Whiteman

Reading Whiteman by Robert crumb was quite a mixed experience. On one hand the story is set up to be quite unexpected, and at the same time the behavior of the  “White man” is a common trope that is often picked out and criticized in contemporary literature. Personally, the most underground aspect of the story is not about having sex with a big foot, but the allusion that Whiteman’s animalistic relationship with big foot is similar to having relationships with black women. It is never directly implied that the big foot represents black women in text, but the appearance of the big foot visually insinuates stereotypical features of a black women. For instance, big bottoms in jeans and gigantic lips. Most importantly. There are no black women represented in the comics, so there is no visual comparison between what the comic is trying to allude to versus what a black women might actually look like in the comic. In mere words, the lack of representation of black women in the comic only further confirm the visual implication that the big foot is representing the specific group of people. 

Although the narrative seems to show the most sympathy for Whiteman’s fetishized romanticism, it does not entirely support it. Truth is, Whiteman is always shown as a pathetic and incompetent person. He was introduced as a normal dad who has a nice RV, and is simply trying to get his kids to bond with the woods. But after he had sex with the big foot daughter, Whiteman never goes back to being a dad and becomes completely obsessed with his primal desires. Big foot never talks in the comic so the narration is just basically Whiteman conversing to himself and validating his abnormality. As much as the story is offensively insinuating the stereotype that relationship with black women is barbaric but primarily fulfilling, but the main story is about a man who ius see ps no point in a civilized world if it dies not bring him happiness. 

Crumb’s art is not meant to be appealing. It is crude and the characters are highlighted by their disgusting features. It is given that we don’t support the characters, but rather be disgusted by how we can still understand them despite their ugliness and sin.