The Story of Garfield 加菲貓的故事

by Karl Smallwood and Matt Blitz 張寧

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.

一般來說，關(guān)于加菲貓有三件事大家都知道——那是一只討厭星期一、喜歡千層面、其實(shí)沒那么好笑的貓。

加菲貓的起源可以追溯到加菲貓的創(chuàng)造者吉姆·戴維斯在20世紀(jì)70年代早期創(chuàng)作的一部失敗的連環(huán)畫《蚊子格諾姆》，該連環(huán)畫以一群擬人昆蟲的各種不幸為中心……

到1977年，戴維斯在漫畫上一事無成。他根本不明白為什么沒有人像他一樣覺得蟲子有趣——是的，和加菲貓不同，他覺得蚊子格諾姆應(yīng)該是非常有趣的。

將近五年的時(shí)間，他一直在印地安那州一個(gè)小鎮(zhèn)上的一家小報(bào)紙上刊登這部漫畫。

為了尋求更多的讀者和更多的收入，戴維斯不斷地嘗試在全國各地的報(bào)紙上刊登這部連環(huán)漫畫，但不斷地遭到拒絕。戴維斯在2001年對《洛杉磯時(shí)報(bào)》說：“我收到了太多的退稿通知，我本可以用它們把臥室的墻壁糊起來的?！弊詈?，一位編輯給了他一些坦率的批評，“你的畫很好，你的噱頭很好，但是蟲子——沒人想看蟲子！”

這決定了蟲子的命運(yùn)。現(xiàn)在，戴維斯是時(shí)候想出一個(gè)新的連環(huán)畫了。

戴維斯研究了當(dāng)時(shí)流行的連環(huán)畫，看能否找出它們的共同之處。在他研究的過程中，他注意到關(guān)于狗或以狗為主要角色的連環(huán)畫，如《花生漫畫》和《大丹麥狗馬默杜克》，特別受歡迎。當(dāng)然，這是有道理的，因?yàn)楣反_實(shí)已經(jīng)被培育了幾個(gè)世紀(jì)，成為人類認(rèn)為很棒的存在。

與此同時(shí)，戴維斯注意到，還沒有人制作出一部關(guān)于貓的流行漫畫，他認(rèn)為這是市場上的一個(gè)巨大缺口。畢竟，有相當(dāng)比例的人更喜歡貓而不是狗，或者兩者都喜歡。他說：“我覺得，如果愛狗的人喜歡狗的漫畫，愛貓的人當(dāng)然希望看到貓的漫畫?！?/p>

戴維斯也在印第安納州的一個(gè)農(nóng)場長大，養(yǎng)過幾十只貓，所以他熟悉它們的特立獨(dú)行，比如它們的懶惰。他還以自己和祖父的元素作為這個(gè)角色的靈感來源。加菲貓很像他的祖父，又胖又暴躁。和他自己一樣，加菲貓也喜歡千層面。為了向他的祖父詹姆斯·加菲爾德·戴維斯致敬，他以他祖父的名字給這只貓命名。（是的，與人們的普遍觀點(diǎn)相反，加菲貓并不是以美國總統(tǒng)詹姆斯·加菲爾德的名字命名的。）

應(yīng)該指出的是，以動物作為主角的好處是，動物可以以更多的笑話來逃避。“由于是貓，加菲貓不是黑人、白人、男性或女性、年輕人或老年人，也沒有特定的國籍?！贝骶S斯在1981年告訴《華盛頓郵報(bào)》說，“如果這些想法出自動物，他就不會踩到任何人的腳?！?/p>

戴維斯還特意確保這只貓的吸引力跨越國界。正如他在1982年的采訪中所說的，“加菲貓是一個(gè)國際性的角色。因此，我甚至不使用季節(jié)。我唯一確認(rèn)的節(jié)日是圣誕節(jié)。我不玩文字游戲，努力使加菲貓適應(yīng)他可能出現(xiàn)的任何社會……我希望在澳大利亞悉尼的讀者認(rèn)為加菲貓就住在隔壁。對待吃飯和睡覺的問題上，作為一只貓，加菲貓是非常普通的?！?/p>

回到市場營銷方面，戴維斯認(rèn)為史努比（《花生漫畫》的著名角色）的商業(yè)化是“一個(gè)我可以應(yīng)用于加菲貓的模板”。

這不僅僅是為了動物的吸引力，還因?yàn)?0年后，史努比仍然躺在那個(gè)狗窩里，沒有變老。換句話說，史努比的模板是讓同樣的老噱頭一次又一次地重復(fù)，而人們?nèi)耘f喜歡它，并購買商品。

