Without taking the time to verify this, I think this may be the first time in The Dinette Set that neither Burl nor Joy speak. In fact, only one recognizable character speaks, and that is Ma. And, based on her dialog, we are supposed to believe that Ma owns a car, contrary to the mass of visual evidence showing Ma being transported everywhere she goes.
Clearly, then, the artist is telling us that the dialog is the least important aspect of today's panel which, rather obviously, concerns itself with the semiotics of class.
Class struggle is a common theme in The Dinette Set, and usually it is dealt with fairly overtly. That said, class commentary often creeps into the background of The Dinette Set and this panel aims to establish some of the more common semiotic vocabulary of class.
To wit:
- Rich people wear well-tailored jackets; poor people wear ratty T-shirts.
- Rich people own clothes decorated with a single tasteful crest over the breast; poor people own clothes with busy patterns of dots, flowers, stripes, and assorted squiggles.
- Rich people are noticeably svelte; poor people are noticeably plump.
- Rich people drive cars with automated features; poor people drive cars with batteries that last only one hour.
- They may be poor, but they all drive gas-guzzling monster cars.
- Is the guy in the CAT cap actually wearing a shirt with French on it?
3 comments:
I think...I think it says "I crave cous cous." I could be wrong...after all, it looks like it says "fags" on his booth-mate's coffee cup, and that can't possibly be right.
For some reason, Ms. Larson never misses and opportunity to miss an opportunty. Here we have something that is almost recognizable as a joke; yet she spoils it, as usual, with her amazing skill at being aesthetically offensive. Apparently, Crustwood has some sort of yacht or polo club that gives out Nehru jackets with its crest to all its hoity-toity members and they are required by law never to wear anything else. Mr. Rich Snob obviously just walked into the Waffle House ("Wags"?) to use the facilities and then leave the plebs in their ill-fitting garb to their cups of coffee (which appears to be the only thing that Wags serves). It makes me sick. Vive La Révolution!
I can't help myself. I'm going to rewrite the dialogue from left to right:
Man in Booth:Hey, is that your car?
Man in Jacket:Oh dear Lord, they've stolen my car and replaced it with a piece of plywood with a drawing of the front of a car on it! And it's glowing!
Ma:Join the club, sport. Join the fucking club.
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