as wrong, but making sure there’s an absurd curve so it’s funny. The statement about how bad Polanski is how bad what he did is. The statement about the French is how little Boopsi and BD understand. given BD’s development since he lost his leg, that’s probably not accurate, but still funny.
brewwitch said, about 1 month ago
GrimmaTheNome wrote: “I wonder what America would be like today if the British hadn’t been so busy with fighting Napoleon that it took its eye off the colonies. ”
Canada?
Fer Lefer said, about 1 month ago
I don’t get it, guys and gals… what’s SO wrong with France, that makes you mad? French fries? ¿°_°?
Disclaimer: (As long as I know) I’m not from France nor from USA (Amerikan), but a humble mexican citizen… that sure fits an “American” description… as long as I live in the American Continent ( ^_^ )
Fer Lefer said, about 1 month ago
…but a pedophile is a SOB, from France, USA, Poland or México or any place…
… just to clarify.
Fred_Basset_fan said, about 1 month ago
The French were key to the American Revolution but so was an important Pole - Kosciuszko, who fortified West Point among other important projects. Read all about it in the highly entertaining new bio - The Peasant Prince. His life was more colorful than any movie.
jdono
said,
about 1 month ago
Agree with David Dow–what does Trudeau have against Woody Allen?
babka
said,
about 1 month ago
A “great” filmmaker would be Tarkovsky.
These (in every way) little men do not qualify, however accomplished, and however sorrowful their lives.
They auteur be ashamed, but they have no shame. (I auteur be ashamed of such a pun.)
if they get off, all the guys in prison for same should not have to do time for the crime.
TeaneckerRob said, about 1 month ago
The Poles… The French… I’m still thinking about that last panel in the strip and the poke at the role of film critics in all of this. Does a critic have a moral responsibility to take a filmmaker’s private life into consideration when reviewing the filmmaker’s public work? I think Trudeau is suggesting that they do.
GJ_Jehosaphat
said,
about 1 month ago
OK - this may get me some flack - but why do women shave? Hair grows “there” naturally - legs, pits, etc. Makes they more like pre-pubescent young girls - who started this “tradition”? I’ve heard/read European Women let it grow naturally….be real!
Cackles said, about 1 month ago
Grimma excepted, y’all are missing the point. As Avenue Q and Gran Torino taught us, casual racism is funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbud8rLejLM
HelenasCookies said, about 1 month ago
Ok for those of you wondering about the correlation between Polanski and Woody Allen… sure he married a much younger woman… BUT she was his stepdaughter AND he took nude pictures of her when she was TWELVE!! That’s a pedophile in my book! There was some legal charges filed by Mia Farrow (her mother) behind it, but not much came of it.
WinnieNicklaus said, about 1 month ago
As far as major conflicts of the 20th century go, it really would be more accurate to say the US has always been on France’s side than the other way around. In both World Wars, the US entered the European theaters to defend France and Britain. I don’t have much patience for irrational French-hating, and the only French I have a problem with are the ones who hate me for being American – yes, I have encountered it – but it’s not like France has been some protecting ally the last 100 years.
Joe Allen Doty said, about 1 month ago
Polanski was born to Polish parents in Paris, France. When he was 3 years old, his parents returned to Poland where he grew up.
More literally, in spite of misuse of the word, he’s not a pedophile, but, a pederast. “Pedophile” is from the Greek word meaning one who likes boys in a normal human way; while “pederast” is from the Greek word meaning one who has sex with boys.”
Pedophile has been redefined in English just like the word “philander.” Philander is from the Greek word, “philandros,” meaning “fond of men;” but, it has been twisted to mean a person who flirts with women and is a womanizer.
Joe Allen Doty said, about 1 month ago
Roman Polanski should just be left alone since he isn’t in the USA and the woman who was a girl when the incident happened has forgiven him and doesn’t want to go through a trial.
