Line #46 ComicStrip/TheFamilyCircus


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9	Bil Keane's ''The Family Circus'' ([[WorkingTitle originally]] ''The Family Circle'') is a [[PrintLongRunners long running]] (since 1960) NewspaperComic about the innocent childhood adventures of young siblings Billy, Dolly, Jeffy, and infant P.J. Occasionally, parents Bil and Thel will contribute some insightful comment about the children's exploits, like when they all were imitating ''Film/WaynesWorld'' and Bil says: "Makes sense to me. {{NOT}}"
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11	Other characters include random neighbor children, pets, extended family members [[SpiritAdvisor (many of whom are dead)]], and various [[TheGhost ghosts]] representing childhood excuses. A standard ''Family Circus'' trope is for a parent to ask the children who broke something, only for them all to say "Not me"... just as a ghost named "Not Me" flees the scene, damning evidence of the crime in hand.
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13	''Family Circus'' {{Sunday strip}}s are notable for generally sticking to the single-panel format of the weekday version, albeit far more elaborately drawn. Some of these Sunday strips have a gimmick where, through the usage of a dotted line arrow, you can see the path taken by Billy or another of the Keane children, through a heavily detailed map of a neighborhood, usually done to show how kids can get distracted while running simple errands. The 1990's added another set of themed strips ("It's Apparent You're a Parent"), which expands the Sunday strip to multi panel (or in this case, circle) format to showcase how parenthood, through Bil and Thel, affects their everyday lives when dealing with their fellow adults.
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15	Occassionally, the strip will go on a week long "hiatus" as Bil Keane allowed his then young son, and later his grandson, to contribute rather crudely drawn "fill-in" strips when their father and grandfather needs to take a breather from work.
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17	Besides little kids, the sincere fanbase for the comic consists of parents and grandparents who love the domestic slice-of-life humor of writers like the late Erma Bombeck; in fact, she and Keane were friends. One of Keane's sons, [[Creator/GlenKeane Glen]], became a top animator at Creator/{{Disney}} (where he was the lead character animator for [[WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989 Ariel]], [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast the Beast]], WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}, and [[WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet John Silver]], among others). Another son, Jeff, began assisting his dad with the comic in the 2000's, and has taken over following Bil's death in November 2011.
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19	While it's ostensibly a humorous comic strip with a wide circulation, ''The Family Circus'' has been more popular as the butt of jokes at least since TheNineties.
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21	The early days of the Web (1995-99) saw a WebOriginal feature called ''Webcomic/DysfunctionalFamilyCircus.'' Family Circus strips were posted without the original caption, inviting readers to submit alternate interpretations of the scene. {{Hilarity ensue\|s}}d. ''Dysfunctional Family Circus'''s creator said: "A number of people have told me they don't like ''The Family Circus'' because they don't think it applied to them -- they never experienced anything remotely like it." One newspaper called the ''Dysfunctional Family Circus'' a "twisted Rorschach test." Perhaps this explains why Todd Gaines, the cynical drug dealer from the 1999 film ''Film/{{Go}},'' was compelled to read ''Family Circus'' every day.
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23	For all the abuse it gets, it's clear that ''The Family Circus'' speaks to a lot of people. As another newspaper observed at the height of the ''Dysfunctional Family Circus'' controversy, no one would bother making a Web site called ''The Dysfunctional Fusco Brothers.'' In addition, ''ComicStrip/TheFarSide'' was often paired with ''The Family Circus'' in many newspapers, providing a surreal {{Foil}} to the ''Circus'' domesticity.
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25	A LiveActionAdaptation film is [[http://www.deadline.com/2010/10/fox-walden-media-win-the-family-circus/ planned for the future.]]
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27	----
28	!!This comic provides examples of:
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30	* AllJustADream: As part of a 1997 April Fools' Day project in which many newspaper comic writers/artists swapped strips for the day, ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'''s Scott Adams did that day's ''Family Circus'', with Mom in the role of PointyHairedBoss encouraging Billy to "work cuter, not harder." (See SelfDeprecation below for the counterpart comic.) The following day's ''Family Circus'' explained this as one of the kids having a nightmare.
31	* AnimatedAdaptation: Christmas, Valentine's Day and Easter specials were made in the late 1970s and early '80s.
32	* ArtEvolution: Though most is explained in EarlyInstallmentWeirdness below, up through the mid-1990s Mommy had puffy Olive Oyl-ish hair and a completely round face like the kids, as opposed to the short hair and very broad chin she has now. (Though her mother still has the hair)
33	* BathtubScene: Thel gets these sometimes. At least one has her laying in the tub with cleavage visible.
34	%%* BlackBeadEyes: All the characters. [[http://comicskingdom.com/family-circus/2015-03-01 Though can sometimes be averted]]
35	* TheCameo: Jeff Keane put his friend, fellow cartoonist Lynda Barry, in [[https://www.comicsbeat.com/this-lynda-barryfamily-circus-crossover-may-make-you-cry/ a comic]] back in May 2017.
