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Penia in Entenhausen: Ökonomische Theorie, soziale Utopie und politische Ideologie bei Aristophanes und Carl Barks

Hans Kopp
Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Abstract
Carl Barks, the most influential chronicler of the Duckburg universe and the creator of such memorable characters as Scrooge McDuck, only very rarely made references to classical antiquity in his comic stories. Nevertheless, there is a striking resemblance between ideas propounded in "Plutos," Aristophanes’ last extant comedy of 388 B.C., and “A Financial Fable,” a story by Barks published in 1951. Both stories feature protagonists wishing for universal wealth, and in both this financial utopia is contrasted with a demonstration how such a state of affairs would inevitably bring all human productivity to a halt. Such parallels, even if not the result of direct reception, lead to a set of questions regarding the political coloring of humor and its ideological implications.