這個(gè)計(jì)劃奏效了。

1978年6月，《加菲貓》找到了登上約40家報(bào)紙的方法。不到兩年后，在全世界都能看到它。到了1982年底，它在1400多家報(bào)紙上出現(xiàn)。甚至在2013年，即使全球已有許多報(bào)紙倒閉，《加菲貓》仍出現(xiàn)在2500多家報(bào)紙和雜志上。事實(shí)上，《加菲貓》目前保持著吉尼斯世界紀(jì)錄，因?yàn)樗菤v史上最多報(bào)刊刊載的連環(huán)漫畫。

利用這個(gè)世界上最受歡迎的漫畫的平臺，戴維斯能夠很容易地開始了他的第二階段，非常坦率地說，那是個(gè)天才計(jì)劃——銷售附帶商品。

在所有的銷售和授權(quán)中，他確實(shí)充分地考慮了一些東西可能會對品牌造成怎樣的傷害，人們會不會因?yàn)椴缓玫穆?lián)想，或者僅僅是過度飽和，而對加菲貓感到厭煩。

例如，在20世紀(jì)80年代末和90年代初，加菲貓吸盤毛絨玩具非常成功。戴維斯說：“……但我最擔(dān)心的是曝光過度?！睆拈L遠(yuǎn)來看，為了解決這個(gè)問題，“我們把所有的毛絨娃娃下架五了年?！?/p>

但毛絨玩具并不是唯一一個(gè)賺大錢的地方。事實(shí)上，戴維斯花了大量的時(shí)間來研究和管理銷售及授權(quán)交易，包括標(biāo)準(zhǔn)書籍、卡通特別篇、午餐盒、填充玩具動物，馬桶座套、加菲貓餐廳，甚至是教材。

你可能會想知道戴維斯從中賺了多少錢，因?yàn)樗鳛橐徊柯嫼鸵粋€(gè)商業(yè)方面的龐然大物，都是成功的。好吧，沒人確切地知道。但眾所周知，甚至在今天，加菲貓商品的銷售都遍布全球。

所以我們猜你一定很佩服戴維斯——他不僅實(shí)現(xiàn)了創(chuàng)作一部有趣的漫畫的目標(biāo)，而且還巧妙地經(jīng)營了商業(yè)方面的事情，使他可能成為歷史上最成功的漫畫創(chuàng)作者之一。

最后，戴維斯總結(jié)了他令人印象深刻的畢生杰作：“我認(rèn)為部分吸引力在于，你知道，就像《花生漫畫》一樣，你總是想回去看狗窩里的史努比。在這樣一個(gè)不斷變化的世界里，讀者想知道有些事情是不變的，所以我覺得有責(zé)任讓加菲貓一直喜歡千層面，討厭星期一;他永遠(yuǎn)不會節(jié)食減肥?！?/p>

順便說一句，與這位著名的貓不同的是，戴維斯曾多次提到他自己喜歡星期一。

【Notes】

1. lasagna [■] n. 意式千層面 2. genesis [■] n. 發(fā)生;起源

3. strip [■] n. 連環(huán)畫 4. gnat [■] n. 小昆蟲;叮人小蟲

5. anthropomorphic [■] adj. 擬人化的

6. syndicate [■] vt. 在多家報(bào)刊上同時(shí)發(fā)表 7. criticism [■] n. 批評

8. gag [■] n. 噱頭，笑話 9. seal [■] vt. 密封

10. breed [■] v. 培育

11. inconsiderable [■] adj. 不值得考慮的

12. distinctive [■] adj. 獨(dú)特的;與眾不同的

13. element [■] n. 元素;要素 14. grumpy [■] adj. 脾氣暴躁的

15. homage [■] n. 敬意;尊敬 16. by virtue of? 由于，憑借

17. nationality [■] n. 國籍 18. border [■] n. 邊境;邊界

19. commercialisation [■] n. 商品化，商業(yè)化

20. template [■] n. 模板，樣板

21. merchandise [■] n. 商品;貨物? v. 買賣;推銷;經(jīng)商

22. journal [■] n. 日報(bào)，雜志 23. association [■] n. 聯(lián)想

24. oversaturation [■] n. 過飽和，過飽和現(xiàn)象

25. suction cup? 吸盤 26. plush [■] adj. 長毛絨做的

27. overexposure [■] n. 曝光過度 28. stuff [■] vt. 塞滿;填塞

29. behemoth [■] n. 巨獸 30. masterfully [■] adv. 技巧熟練地