Why should American taxpayers’ money be used to bring him back to the USA?
People confuse the community of Hollywood with show business. Much of the entertainment business that takes place in the Greater Los Angeles area doesn’t even happen in Hollywood.
DavidDow said, about 1 month ago
Well said, Brewwitch.
Jdono, I do not think that Garry Trudeau has anything against Woody Allen. These two characters, unfortunately, do.
Babka, Tarkovsky is a great filmmaker, too.
Rob, when reviewing a creation (film, novel, poem, &c.), the creator is fundamentally irrelevant. Thus, his/her private life or other opinions are irrelevant.
GJ, American women began shaving when fashions became more revealing, which happened right after they succeeded in enfranchisement. It was the male dominated fashion industry in a male dominated society that tried to re-infantilize women right when they had won a step toward political power. You are correct in your interpretation. That American society (most men & women) find hair on women revolting shows the love/hate relationship we have with pedophilia.
Helenas. Allen took nude pictures of Soon-Yi Previn, who was not his stepdaughter, when she was eighteen. Please get some facts straight. Furthermore, nude pictures are not pedophilia. Otherwise, every parent in America would be arrested. Who doesn’t have pictures of their naked babies?
Okay, my five minutes are up. Good day, all.
JohnHerbison said, about 1 month ago
At the wedding of Woody Allen and Soon-Yi, did they dance to “Thank Previn for Little Girls”?
Susan001 said, about 1 month ago
HelenasCookies, Woody Allen never married Mia Farrow, so Soon-Yi was not his stepdaughter.
As far as the nude photos go, I heard she was 17 when he took them.
And while it certainly is immoral, I don’t think it’s illegal.
barticle35
said,
about 1 month ago
When I said, “it is un-American, it is French,” I was quoting Mark Twain, who loved to make fun of the French. As well as the Germans, Brits, and Americans.
Ronshua
said,
about 1 month ago
It is said ” Justice is Blind “shall WE cutoff the hands also ?
Check her ID , under adult age ? Then it must be perfectly RIGHT And Morally OK .
Would this be considered an UN-American concept ?
Joe Allen Doty said, about 1 month ago
When I moved to California from Oklahoma in March 1984, I stayed 6 weeks in with the pastor of a church in Hollywood.
Not everyone who lives in Hollywood are involved in any kind of cess pool. And, the show business people who make the news these days because they have low moral standards are actually in the minority.
openminded
said,
about 1 month ago
Like Chollde said…..
GJ_Jehosaphat
said,
about 1 month ago
Ronshua Re: It is said “Justice is Blind” shall WE cutoff the hands also?”
Don’t know about cutting off her hands, but she was draped for a couple of years…
Published 29 Jan, 2002
“Curtains For Semi-Nude Justice Statue”
“No longer will US Attorney General John Ashcroft appear in public with a semi-nude statue towering above him.
The US Justice Department has spent $8,000 on curtains to hide the statue from the cameras”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/1788845.stm
Ron
said,
about 1 month ago
Like I said a couple of days ago,
There once was a Roman from France,
Who had ants in his very large pants.
A young girl he did rape,
Even put it on tape,
And now he must pay for this jape.
tcambeul said, about 1 month ago
polanski has already been tried, he copped a plea & was awaiting sentencing, When the judge would not agree to the plea, polackcy fled to faggotland.
OldHipster said, about 1 month ago
Doonsberry I don’t flaperhand
because she isn’t the jamperbland
Cross my soldier beat yo mama
now you in a slober Obama
Ya know
DavidDow said, about 1 month ago
In fact, they did, John H., and Woody Allen said, “This song is so nice, let’s play it twice”.
Tcam., please stop trying. It is a shame to read such bigotry. People still have far to go.
lindz.coop
said,
about 1 month ago
Woody Allen is a creep too – tho the girl wasn’t legally his “stepdaughter,” he helped raise her and then ended up in bed with her. The power differential is the same.