So, can anyone guess why Hart got in trouble for this one?
http://www.comics.com/creators/bc/archive/bc-20031110.html
~MJK
Not really…
I’m guessing, but I’m assuming that the crescent on the outhouse allowed some people to reinterpret the lame outhouse comic book convention as commentary on Islam?
Maybe. I’m stumped. If you’re a cartoonist attempting to make a political statement, it ought to be above all else funny. This comic just completely misses the mark. There’s nothing even remotely amusing about this particular strip.
If the Muslim interpretation is correct (correct in the sense that that’s why people got upset), it obviously wasn’t what the cartoonist meant, unless you think the crescent-moon-on-the-outhouse archetype going back at least thirty years in the funny papers has always been a slur on Islam. Hell, any Gary Larson cartoon featuring an outhouse has that exact damn crescent. It’s just a stupid joke by one of the worst cartoonists in the business, as opposed to a stupid racist joke by one of the worst cartoonists in the business.
Wait, so what was the intended message? That outhouses are smelly at night? WTF?
Yeah, I’m not so sure on this one, John. I think the slur may well have been his intent; what was the joke otherwise? If it’s just a guy going into an outhouse and saying it stinks… well, that’s not a joke at all–not even a bad one. It does sort of make you think he was going for a double entendre, and he does emphasize the moon by drawing it twice in each panel.
I do agree with the “who cares” sentiment, though. Does anyone really give a flying fuck what the B.C. cartoonist draws?
Have you guys ever read B.C.? 90% of the entire oeuvre is completely devoid of any humorous commentary whatsoever… “Ha ha! I get jokes!” jokes for imbeciles. For me, devoid of a racist message (the interpretation of which kind of relies upon turning a blind eye to the established visual conventions of these sorts of cartoons), this is simply another classic entry of Johnny Hart doing what he does best: three redundantly illustrated panels for anacephalics to vapidly stare at.
That outhouses are smelly at night? WTF?
Let’s pretend that it is about Muslims, what’s the message? Cavemen shit in the mouth of Mohammed? Muslims are prehistoric outhouses and moons? Either way, its nonsensical, and frankly, even if it is about Islam, its pretty hard to get upset about an impotent “You smell!” riposte from some elderly crank and one of the world’s worst popular cartoonists.
SLAM! is one letter away from ISLAM!
With the crescent moon on the door and in the sky, and Hart’s propensity for caveman christianity, yeah that sort of seals the deal.
In case anyone is swayed by the entire “It has to be a slur on Islam because otherwise it isn’t even a joke” argument, here’s a B.C. strip from two days later:
Morally repugnant slur on ants? Johnny Hart post-facto covering his ass with a convincing display of utter talentlessness? Or just the nonsensical “humor” of a moron?
Given the crescent moon in the sky, the fact the strip ran during Ramadan (the beginning and end of which are marked by observation of the crescent moon), the absence of any other discernible meaning, and (most importantly) Hart’s history of crudely expressing his conservative Christianity in his strip, there is little doubt that it is an unusually stupid and offensive slur on Islam. Given Hart’s history, though, there is little reason to be surprised.
Okay, I’m starting to come around… that “SLAM” having its own panel is a pretty condemning, now that I think about it. Not that I care either way - its stupid, like everything else that guy has ever done.
Actually, there is a joke in this. The two ants come out of the School of Linguistics yet are still remarkably inarticulate. I think it is making fun of education in general, particularly ‘elite’, higher education. Not as jokeless as the outhouse one would be without the Islam reference.
That’s the joke? They go to a school of linguistics… yet are engaging in small talk about the employment of their fathers? And that makes more sense than “Toilets smell”? At least the former is some kind of joke, after a ten-year old boy giggling in the school john with his buddies sort of fashion.
I took the first cartoon to show the guy going into the john (uh-oh, almost rhymes with Islam), spending some time in there to do things that people spend time on there, and then he comments that outhouses smell. I took it to be more of a “my shit doesn’t stink” lame joke than anything else.
With the second one, the ice machine response is cool, the unemployed response is bum, and they just left the school of linguistics in a setup more forced than an Elvis shit.
I have to admit, until people started mentioning the Islamic slant, it didn’t really occur to me.
If it was anyone else, I’d think it’s coincidence. He has a history of doing this kind of stuff.
He took a shot at Judaism once.
I’d just like to point out that there are also seven dragon balls and that this can only mean one thing.
What is the shot on Judaism? Not that there isn’t a shot, I just don’t get it.
A menorah is being snuffed out and is replaced by a cross, the supposed slur being that Hart is suggesting that Judaism is “finished” and reaches its culmination in the revelation of Christ.
Troy