Just yesterday, Burl and Joy were seeing conspiracies to steal their identity in a novelty store clerk's request to see ID. Today, they see nothing suspicious in a pre-approved credit card with the absurdly low credit limit of $300. In moments, Burl and Joy will fill out the form and mail their personal financial details to a syndicate of Russian mobsters.
What lesson is the reader to draw from this morality play in two parts?
Quite simply, the artist is warning us of the dangers of an increasingly corporate-owned society.
Paranoia regarding a service-sector employee (symbol of the traditional mom-and-pop store) seems to be at an all-time high. Paranoia regarding inscrutable global corporations, however, is inexplicably low. We find ourselves, more and more, handing over personal details to such organizations without knowledge of how it is used, until the laptop storing our personal data is stolen from the back of a car and we hear about it on CNN.
In the final, unspoken, irony the worst fate befalls Burl and Joy if, in fact, the offer is legitimate. In this case they destroy their own credit rating while ending up on countless marketing lists. Six months later the only release from the incessant phone calls from debt collectors and telemarketers will be to reach for the handgun. Which leads us back to Halloween's panel.
With an introductory marginalia of just 19%
- Why are there two 411 numbers by the phone and no 911 number?
- Any theories on what "Watch Sweet 16" has to do with the rest of the items on the to do list?
- The rainbow toilet is an image I could have done without. But since the artist felt compelled to include it, at which end of the rainbow will one find a pot of gold in this case?
5 comments:
I imagine that the Rainbow reference is either another subtle jab at perceived homosexuality in the water-related service industry ("Hey, Culligan Man"), or just a vomit reference (c.f., 'technicolor yawn').
"Sweet 16" either refers to a 1983 horror movie about a 16 year old girl whose boyfriends keep ending up murdered or a 2002 film about the working-class poor in Scotland. The second movie seems to fit with the over-all theme of brutal poverty, but the first one fits in with a Halloween-related macabre theme.
The other possibility is it refers to the college basketball tournament, but that's not till March. Perhaps they taped the previous tournament and are finally getting around to watching it.
I saw that "Take Burl to Mcdonald's for our 33 1/2 Anniv" and did a double take. I sent my wife flowers for our 400-month anniversary with a card: happy 33 1/3. Am I now going to morph into a shapeless blob like one of these people?
Don't worry, Mike E., you aren't in any danger of ending up like them... you actually know that records go at 33 1/3 instead of 33 1/2, and therefore successfully made the intended joke, unlike TDS.
(a different b)
I for one was quite amused by the "Miracles DO Happen!" line in the credit letter. One can only imagine how low key a Dinette Set Christmas special would be.
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