Wicked Willie

Wicked Willie Reloaded book cover featuring the eponymous Wicked Willie

Wicked Willie is a humorous British cartoon character personified as a talking penis, created by Gray Jolliffe (illustrator) and Peter Mayle (writer). He first appeared in the book Man's Best Friend, published in 1984.[1] He has subsequently appeared in Wicked Willie – The Movie,[2] and the board game, The Wicked Willie Game.[3] Jolliffe has said that the idea for Wicked Willie came to him one day, while he was in the bath.[4] A more detailed history of Wicked Willie is found in the book Wicked Willie Reloaded.[5][6]

Journalist Peter Silverton described it thus: "...comic books about a man and his Wicked Willie. It was a dialogue—mostly about women, of course—between the two. Its irony is that the 'dreadful little trouser mole' is by far the sharper of the two brains".[7]

Personification

Author Peter Mayle describes Wicked Willie as "a rampant penis".[8] In her book Communicating Gender, Suzanne Romaine notes:

"The personification metaphor suggests that the penis leads a life of its own. It has been popularized in Britain in the form of the Wicked Willie books, where Willie is referred to as "Man's Best Friend".[9]

Scottish feminist linguist Deborah Cameron notes that:

"In England, there is a popular cartoon character called "Wicked Willie" [...] The underlying conceit is that men secretly regard their penis as an individual in its own right (and one to whom they are deeply attached). Though the cartoon is a joke, it presumably speaks to a widely recognized, culturally constructed experience of the penis as an uncontrollable Other, with a life of its own".[10]

The character also contributed to the permissiveness and acceptance of sex on the high street. British journalist Libby Purves writes:

"High street shops no longer bother to put their hopping penises on a high shelf, and nor do bookshops selling Wicked Willie and the like."[11]

Reception

In March 1987, the book Wicked Willie's Guide to Women was in the number 7 position in the Paperback Non-Fiction section of the Month's Bestsellers.[12] Almost a year later, Wicked Willie's Low-down on Men had reached number 6 in the same chart.[13]

References

  1. ^ Peter Mayle, Man's Best Friend: Introducing Wicked Willie in the Title Role, illustrated by Gray Jolliffe, Crown (New York, NY), 1984.
  2. ^ Wicked Willie – The Movie & Comes again.. and again – The Complete Wicked Willie [ 2010 ], Bob Godfrey (Director). 83 minutes
  3. ^ The Wicked Willie Game by Paul Lamond Games
  4. ^ "Wicked Willie" at www.grayjolliffe.com, retrieved 12 January 2012
  5. ^ "News", Wicked Willie Official website, retrieved 12 January 2012
  6. ^ Gray Joliffe, Wicked Willie: Reloaded, Publisher: Prion Books Ltd, Sept 2004, ISBN 1-85375-541-9, ISBN 978-1853755415. 64 pages.
  7. ^ Peter Silverton, Filthy English: The How, Why, When And What Of Everyday Swearing, Publisher Portobello Books, 2011, ISBN 1846274524, 9781846274527, 256 pages, page
  8. ^ "Encore Provence", The Nation, 6 July 1997. Page C8, column 2.
  9. ^ Suzanne Romaine, Communicating genderPublisher Psychology Press, 1999, ISBN 0-8058-2926-1, ISBN 978-0-8058-2926-6, 406 pages. (page 244)
  10. ^ Deborah Cameron, "Naming of Parts: Gender, Culture, and terms for the penis among American college students (1995)", in The Routledge language and cultural theory reader, edited by Lucy Burke, Tony Crowley, Publisher Routledge, 2000, ISBN 0-415-18681-1, ISBN 978-0-415-18681-0, 511 pages (page 207)
  11. ^ Libby Purves, A Little Learning: Broodings from the Back of the Class, Publisher Routledge, 2007, ISBN 0-415-41709-0, ISBN 978-0-415-41709-9, 249 pages. (page 51)
  12. ^ "Month's Bestsellers", Illustrated London News, London, 31 January 1987, Issue 7064, page 69
  13. ^ Illustrated London News, London, Saturday, 27 February 1988, Issue 7075, page 70

Bibliography

  • Man's Best Friend: Introducing Wicked Willie in the Title Role, illustrated by Gray Jolliffe, Crown (New York, NY), 1984.
  • Wicked Willie's Guide to Women: A Worm's-Eye View of the Fair Sex, illustrated by Gray Jolliffe, Pan Books (London, England), 1986, Crown (New York, NY), 1987.
  • Wicked Willie's Low-down on Men by Peter Mayle, Gray Jolliff, ISBN 0-330-30137-3, ISBN 978-0330301374. 64 pages. 1987
  • Wicked Willie's Guide to Women: The Further Adventures of Man's Best Friend, illustrated by Gray Jolliffe, Crown (New York, NY), 1988.
  • The World According to Wicked Willie by Peter Mayle, Gray Jolliffe, ISBN 0-330-30536-0, ISBN 978-0330305365. 64 pages (1988)
  • Wicked Willie Stand Up Comic Book, by Peter Mayle, Gray Jolliffe and Peter May (Hardcover - Aug 1990), ISBN 0-330-31629-X ISBN 978-0330316293, 16 pages
  • Wicked Willie Does Stand Up, by Gray Jolliffe, ISBN 1-85479-859-6 ISBN 978-1854798596 (30 Aug 2002), 7 pages
  • Wicked Willie: Reloaded, by Gray Joliffe, publisher: Prion Books Ltd, Sept 2004, ISBN 1-85375-541-9, ISBN 978-1853755415. 64 pages.

DVDs

  • Wicked Willie - The Movie & Comes again.. and again - The Complete Wicked Willie [2010], Bob Godfrey (Director). 83 minutes