The Surprisingly Simple Reason Why Jim Davis Created Garfield

The movie Garfieldin theaters May 24, offers a healthy dose of body pawsitivity in a sprawling story about how an orange tabby named Garfield became the most famous fat, lazy cat in America.

The film begins with Garfield (Chris Pratt) on his smartphone, ordering his beloved lasagna to be delivered via drone. Turns out it was a last supper of sorts: Garfield is then kidnapped by a diabolical white Persian cat named Jinx (Hannah Waddingham), who was part of a milk-stealing gang with his father, Vic (Samuel L. Jackson). Garfield has long thought that his father abandoned him in an alley, but he discovers that Vic actually left to get food for the family, and Garfield was already gone when he returned. In his absence, the film reveals, Garfield befriended his future owner, Jon (Nicholas Hoult), when he found him eating alone at an Italian restaurant. The cat scarfed down plates of pizza and pasta and then petted Jon until he took him home. Although they were separated, Vic watched Garfield grow up from his perch in an oak tree in front of Jon’s house.

In nearly two emotional hours, Garfield finally makes peace with his father after finding a series of scratch marks on the oak tree that Vic made and realizing that his father was telling the truth about watching him grow up. At the end of the film, Vic is part of the family, having dinner with Jon and lounging on the couch.

O hiss– History of Garfield the comic book, which inspired the film, is much less complicated, however.

Garfield creator Jim Davis began making cartoons as a child on a farm near Marion, Indiana, when he spent many days housebound because of severe asthma. He made his mother laugh with his drawings and doodled to make her smile. Many of his early drawings were of farm animals, such as cows and horses, but he also drew some of the dogs and 25 cats on the property.

Later, Davis got a job as an assistant at the comic strip Tumbleweeds and began dreaming about a comic strip about an animal. One of his first was about a mosquito called Gnorm Gnat, but an editor quickly told him that people probably wouldn’t want to read it. There was already a comic strip about a dog named Snoopy, but Davis hadn’t seen one about cats and wondered if he could create one. to attract cat lovers.

Garfield debuted on June 19, 1978, in 41 newspapers. The cat’s name is a tribute to Davis’ beloved grandfather, James A. Garfield Davis — “a big, gruff man with very kind eyes, so the personality suits Garfield,” the cartoonist said. Today’s program in 2003.

The origins of Garfield’s constant hunger purrthe personality can be attributed to that of Davis, who has always loved lasagna just like the fictional cat. “I put Garfield on a diet when I diet. I love food”, confessed Davis The Boston Globe in 2003. But he says he sees himself more in Garfield’s owner, Jon, because he’s “a dreamer” and “a wishy-washy optimist” who has trouble getting dates (a problem Davis says he had in college).

In 1980, the first Garfield compilation attacked New York Times bestseller list. Garfield was one of the reasons TIME did a cover about cats a year later, arguing that between the comic book and the musical Catsthere was “a cat boom in the US” In 2003, the Guinness Book of World Records dubbed Garfield the most widely distributed comic book in the world. By 2004, Garfield was a movie star, with Bill Murray voicing the character in Garfield: The Movie. Twenty years later, The movie Garfield puts a new twist on the cat’s origin story.

One of the reasons Davis thinks a comic about a fat, orange cat has endured is because anyone can relate to his love of eating and resting.

“People like Garfield because he eases their guilt,” Davis told CBS News in 1994. “We live in a time when we feel guilty about eating too much, sleeping too much and not exercising. And Garfield not only does this, but defends his right to do so. He’s happy with himself.”