I’ve been thinking recently about Bozo’s relationship with the police. They serve as a generic all-purpose adversary and occasional punching-bag/punchline (strip 3 today). It would have been easy enough for FoXo to create a recurring character of Bozo’s beat-cop nemesis, but the various policemen shown are generic and without individual personalities. Unlike firemen, who are always portrayed here as hardworking and heroic, all cops are fat, lazy, incompetent and not very bright. Rarely is Bozo apprehended for an intentional illegal act. More often it is a result of bad luck and/or a mistake by the cop. This is in keeping with similar portrayals in the silent films and earlier comic strips which FoXo must have seen and been influenced by. It reflects the fear and suspicion felt by many poor urban people (often minorities or immigrants) toward the police that has existed for centuries. I suspect that FoXo, as a hardworking family man, did not share these feelings toward law enforcement, but just used the trope as comic fodder. But I wonder if there has ever been shown in any Bozo strip a policeman being helpful, brave or heroic?
I’ve been thinking recently about Bozo’s relationship with the police. They serve as a generic all-purpose adversary and occasional punching-bag/punchline (strip 3 today). It would have been easy enough for FoXo to create a recurring character of Bozo’s beat-cop nemesis, but the various policemen shown are generic and without individual personalities. Unlike firemen, who are always portrayed here as hardworking and heroic, all cops are fat, lazy, incompetent and not very bright. Rarely is Bozo apprehended for an intentional illegal act. More often it is a result of bad luck and/or a mistake by the cop. This is in keeping with similar portrayals in the silent films and earlier comic strips which FoXo must have seen and been influenced by. It reflects the fear and suspicion felt by many poor urban people (often minorities or immigrants) toward the police that has existed for centuries. I suspect that FoXo, as a hardworking family man, did not share these feelings toward law enforcement, but just used the trope as comic fodder. But I wonder if there has ever been shown in any Bozo strip a policeman being helpful, brave or heroic?