The infamous "Il Gatto"

[Lars Jensen]

Sorry I'm so tardy re: replying to this.

Chris Hilbig wrote:

> Sorry my post rubbed you the wrong way or wasn't what you had in mind.

Your post didn't rub me the wrong way, except when you brought up Iraq.
And I didn't expect you to reply in one way or another -- if I knew
everybody's opinion in advance, there would be no point in being a
member of this or any other message board. I simply disagreed with you
on how likely it is that political correctness has been a factor in Il
Gatto's absence the last many years. (Shrug)

>> [Il Gatto] seems like a standard "journalist with no morals" to me.
>> Is it just a coincidence that he hasn't been used much the last many
>> decades?
>
> I guess you wanted a yes or no answer?

Nope. I was genuinely curious why this very early Italian character
(debuted 1938) isn't used in Italy these days, when other obscurities
such as Gedeone (1956) and Sgrizzo (1964) have been revived within the
last few years.

> But political slant happens, in movies, TV, and yes, even in comics.

Agreed.

> Intentional or not, I don't wet my pants over it, and neither should
> you.

I don't wet my or anybody else's pants over this either. I've tried to
keep my opinions out of my own Disney stuff and yet, when I look at
those stories with the benefit of hindsight I notice the opinions keep
popping up. (Or, in some cases, the scriptwriter's opinions pop up.)
Obviously, my subconscious will make sure those leanings of mine
somehow sneak into my stories.

So there's no point in getting irritated because a story contains a
political message one might not like. When reading Disney comics, I just
ask myself whether I like the story. If I do, then the writer's personal
opinions are irrelevant. If I don't, then those opinions, however
sympathetic to me, are still irrelevant.

> Use [Il Gatto] how you wish. If your going to be fearful of being
> labeled as one thing or another, don't.

I've long since stopped being fearful of being labeled. Those labels are
probably going to be wrong, anyway -- I had an analysis institute tell
me I fell so much outside most of their categories, I was pretty much
useless for their market research. Sounded good to me.

Lars