A Study of Character Representation in Bringing Up Father in the U.S. in the 1910s and Japan in the 1920s

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K00165
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 01050:Aesthetics and art studies-related
• Research Institution: Shokei University
• Principal Investigator: Miura Kazushi 尚絅大学, 現代文化学部, 准教授 (20583628)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 親爺教育 / コミック・ストリップ / アイルランド / アサヒグラフ

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research, we compiled a list of approximately 2000 episodes of George McManus' "Bringing Up Father," from 1913, when the series first appeared in newspapers in the United States, to the end of 1919, including the newspaper where each episode appeared, the number of panels, the subject matter, and the outline. The 1910s "Bringing Up Father" can be seen as a period in which the protagonist Jiggs moves away from the contemptuous Irish-American trope and his wife Maggie transitions into a character who launches slapstick attacks on her rebellious husband.
It was also found that the group of episodes of "Bringing Up Father" imported to Japan in the 1920s came after Jiggs and Maggie underwent the aforementioned changes.

Free Research Field

マンガ史

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

「親爺教育」は1923年に『アサヒグラフ』に掲載され、同雑誌の「正チャンの冒険」とともに日本にストーリーマンガを根付かせ、また人気作「ノンキナトウサン」の直接的な影響源ともなった重要な作品である。その「親爺教育」の内容が具体的にどのようなものであり、それが本国アメリカのどのような文脈で成立したのかを知ることは、日本のマンガ史の最初期を研究するための必須の作業となる。本研究はこうした作業をある程度進めることができたと考える。