In social sciences today we were doing stuff on political cartoons, and I randomly noticed that the one with Uncle Sam in it had his trousers with foot straps.
This comic was written in 1899. Foot straps were out of style by the 1840s.
If I remember correctly, the first appearance of Uncle Sam was in 1802.
So now my question is why did they keep his clothes from the early 1800s instead of keeping his style up-to-date?
For the same reason spongebob's outfit hasn't changed. Or mickey mouse, or any iconic character. That's how everyone recognizes them, it's part of their character and they wouldn't want to change that
But their clothes never changed from the beginning
Uncle Sam's had been updated for 20 years before they decided to stop. Did they recognize the 1820s fashion as iconic or something?
Probably. They don’t really have a reason to change him anymore. He’s iconic the way he is, and making him look modern would take his character away. It’s just a bad choice
