The Garfield Movie

What does it mean to “get garf’ed”?

A Prose by Connor N. F. Field 

Disclaimer: This is less of a review and a personal anecdote

We have heard the term “Get Garf’ed” or “Getting Garf’ed” thrown out a lot recently, so I decided to clear things up on what it truly means. To discover what it actually means, we have to go back to the beginning of the story to July 28th 1945, on a Cow Farm in Marion, Indiana where James ‘Jim’ William Davis was born.

Jim got his early start in cartooning during high school at Fairmount High School where he joined his local newspaper, The Breeze. From here he eventually became the ‘Art Director’ where he got his first start in cartoons. In this age, Jim drew heavy inspiration from his own personal life. His first character he drew was known as “Senior Wills”, an abstract boy making his way through his high school days. He had many illustrations featured in his high school yearbook. He graduated high school in 1963.

After high school, Jim Davis made his way to Ball State University to have his studies in Art and Business. A very savvy academic life, if you ask me. After graduating in 1969, Jim went on to work for an advertising agency, where he worked on a comic series known as “Tumbleweeds” under the supervision of the creator, Tom K. Ryan. After a few years, he had progressed to work on his first, own, professional comic… Gnorm Gnat. Gnorm Gnat ran from 1973-1975 in the The Pendleton Times. After that, he started a series in the same paper known as “Jon” about Jon Arbuckle and his cat, Garfield. However, the popularity and reception of Garfield was the one that took off to the point that on September 1st of 1977 he renamed it “Garfield”. Later the following year “Garfield” was so popular, it ran synchronously in 4 newspapers by June 19, 1979.

Returning this to a bit more subjectivity, when I was in grade school, I cannot for the life of me recollect how old, or what year this was, but just sometime between the ages of 9-14, I spent a lot of time at my grandma’s house. I would go over there and stay the night a couple of times a month, maybe 1-4. She would always make me dinner and have cranberry juice for me to drink in the Monster’s University commemorative cup. We would sit down and watch movies or old cartoons. But, on Sunday mornings we would save the newspaper and separate the comics, or “funnies” as my grandma would call them, and we would go through it together. I read through the classics and she would explain them to me, like Dilber, Calvin & Hobbes, and Peanuts. However, one I never really needed to be explained was the comic about Garfield. Garfield was a (semi)relatable, funny, sarcastic, melodramatic cat that was one of my favorites to read and I would cut them out and save some of the funniest ones, to which I regret that I no longer own. 

So what does getting Garf’ed actually mean? (If you just skipped to this part) Well, it's basically a convoluted and disguised way to refer Nostalgia. It is a look back at similar times for us to all realize that there is something for us. Deep down, there are little pieces of our childlike-selves and maybe you should show it every once in a while. Life should not be taken so seriously. I think we all need something in life to attach onto to ground us to who we once were.