The Story of Garfield 加菲猫的故事

2020-09-12byKarlSmallwoodandMattBlitz张宁

中学生英语·中考指导版 2020年7期

by Karl Smallwood and Matt Blitz 张宁

There are generally three things everyone knows about Garfield—its all about a cat that hates Mondays， loves lasagna1， and that its not really that funny.

The genesis2 of Garfield can be traced back to a failed comic strip3 Garfield creator Jim Davis created in the early 1970s named Gnorm Gnat4 which centred around the various misadventures of a bunch of anthropomorphic5 insects...

By 1977 Davis was getting nowhere with the comic. He simply couldnt understand why nobody else found gnats as funny as him—and yes， unlike Garfield， Gnorm Gnat was supposed to be very funny.

For almost five years he had been printing the comic in a small Indiana town newspaper.

Looking for a bigger audience and income， Davis continually attempted to get the comic syndicated6 in newspapers across the country， but rejection after rejection kept coming back. “I got so many rejection slips， I could have papered my bedroom wall with them，” Davis told the Los Angeles Times in 2001. Finally an editor gave him some frank criticism7， “Your art is good， your gags8 are great， but bugs—nobody can relate to bugs！”

This sealed9 the bugs fate. Now， it was time for Davis to come up with a new comic strip.

Davis studied the popular comic strips of the day to see if he could find something in common. During his research， he noticed that comic strips about or starring dogs， like Peanuts and Marmaduke， were especially popular. This， of course， makes sense because dogs have been bred10 for centuries to be what humans consider awesome.

At the same time， Davis noticed that nobody had yet created a popular comic about a cat， which he saw as being a huge gap in the market. After all， a not inconsiderable11 percentage of the population prefers cats to dogs， or loves both. He stated， “I felt that， if dog lovers like dog strips， surely cat lovers would like to see a cat out there.”

Davis also grew up on a farm in Indiana with a couple dozen cats， so he was familiar with their distinctive12 behaviors， such as their laziness. He also used elements13 of himself and his grandfather as inspiration for the character. Much like his grandfather， Garfield was large and grumpy14. Like himself， the cat loved lasagna. And in homage15 to his grandfather， James Garfield Davis， he named the cat after him. （Yes， different from popular belief， Garfield was not named after U.S. President James Garfield.）

We should point out the advantage to having an animal as the main character is that animals could get away with more jokes. “By virtue of16 being a cat， Garfields not black， white， male or female， young， or old or a particular nationality17，” Davis told the Washington Post in 1981. “Hes not going to step on anyones feet if these thoughts are coming from an animal.”

Davis also went out of his way to make sure the cats appeal crossed borders18. As he said in 1982 interview， “Garfield is an international character. Therefore， I dont even use seasons. The only holiday I recognize is Christmas. I dont use plays on words， in an effort to make Garfield apply to any society where he may appear... I would like for readers in Sydney， Australia to think that Garfield lives next door. Dealing with eating and sleeping， being a cat， Garfield is very universal.”

Going back to the marketing side of things， Davis saw the commercialisation19 of Snoopy as “a template20 that I could apply to Garfield”.

And this wasnt just for the animal appeal， but also because that after 50 years， Snoopy was still lying in that dog house， and rather than getting old. In other words， the Snoopy template allowed for continuing the same old gags over and over and over again with people still loving it， and buying the merchandise21.

The scheme worked.

In June of 1978 Garfield found its way into some 40 newspapers. Less than two years later it could be found across the world. By late 1982， it was in 1，400 newspapers. And even in 2013 with the downfall of many newspapers world-wide， Garfield still showed up in over 2，500 newspapers and journals22. In fact， Garfield currently holds a Guinness World Record for being the most widely syndicated comic strip in history.

Using this platform of the most read comic in the world， Davis was able to easily start stage two of his， quite frankly， genius plan—merchandising.

In all merchandising and licensing opportunities， he does strongly consider how something might harm the brand， whether because of poor association23 or simply oversaturation24 to the point of people getting sick of Garfield.

For example， in the late 1980s and early 1990s Garfield suction cup25 plush26 toys became hugely successful. Davis stated， “...but my biggest fear was overexposure27.” In it for the long term， to solve the problem， “We pulled all plush dolls off the shelves for five years.”

But the plush dolls werent the only place money was pouring in from. In fact， Davis spent so many hours coming up with and managing merchandising and licensing deals. This includes everything from your standard books， cartoon specials， lunch boxes and stuffed28 animals， to toilet seat covers， a Garfield Restaurant， and even educational material.

You might at this point be wondering how much Davis has made from it， because its successful both as a comic and the behemoth29 in the business. Well， nobody knows for sure. But， it is known Garfield merchandise sales world-wide， even today.

So we guess you kind of have to hand it to Davis—not only did he achieve his goal of creating an enjoyable comic， but also has masterfully30 run the business side of things， making him probably one of the most successful comic creators in history.

In the end， Davis summed up his rather impressive lifes work， “I think part of the appeal is， you know， like with Peanuts， you always want to go back to see Snoopy on the doghouse. In such a changing world， readers want to know that some things stay the same， so I feel a responsibility to keep Garfield loving lasagna and hating Mondays; hes never going to go on a diet.”

And by the way， unlike this famous cat， Davis has noted he himself loves Mondays several times.

