Life — November 29, 1929 — page 1: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Remote Control" — Life Magazine, November 29, 1929 This cartoon satirizes modern domestic technology and gender dynamics. A man sits passively on a couch while a woman operates what appears to be an early mechanical control device, manipulating two masked figures visible through a window above them—likely representing puppets or entertainers. The title "Remote Control" is the joke: the cartoon suggests that wives now control their husbands' leisure activities and entertainment choices, just as one might operate a mechanical device. The man's passive posture and bemused expression contrast with the woman's active manipulation of the scene. Published just weeks after the 1929 stock market crash, this reflects 1920s anxieties about shifting gender roles and women's increasing consumer power and household authority during the modern era.