36	* CharacterizationMarchesOn: In the earliest years, the dad was more buffoonish and deadbeat — he was overweight, wore a hat, drank, smoke, pounded on the table when Thel tried to nag him, etc. About 10 years in, he was overhauled as the trimmer, more competent and sympathetic dad he is today.
37	* CheerfulChild: All the kids are very happy most of the time.
38	%%* ChildrenAreInnocent: Played straight. Between this and its strictly G-rated approach, this means that fresh humor to be mined from the "kids say/do the darndest things" premise is now extremely limited.
39	* ChristianityIsCatholic: Many of the strips contain religious subject matter, implied to be of the Catholic variety. Bil Keane was Catholic himself, so it may have been on purpose, or it may have simply been [[WriteWhatYouKnow what he was familiar with]].
40	%%* ConstantlyCurious: All the kids who can talk.
41	%%* CorporalPunishment: Happened in the strip in the past when this practice was more socially accepted than today.
42	* ADogNamedDog: The family cat is named Kittycat.
43	* EarlyInstallmentCharacterDesignDifference:
44	** The dad was originally a gruff, overweight, slouched-over, balding buffoon who usually wore a hat and trenchcoat and smoked cigarettes.
45	** PJ was originally completely bald instead of short-haired.
46	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The art used to be a lot less "round", the dad had a radically different design and personality, and PJ didn't exist until several years in.
47	%%* EasterSpecial: ''A Family Circus Easter''.
48	* FluffyCloudHeaven: ''Always'' played straight when Grandad is shown in heaven, although apart from the clouds and angelic robes, it generally seems like a friendly seniors' community.
49	* FullNameUltimatum: Dolly overhears Thel giving a lecture to Billy and Jeffy:
50	-->'''Dolly:''' ''(to PJ)'' Mommy must really mean business. She called the boys William and Jeffrey.
51	* GotMeDoingIt: Of course, the kids all address Thel as "Mommy." In one strip, Bil introduces her to someone by saying, "I'd like you to meet my mommy -- MY WIFE!"
52	* GrandfatherClause: There have been a lot of suggestions that newspapers only continue to run the comic because of how old it is.
53	%%* HappilyMarried: Bil and Thel.
54	* HowCanSantaDeliverAllThoseToys: This is discussed in the ChristmasSpecial (Billy chalks it up to Santa having a time-stopping watch).
55	* HypocriticalHumor: One early strip has Thel scolding the children for not wearing their slippers at night. Around the corner, the dad is shown about to walk through, without his own slippers, and immediately turning around.
56	* ImplausibleDeniability: Thel finds PJ hiding in a closet devouring a bag of stolen cookies. PJ cries, "I not here! I with Daddy!"
57	* InnocentSwearing: In at least one early strip, Jeffy does this, and gets spanked for it. In more recent strips, both due to the kids' MenaceDecay and due to changing views on CorporalPunishment, this would obviously never happen.
58	* KidsPreferBoxes: One strip shows the living room filled with new toys on Christmas morning and Jeffy asking Thel if he and PJ can go outside and play with the boxes.
59	* LampshadeHanging: [[http://comicskingdom.com/family-circus/2015-03-12#disqus_thread This comic's]] punchline seems to only exist to lampshade the fact that they've been kids for 50 years.
60	* {{Malaproper}}: The kids: e.g, "[[Theatre/{{Hair}} This is the dawning of the age of asparagus]]", "A washed pot never boils", etc.
61	* MenaceDecay: Back in TheSixties, the kids were the typical comic portrayal of overexcited tots; since their behavior hasn't kept in step with the times, it's hard to see this family as a metaphorical wacky circus.
62	* MsFanservice: Thel. In some of the older book collections, check out some of the two-piece bikinis and tight-fitting clothes she wears!
63	* NakedPeopleAreFunny: In one strip, Jeffy answers the door naked and suggests that the visitor come back later because "Mommy's tryin' to give me a bath."
64	* NeverMyFault: The kids have been known to blame inanimate objects for their misbehavior.
65	** Jeffy hits PJ with a stuffed monkey, PJ cries, Thel gets mad, and Jeffy says, "My monkey did it."
66	** Billy's explanation for how a flower bed got flattened is, "My bike did something dumb."
67	* NeverSayDie: Averted in the Christmas special. Thel tells the kids that her father-in-law is in Heaven, and Billy explains to Jeffy that this means he's dead.
68	* NotAllowedToGrowUp: None of the characters have ever aged, though they are occasionally shown celebrating each others' birthdays.
69	%%* OpaqueLenses: Bil has creepy ones.
70	* PeeveGoblins: There's an intangible creature called "Not Me" who lives to sabotage the grownups' day to make the kids look bad.
71	* PinkGirlBlueBoy: Conversed in a 2008 strip where Dolly says this to an unconvinced Billy.
72	-->'''Dolly:''' WesternAnimation/ThePinkPanther is a girl. If he was a boy, he'd be The Blue Panther.