一般来说，关于加菲猫有三件事大家都知道——那是一只讨厌星期一、喜欢千层面、其实没那么好笑的猫。

加菲猫的起源可以追溯到加菲猫的创造者吉姆·戴维斯在20世纪70年代早期创作的一部失败的连环画《蚊子格诺姆》，该连环画以一群拟人昆虫的各种不幸为中心……

到1977年，戴维斯在漫画上一事无成。他根本不明白为什么没有人像他一样觉得虫子有趣——是的，和加菲猫不同，他觉得蚊子格诺姆应该是非常有趣的。

将近五年的时间，他一直在印地安那州一个小镇上的一家小报纸上刊登这部漫画。

为了寻求更多的读者和更多的收入，戴维斯不断地尝试在全国各地的报纸上刊登这部连环漫画，但不断地遭到拒绝。戴维斯在2001年对《洛杉矶时报》说：“我收到了太多的退稿通知，我本可以用它们把卧室的墙壁糊起来的。”最后，一位編辑给了他一些坦率的批评，“你的画很好，你的噱头很好，但是虫子——没人想看虫子！”

这决定了虫子的命运。现在，戴维斯是时候想出一个新的连环画了。

戴维斯研究了当时流行的连环画，看能否找出它们的共同之处。在他研究的过程中，他注意到关于狗或以狗为主要角色的连环画，如《花生漫画》和《大丹麦狗马默杜克》，特别受欢迎。当然，这是有道理的，因为狗确实已经被培育了几个世纪，成为人类认为很棒的存在。

与此同时，戴维斯注意到，还没有人制作出一部关于猫的流行漫画，他认为这是市场上的一个巨大缺口。毕竟，有相当比例的人更喜欢猫而不是狗，或者两者都喜欢。他说：“我觉得，如果爱狗的人喜欢狗的漫画，爱猫的人当然希望看到猫的漫画。”

戴维斯也在印第安纳州的一个农场长大，养过几十只猫，所以他熟悉它们的特立独行，比如它们的懒惰。他还以自己和祖父的元素作为这个角色的灵感来源。加菲猫很像他的祖父，又胖又暴躁。和他自己一样，加菲猫也喜欢千层面。为了向他的祖父詹姆斯·加菲尔德·戴维斯致敬，他以他祖父的名字给这只猫命名。（是的，与人们的普遍观点相反，加菲猫并不是以美国总统詹姆斯·加菲尔德的名字命名的。）

应该指出的是，以动物作为主角的好处是，动物可以以更多的笑话来逃避。“由于是猫，加菲猫不是黑人、白人、男性或女性、年轻人或老年人，也没有特定的国籍。”戴维斯在1981年告诉《华盛顿邮报》说，“如果这些想法出自动物，他就不会踩到任何人的脚。”

戴维斯还特意确保这只猫的吸引力跨越国界。正如他在1982年的采访中所说的，“加菲猫是一个国际性的角色。因此，我甚至不使用季节。我唯一确认的节日是圣诞节。我不玩文字游戏，努力使加菲猫适应他可能出现的任何社会……我希望在澳大利亚悉尼的读者认为加菲猫就住在隔壁。对待吃饭和睡觉的问题上，作为一只猫，加菲猫是非常普通的。”

回到市场营销方面，戴维斯认为史努比（《花生漫画》的著名角色）的商业化是“一个我可以应用于加菲猫的模板”。

这不仅仅是为了动物的吸引力，还因为50年后，史努比仍然躺在那个狗窝里，没有变老。换句话说，史努比的模板是让同样的老噱头一次又一次地重复，而人们仍旧喜欢它，并购买商品。

这个计划奏效了。

1978年6月，《加菲猫》找到了登上约40家报纸的方法。不到两年后，在全世界都能看到它。到了1982年底，它在1400多家报纸上出现。甚至在2013年，即使全球已有许多报纸倒闭，《加菲猫》仍出现在2500多家报纸和杂志上。事实上，《加菲猫》目前保持着吉尼斯世界纪录，因为它是历史上最多报刊刊载的连环漫画。

利用这个世界上最受欢迎的漫画的平台，戴维斯能够很容易地开始了他的第二阶段，非常坦率地说，那是个天才计划——销售附带商品。

在所有的销售和授权中，他确实充分地考虑了一些东西可能会对品牌造成怎样的伤害，人们会不会因为不好的联想，或者仅仅是过度饱和，而对加菲猫感到厌烦。

例如，在20世纪80年代末和90年代初，加菲猫吸盘毛绒玩具非常成功。戴维斯说：“……但我最担心的是曝光过度。”从长远来看，为了解决这个问题，“我们把所有的毛绒娃娃下架五了年。”

但毛绒玩具并不是唯一一个赚大钱的地方。事实上，戴维斯花了大量的时间来研究和管理销售及授权交易，包括标准书籍、卡通特别篇、午餐盒、填充玩具动物，马桶座套、加菲猫餐厅，甚至是教材。

你可能会想知道戴维斯从中赚了多少钱，因为它作为一部漫画和一个商业方面的庞然大物，都是成功的。好吧，没人确切地知道。但众所周知，甚至在今天，加菲猫商品的销售都遍布全球。

所以我们猜你一定很佩服戴维斯——他不仅实现了创作一部有趣的漫画的目标，而且还巧妙地经营了商业方面的事情，使他可能成为历史上最成功的漫画创作者之一。

最后，戴维斯总结了他令人印象深刻的毕生杰作：“我认为部分吸引力在于，你知道，就像《花生漫画》一样，你总是想回去看狗窝里的史努比。在这样一个不断变化的世界里，读者想知道有些事情是不变的，所以我觉得有责任让加菲猫一直喜欢千层面，讨厌星期一;他永远不会节食减肥。”

顺便说一句，与这位著名的猫不同的是，戴维斯曾多次提到他自己喜欢星期一。

【Notes】

1. lasagna [■] n. 意式千层面 2. genesis [■] n. 发生;起源

3. strip [■] n. 连环画 4. gnat [■] n. 小昆虫;叮人小虫

5. anthropomorphic [■] adj. 拟人化的