Independence Day

See it here.

It's Independence Day in the Dinette set, which we know from the very large flag out the window and the toothpick flags on the cupcakes. But, that's as far as we're willing to go celebrating July 4 in the strip. Unless you want to count the fact that the subject matter hints at a possible root of the obesity epidemic in America and rampant consumption, both of which, I suppose, are uniquely American.

What's most surprising here is that Burl and Joy are friends with a psychiatrist. Though, perhaps, only Joy is friends with him, since Burl is conspicuously outside lounging in the pool rather than socializing. Probably afraid that his friend will psycho-analyze everything he says.

He needn't worry, it seems, as Physchiatrist John agrees with the pop-physcology notion that if one is sane enough to believe that one is crazy, one cannot actually be crazy. All I can say is that John had better keep his malpractice insurance up-to-date and that Burl should join the party because John is about as observant and inquisitive as a bag of hammers.

Despite Burl's fear of being analyzed, he is not too afraid to bellow that he is hungry through the open window and across the entire neighborhood, which forms the central joke of the strip. He is not, in fact hungry, the same as someone who says they are crazy is actually sane.

But that's a fairly tenuous comparison on which to hang a joke. I mean, the idea that if one is sane enough to believe that one is crazy, one cannot actually be crazy is the basis for the book Catch-22 where the point is that it seems to make sense, even though it really doesn't. Does it even seem to make sense to say that if one is not hungry enough to believe that one is hungry, one cannot actually be hungry? Not to me it doesn't.

As for the all-important marginalia

• I confess to actually liking the change in Trix motto to "Trix is for me" because it ties into the theme of selfishness that pervades The Dinette Set. Although it also ties closely into a certain kid-hating aspect of this panel (the Oreos are only for adults) which is a bit creepy.
• Is there a screen in the kitchen window or isn't there? It wouldn't be as disturbing that there is a big hole in the screen, since it makes Burl visibile, except that Burl also breaks the plane of the window frame as well, which was just laziness on the artist's part.
• Look at Joy's lovingly-placed hand on John's shoulder. I think we can safely assume that she and John are having an affair. If we need more evidence, the smile on John's wife's face as she looks out towards Burl coupled with her "REDRUM" shirt suggest she harbors a wish to murder her husband and have a torrid affair with Burl to get back at Joy.
  
• Does John's cup actually say "Wasser"? Assuming I am squinting at that correctly, why does a coffee mug say water, why in German, and what are Burl and Joy doing with it? Is it supposed to be ironic that Joy is pouring coffee into a cup marker "Wasser"? Nothing about that cup makes sense in or out of context of the panel as a whole.
  
• REDRUM woman's mug is even more mystifying. "Smaller Cup"? Smaller than what?
• The single best detail, however, is that the artist felt it was not enough to label the cookie jar with the word Oreo. No, a half-eaten Oreo is also placed strategically nearby to strengthen whatever point is being made. Perhaps she was worried that people who buy Hydrox brand cookies would be left out of the joke? Of course, all of that effort would suggest the actual type of cookie matters to the panel, and I'll be damned if I can figure out why it matters.