So I pretty much hate Jimmy Corrigan. Let me clarify that statement. I have respect for and understand the book. In fact it is starting to grow on me slowly. What I hate is the character Jimmy Corrigan.
Jimmy is such a spineless twit. He irks my nerves through multiple levels of hell ala Dante’s Inferno. It is his attitude of “I guess so” and uncomfortable “ha ha”. But most of all, and this is shallow I know, it is his look.
His face is picturesque dopey and without a clue. Strangely enough I can forgive that because no one gets to choose their face, (mind you the author could but not the character). The thing that gets me the most is probably his clothes. I mean Jimmy is like 35 or so there he is in old man pants and some old timey shirt/vest combo. Mostly I think it’s the old man pants.
So I decided to devote my searching into the mystery of old man pants.
Here is link to a blog that attempts to answer the question, “Why in God’s green earth would anyone wear old man pants?”
http://fizzleandpop.blogspot.com/2009/08/old-man-pants.html
Indiana Jones and Old Man Pants. Frankly they aren’t that bad, but it still makes me sad to see Indy in them.
http://io9.com/327044/indiana-jones-and-the-old-man-pants
Some random girl who was looking for old man pants. I mean really? I’m too lazy to figure it out but she shows off her find in a few pics and talks about it in her blog.
http://thatraraavis.blogspot.com/2008/10/old-man-pants.html
Recycling is the answer! Below is a link showing a skirt made out of an pair of old man pants.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=277719
Ok, I’m fine now. It is out of my system.
The reasons you hate the book are the reasons I appreciate it, the Old Man Pants remind me of the awkward “Rag-time” collector in “Ghost World” by Daniel Clowes. In fact, see the movie, Old Man Pants are everywhere, even hanging out on sidewalks. If Jimmy Corrigan wore cargo shorts or skinny jeans I would loathe him.
The number of blog posts out there about “old man pants” disturbs me more than anything in the novel. I never knew there was such a category of clothes as “old man pants,” but now I’m itching to get some myself.
Seriously, though, what happens if we stop thinking about them as “old man pants” and more as “old timey pants.” It’s not that they’re pants for old men, it’s that they’re pants for old times, a different era. I think the pants create a palpable link to Jimmy’s grandfather. To what end? That’s something we’ll have to talk about.
I actually don’t hate the book, (pretty sure I stated that somewhere in the post but too lazy to look it up.) Its just Jimmy. Most likely it is unfair for me to pick on his ridiculous pants.
In truth if he stood up and said “I like old man pants so f@#$ you!” then he would completely change my opinion of him. The way I see it though is that he just wears those pants because someone told him to.
The first link talked about how people wear those pants because they refuse to accept they need a shorter pant size and I think something similar is going on with Jimmy. I think that Jimmy’s mom had him wear similar pants when he was young and he just got it into his head “these are the pants I’m supposed to wear” instead asking himself “are these the pants I want to wear?”.
I know Jimmy is a victim of his circumstances but he does nothing to step beyond this “victimized guy” thing he has going on and try to make the best with what he has.