On one level, today's installment of The Dinette Set is about the cynicism of age, which can be represented no more fundamentally than through the transformation of Christmas. Anyone who has spent any time with a 4 or 5 year old at Christmas will know that Christmas was once a time of magic, wonder, excitement, and endless surprise.
As we age, Christmas transforms into a time of deepest cynicism. Magic is replaced by loathing for one's relatives. Wonder is transformed into world-weary consumerism. Excitement is replaced with exhaustion and despair. And surprise changes from a positive into a negative. Any gift which comes as a surprise is most likely to find its way back to the store, to be replaced by something we really wanted.
What better way to represent this entire transformation than through the banality of the gift of a sweatshirt whose only remaining surprise will be a 50-50 call on shades of blue? Especially when the friend in the recliner nearby is wearing a shirt indicating it is he, not Jerry, who would most value a Hanes Sweatshirt.
And yet, on another level, The Dinette Set celebrates those among us who are able to remain childlike into our adult years. Jerry - irresponsible, ne'er-do-well, man-child, The Dinette Set's Peter Pan in a bad toupee - chooses to reserve for himself the only remaining surprise afforded him by his cynical friends. His jaunty finger twirl is a clear indication that Jerry, unlike his friends, has not lost his sense of wonder and playfulness.
Merry Marginalia!
- Burl and Joy own a cell phone?
- Does that mug say Chickory? It can't really say that, can it? How odd would it be if that was what it actually said? Especially since it is spelled "Chicory."
- Does everyone in the neighborhood have the same clown painting? Or is this some room of Burl's house we're seeing for the first time?
- I'm sure there's some joke in the tome sitting at Dale's feet. I know the title says "The [something] Before Christmas" but damned if I can make it out.
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