Viz is the finest work of literature the UK has ever produced, and yet it’s still sneered at by academia, the bastards. In their collective idiocy they have yet to deconstruct its complex symbolism and narrative. Thankfully, the Dawg is here to help.
“8 Ace”: A personification of the degradation of the working class under New Labour
An introduction: Ace is a foul-mouthed alcoholic Geordie who lives in a shed. His wife is also a foul-mouthed Geordie, but she gets the house on account of not being an alcoholic. Mostly Ace goes to Patel’s shop to buy 8 cans of lager for £1.49, the normal 8 Ace storyline can be summarized thus:
Clearly, 8 Ace is a member of the working class who has suffered under the insidious policies of New Labour. Kept alive only with government benefits, he has no need to venture into gainful employment or contribute to his local community. In fact, New Labour have encouraged to disconnect from society while at the same time fooling him into thinking that they are doing him favours. With ready access to cheap alcohol, Ace is reduced to nothing more than a baby by The Nanny State.
In one strip, we see that Mrs. Ace has given birth, and Ace becomes a father once again.
The Benefits Culture once again undermining society. Previously such a couple would have taken measures to avoid having a baby as it wouldn’t have been financially viable. Alas, with the rise in benefits a baby is born into an unhappy family.
Despite being emasculated by his wife (an unfortunate side effect of the feminist movement promoted under New Labour), 8 Ace makes a decision sort himself out and be the man he knows he can be.
He boldly sets off to the shops to buy pasties for his new born baby son, and avoid the temptation of alcohol along the way. However, Ace doesn’t take into account the deletrious effects that globalization has on his life.
Globalization here played by Patel, a foreign business owner who is clearly Sikh, and who should therefore avoid even handling alcohol. This fact doesn’t stop him from selling booze to Ace in order to get his £1.49 though, the inhumane globalization promoted under New Labour leaves him little choice. Unchecked immigration has led to competition for jobs, a competition which Ace has clearly lost and which forces Patel to ignore his religious beliefs in order to not lose out to other competitors. Who knows? Maybe in a country with less porous borders and protectionist import taxes, Ace could have been running the shop and selling 8 cans of lager for £5 instead of buying them for £1.49. And maybe Patel would have been running a business in his native land, generating employment there and avoiding all contact with the devil’s drop. Thanks to Blair and Brown, we’ll never know; all we do know is that Ace’s baby will go hungry, Mrs Ace will be enraged, and Patel will get £1.49.
There’s more to come though… The rage of Mrs Ace falls not on the Labour party or globalization, but instead on what is closest to her; her family.
The sins of the father are passed to the son, and the cycle repeats itself.
What have we learned? That if anyone ever talks to you about symbolism or narrative, ignore them, it’s all bollocks. Or possibly that Viz is amazing. Or nothing….most likely nothing.
thebigdawgblawg 
An excellent piss take on the real piss takers that are New Labour and the metropolitan wankers who support them, aided by Bank of Mum and Dad.
I cant work out if this is parody – not the ‘8 Ace’ cartoon, but this supposed ‘deconstruction’. I mean, really?
You think ‘8 Ace’ is meant as a criticism of the Blair-Labour Government – if it is, this ‘deconstruction’ has Blair’s Labour government off the hook! All criticism of that government can be dismissed as a ‘straw man’ and so can be ignored!
It’s just there was a bit more to it than that.