[Teresa Burns Parkhurst, The New Yorker, October 14, 2020.]
Yesterday’s Daily Cartoon baffles me. “Let’s go back home — none of them are turning blue”: has this couple been traveling through a red state? campaigning for a Democratic candidate?
“A little help?” is what we used to say when a basketball rolled away to an adjacent court. People playing basketball probably still say it. So I’ll say it here: A little help? What’s going on in this cartoon?
*
I’ve added this caption to a New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest cartoon.
Thursday, October 15, 2020
A little help?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
comments: 16
I don't get it either. I mean, I think that I think I know what they're getting at, but that's a sign of a failed cartoon.
(Is this Hi & Lois?)
They're leaf peepers in Vermont (maybe).
Either of the first two all-purpose New Yorker captions would fit here, don’t you think? But neither would improve the cartoon.
But why are they expecting blue?!
Looking at the driver's expression... is it about suddenly realizing that your friend is really ignorant of a basic fact of nature? Something people from New York City would get? (Though it's not as though there aren't trees that change leaf color in the city... that would make more sense somewhere in southern California.)
Oh, and also - blue is the favorite color of 70-some percent of people... ? So something about that, maybe, combined with my other comment? (Stretching it, I know.)
It's a socio-political attempt at humor, I think. Maybe they were driving through a red state that was moving away from Trump, and the speaker was making an ironic observation that there needed to be more blue changes.
I have no clue beyond that. Maybe it's one of those "You had to be there" jokes?
If I'm close, the humor is a bit too subtle without some color to the trees.
The caption sounds like something my autistic grandson would blurt out after silently putting two unrelated observations together to come up with a joke. Would have made perfect sense to him, but would leave his listeners in the dark.
Some weird cross between a leaf peeper joke (as the Crow says) and a joke about red states (not) going blue?; I dunno. Back to the drawing board.
Thanks, everyone for the suggestions and shared bewilderment. I ’m leaning to DN3’s suggestion about ignorance of nature. Or maybe it’s a joke about some kind of privileged attitude that nature should meet your expectations. But blue leaves? That degree of dumb? In a New Yorker cartoon?
It occurred to me later today that perhaps the passenger might be on drugs. Maybe she was hoping to see something psychedelic. But that’s a reach, I know.
My first thought was the phrase I hear about states 'turning' red or blue. And as others have mentioned, the liberals leaving (leafing?) a blue city only to be in the red rural area.
Yep, that’s where I started.
I’m surprised to see no queries about this cartoon on Twitter. Either everyone gets it or no one cares.
Overthinking! Going for a drive to 'see the color' is a thing, and news reports the best times to go and view peak color. People from climates where there is little autumnal color don't necessarily know how dramatic it can be. (I am thinking of Texas and California.) Westernforests lean toward pine and redwood, not beech-maple ( oaks, hickory, etc.) stands. Having lived in those states, I can see how such a scenario could occur. (Once someone looked at my calendar photo and said, "I hear tell itreally does git like that!" Had never been outof Texas. Anyway, it maybe sort of lame, as cartoons go, but Iseriously doubt any political intent.
It seems strange to me that the mag would highlight a cartoon with the premise that someone could think leaves turn blue, but that might be all there is to it. Yikes.
My only real contribution this would be to quote from the Condé Nast online store entry for this:
“Description: A mother and child take a drive in the country to see Fall colors. ”
Child might be stretching things a bit.
A child! Sure doesn’t look like a child to me. But if that is a child, could it be that a child might think that dying = turning blue?
Post a Comment