| Jersey Circus | |
|---|---|
| File:Jersey Circus panel.png August 10, 2010, panel | |
| Website | jerseycircus.blogspot.com |
| Current status/schedule | Inactive |
| Launch date | August 7, 2010 |
| End date | September 15, 2011 |
| Genre(s) | Comedy/Parody |
Jersey Circus is a webcomic by a team of seven writers, six of whom are from Pennsylvania, launched in August 2010. It is a mashup of images from the long-running The Family Circus newspaper comic strip and dialogue from the popular MTV television series Jersey Shore.[1][2] The comic's title is a combination of the names of its parody targets.[2]
The creators of Jersey Circus state that their mission is to reconcile their "guilty delight in Jersey Shore, a bastion of trash" with their "eye-rolling fondness for the Family Circus."[3][4] Critically well-received and the focus of intense media scrutiny when it launched, the site stressed that it was a parody, not connected to either the comic strip or the television series in any way.
Art edit
The parody comics, like The Family Circus originals from which they are created, are a single circular panel with a line of Jersey Shore dialogue below the artwork plus occasional additional dialogue in the panel itself.[1][5] The art in Jersey Circus is taken from several different decades of the 50-year history of The Family Circus. The meme was reversed in an August 10, 2010, panel where the image was a photograph of a Jersey Shore cast member and the dialogue was lifted intact from a Family Circus panel.[6]
Reception edit
Noting that "Family Circus is ripe for parody on the Internet," Megan Friedman of Time, said "There's something about the innocence of the comic's kids that just needs a little dark humor thrown in. Enter Jersey Circus, which gives little Jeffy some Jersey Shore flair."[1] Sarah Walker of VH1's Best Week Ever said that while it's "not the most original idea" that Jersey Circus "is still great".[2] Josh Jackson of Paste magazine noted the parody's broad appeal and that readers "don’t have to be a [Jersey Shore] fan" to "appreciate the discordant humor".[7] Mike Pomeranz, a researcher for Comedy Central's Tosh.0, is "not sure why it takes a team of seven writers to create these things" but describes the webcomic as "pretty fun".[5] Anthony Augustine wrote in the Winnipeg Free Press that the comic strip brought together the "guilty delight in Jersey Shore, a bastion of trash, with our eye-rolling fondness for the Family Circus" and the creators "have hit pop-culture gold".[8]
References edit
- ^ a b c Friedman, Megan (August 30, 2010). "Jersey Circus Gives Family Values Some GTL". Time. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
- ^ a b c Walker, Sarah (August 30, 2010). "Jersey Shore Makes Family Circus More Circus-y". Best Week Ever. VH1. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
- ^ Hartmann, Margaret (August 27, 2010). "What Happens When Family Circus Goes To Jersey Shore". Jezebel. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
- ^ "Our Mission". Jersey Circus. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
- ^ a b Pomeranz, Mike (August 30, 2010). "Family Circus Gone Guido". Tosh.0. Comedy Central. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
- ^ "Act Proper". Jersey Circus. August 10, 2010. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
- ^ Jackson, Josh (August 27, 2010). "Jersey Shore Meets Family Circus in Jersey Circus". Paste. Retrieved August 31, 2010.
- ^ Augsutine, Anthony (September 16, 2010). "Siteseeing". Winnipeg Free Press. p. E3. Retrieved March 22, 2012.