Crumb Impressions

Tonight at Signs and Wonders I watched a documentary film about a man named Robert Crumb. He is a very famous cartoonist known for his pornographic comics. The documentary revolves around Crumb's inspirations for his work and the people that have been involved in his life.

Basically, Robert began drawing comic strips when he was a teenager. Due to his looks and his overly enthusiastic interest in comics, Robert was made fun of a lot as a child (making him socially awkward). Because of this, Robert kept to himself and would draw whatever he saw. Also, Roberts parents fought a lot and his mom did drugs so Robert and his siblings witnessed unhealthy behavior frequently. The documentary shows interviews with Robert's siblings who are also very socially awkward and weren't as successful as Robert. He had a family(wife, a daughter, and a son) of his own but he had trouble showing affection to them because didn't really know how due to how he was raised. Robert was also very sexually interested in women so many of his comics involve large women with oversized butts and breasts. The women-related comics is what got Crumb really famous because they were very controversial, yet intrigued many artists.

I thought this documentary was very disturbing, awkward, and in SOME ways... real. Robert's comics are very sexually disturbing. One comic in particular, shows a father having sex with his daughter and a mother having sex with her son. I feel that because of Roberts social separation(because of being bullied and his parents fighting a lot) at an early age led him to become a man that viewed the world differently. Unfortunately, most of Robert's views were disturbingly different, while some I thought were actually good. One of his comics shows a landscape with fields, grass, and trees. But the comic changes and we see the process of industrialization transform the beautiful landscape into a busy street filled with cars, gas stations, telephone polls, and lights. I found this comic interesting because Robert shows how sometimes humanity can ruin true beauty. It's ironic though because Robert ruined true beauty by drawing VERY disturbing pornographic comics. The mind of Robert Crump is a very, very strange one.

Overall, the documentary was very disturbing and awkward but I also felt really sorry for Robert Crump because he is a tragic figure with some really messed up issues.