A surrealist experiment to liberate the mind of the reader from mundane reality in today's Dinette Set.
Narratively, the reader is challenged by the surreal set-up of today's panel, in which we are asked to believe that the post office's box has become crammed with letters and packages on an utterly insignificant day. Were this 15 April, Mother's Day, or even a date in December with obvious Christmas overtones, the set up might be excused as mere hyperbole. But on 15 November, the notion is simply surreal.
Visually, the reader is challenged by a bumper sticker which, viewed from one's rear-view mirror, will command the driver to "back off" from a car that is behind them. Even the license plate gets into the act, with its plaintive and probing question: RU 4 RL?
In the final brilliant touch, syntax and imagination combine to create an aura of surrealism encompassing the entire world in which the panel is set. Perhaps no phrase in all of English written expression has even been more syntactically surreal than "across the Interstate on the other side of town." And yet, that level of syntactic surrealism is matched by the imaginative surrealism of a town with only two mailboxes, positioned on diametrically opposite sides of town.
To what end is all this surrealist expression deployed? That is not clear, however the completely non-surreal signs littering the panel, which lay out the rules and regulations of an orderly society, and the rather prominent displays of nationalism suggest that the artist is reacting against the restrictions of false rationality, such as social convention, over the instinctual urges of the human mind.
In short, The Dinette Set is advocating for anarchy!
This is not a marginalia:
- That appears to be Karl Rove going into the post office.
- Meanwhile, barely visible, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew appears to be coming out!
2 comments:
The thing that mystifies me about the !ffo kcab placard is that it is on the front bumper of Burl's car. That means one would would only see it if one were being tailgated by Burl and happened to turn one's head around 360 degrees whilst continuing to drive, because the placard in question is far too low to be seen from one's rear view mirror. Perhaps a more appropriate message for Burl proclaim would be something along th elines of EM LLIK ESEALP or EVIL OT EVRESED TNOD I or simply PIRTS CIMOC NEKASROFDOG SIHT OT DNE NA TUP. I need to write a Javascript that will spell sentences backwards for me. Yeah, that's what I need to do. That, and design a cordless drill that I can use upside down in the shower.
Ah, Stevarino beat me to the observation about the placement of the front-bumpersticker.
(that movie trailer guy voice): "In a town with only two mailboxes, a family struggles to get their letters sent".
One has to wonder: why not just use their own mailbox? Have all the letter carriers gone on strike? Do they no longer pick up mail as they drop it off?
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