Wracking my brains I can find only three possible interpretations for today's panel.
Perhaps Burl, Joy, Dale, and Marlene are chastising themselves for having waited idly by while the wheels of city government turned when they should have taken the matter of a derelict building into their own hands. This interpretation requires us to believe that it would have been a realistic option for them to organize an angry mob with pitchforks, torches, and Caterpillar heavy equipment to storm the mill and tear it down.
That's hardly credible.
Alternatively, they may be rejoicing in destruction for its own sake (or perhaps for the sake of property values), willfully ignorant of the historic or cultural significance of the structure. This would obviously be in keeping with the characters-as-Philistines theme which pervades The Dinette Set. And while Joy's shirt alludes to such an interpretation, it undermines it at the same time with the label "Crustwood Hysterical Society Chair." Besides, to even attempt such an ambitious joke would require unequivocal demonstration to the reader of the historical significance of the building. No such demonstration is made or the demonstration is so ineffectual as to be non-existent.
Once again, this interpretation strains credulity.
Another interpretation relies on two odd background details, the over-large U.S. flag flown from the wrecking machine and the bit of detritus floating in air just to the right of the wrecking ball which bears an eerie resemblance to the U.S.S.R. hammer and sickle.
Perhaps this panel is a metaphor for the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Communist regime in Russia. A metaphor for America's triumph in the Cold War. What relevance a Cold War reference has in 2006 is, of course, anyone's guess.Then again, it's possible that today's panel just plain sucks.
Commie pinko marginalia:
- What was the point of drawing such a detailed bridge and truck in the extreme right of the panel?
- Home Guilders? A reference to unions as socialist organization like the USSR?
3 comments:
If you stare at the wrecking ball and flying debris long enough, the wrecking ball cord becomes the top part of the old USSR flag and the bottom is made by the ground and the staff of the flagpole by the mast of the wrecker so that the communist flag seems to be larger in appearance to the american flag conspicuously being flown by the wrecker. Could it be that the artist have intended this picture to be a metaphor for the forthrightness of american tradition gradually being worn away with by subversive lefty socialism and by radical religous neo-conservatism. The mill represents traditional american cultural values while the wrecker flying both flags represents the threats that both sides pose to our culture.
I presume the joke (I usually have to presume the Dinette Set joke) is that Crustwood residents think tearing down a beautiful, rustic historical landmark and replacing it with more prefab buildings and strip malls is an improvement. As usual when Julie Larson writes a gag that depends on her artistic ability to portray beauty or ugliness, it is nigh impossible to discern which is which.
chris is right.
It's "Builders" not "Guilders". The "Timber" relates to nice trees being cut down to make way for new homes.
The "bridge" (if that is what it is) and the truck are preferrable to the historical mill.
The smiley face t-shirt is another indication of a preference for bland tacky stuff.
The American flag indicates that "progress" is the American way.
The "historical society" t-shirt is just irony.
This one makes sense (it's notbfunny, though).
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