73	* PresentPeeking: The children frequently manage to find their hidden Christmas presents. Needless to say, their parents are not happy when it happens.
74	* RainDance: The family goes on a beach vacation and it rains. Dolly claims that this is Billy and Jeffy's fault because "they were doing their Indian rain dance."
75	* RemixComic:
76	%%** The ''Dysfunctional Family Circus'', which despite being taken off the web at Keane's request in 1999, survives to this day in various archives.
77	%%** There is an even newer example, [[http://scottmeetsfamilycircus.tumblr.com/ Scott Meets Family Circus]], which still updates now and then.
78	%%** Less well-known, perhaps because it is not for the faint of heart, there's the comic The Other Family, which can be found [[http://theotherfamily.com/ here]]. Warning: may [[CursedWithAwesome make you unable to read Family Circus ever again]].
79	** ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'' consistently and constantly makes fun of ''Family Circus'', occasionally in the form of Gag Dubs. The storyline where the family accidentally harbors Osama bin Laden (ItMakesSenseInContext) is an example. On at least one occasion, there's been a deliberate crossover -- Rat dropping oatmeal into the ''Circus'' strip below him, where Billy insists he didn't make the mess. Another crossover comes when ''Pearls'' (In-Universe) is running out of money, so the characters have to temporarily move to other comics. The strip ends with Jeffy yelling "Mommy! There's a rat in our fridge!"
80	%%** When you gaze too long into [[http://www.losanjealous.com/nfc/ The Nietzsche Family Circus]], the Nietzsche Family Circus gazes also into you.
81	%%** [[http://www.mydarkdesigns.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/family-cthulhu.jpg OH GOD I CAN SEE FOREVER]]
82	** In one of the last ''ComicStrip/BloomCounty'' strips, African-American character Oliver was being 'intergrated' into ''The Family Circus'', his head already morphed into the FC standard oval.
83	%%** And [[http://jerseycircus.blogspot.com/ Jersey Circus]].
84	** [[https://www.facebook.com/groups/239184642932007/ The Family Menace]], which takes the dialogue captions of this strip, and swaps it with those of the similar ''Dennis the Menace''. HilarityEnsues.
85	* RunningGag:
86	** Excuse ghosts. A form of VisualPun, with one for every childhood excuse under the sun. The kid says it, a ghost with that name is seen fleeing the scene of the crime. "Not Me" is the best known, but "Ida Know", "Nobody" and "O. Yeah!", among others, have also made appearances. (While this may not have been Keane's intention, it could be argued that the ghosts ''actually exist'' in the universe of the strip even if they can't be seen, which would also make them a variation of NotSoImaginaryFriend.)
87	** Billy's infamous Dotted Line is the perfect representation of at least a ''walking'' one.
88	* SelfDeprecation: [[http://dilbert.com/strips/comic/1997-04-01 The official Family-Circus/Dilbert Crossover]] [[note]] during an April Fools event where multiple cartoonists switched comics for a day [[/note]] in which Billy annoys Dilbert to the point of calling security on the kid! (See AllJustADream above for the counterpart.)
89	* SequentialArt: Unlike many other newspaper comics, ''ComicStrip/TheFamilyCircus'' is not really sequential, at best sometimes using the Dotted Line Path mentioned above.
90	* ShoutOut:
91	** On Halloween 2012, this strip ran a comic that made a reference to ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar'' II. [[http://familycircus.com/comics/october-31-2012/ No really. It did]].
92	** Bill Keane's son [[Creator/GlenKeane Glen]] -- the model for Billy -- went on to become one of the most respected animators alive today, working at Creator/WaltDisneyAnimationStudios from 1974 to 2012. He got a nod from dear old Dad in the July 5, 1999 strip, when Billy [[http://jimhillmedia.com/cfs-filesystemfile.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Components-ImageFileViewer/CommunityServer-Blogs-Components-WeblogFiles-00-00-00-00-51/4885.Philly_2D00_2.jpg_2D00_500x0.jpg marches out into the yard in nothing but a loincloth]], imagining himself as WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}.
93	** Back in the mid-90s, the kids, at one point wonder if their grandpa plays with [[ComicStrip/ForBetterOrForWorse the Patterson's old dog who had recently died]] while in heaven. Cut to him in heaven doing just that.
94	* SignsOfDisrepair: A variation on this occurs when Thel puts up a sign for the family's garage sale; someone adds a letter during the night to make it say "Garbage Sale."
95	* TerribleArtist: Billy occasionally fills in for his dad, who is a cartoonist, with the expected results.
96	* UnnamedParent: Averted with Bil and Thel who have referred to each other by their first names.
97	* VisualPun: "Billy's" Sunday strips consist of illustrated puns. "Dolly is Ruthless", for example, is illustrated with her losing a doll named Ruth when she pulls the wagon too fast on which it's seated.
98	* YouSayTomato: The children, most often Jeffy, pronounce some words in a nonstandard way.

Context ComicStrip / TheFamilyCircus