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B.C. comic "slams" Islam?

Bluegill

Graduate Poster
Bluegill
Joined
Oct 17, 2002
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I didn't see a thread started on this here, which surprised me. My apologies if it's already been discussed.

Washington Post article

The cartoon, which appeared Nov. 10 in more than 1,200 newspapers worldwide -- including The Washington Post -- shows a caveman entering an outhouse at night, and then saying, from inside, "Is it just me, or does it stink in here?"
The first public questioning of this cartoon arose in a washingtonpost.com chat Tuesday, when a reader noted that the cartoon seemed to make no sense, except metaphorically. The reader noted that the cartoon contained six crescent moons -- three in the sky, and three on the outhouse door -- and wondered if this might have been a veiled slur on the world's 1 billion practicing Muslims.
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-Snip-
The Washington Post asked six well-known cartoonists -- all admirers of Johnny Hart -- to look at the strip. Most said they had no idea what the joke was supposed to be. When the religious interpretation was suggested, five of the six thought it was probably right, even given Hart's denial.
"It's highly, overwhelmingly, incontrovertibly suspicious," said Berkeley Breathed, creator of "Bloom County" and the new Sunday-only strip "Opus." "There's no explanation for that gag without Islam. It's meaningless."
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Link to the cartoon


...I thought it sounded silly at first, but at second glance, the cartoon does look suspiciously like a slam against Islam. I'm pretty much in agreement with Berkeley Breathed, quoted above.

What do you think?
 
Perhaps the joke is that he produced the stink? There was no stink until he made it?
 
Well, it would certainly be consistant with Hart's religious beliefs. Of course, it could also just be that Hart is really not a very funny cartoonist at all.
 
The religious interpretation might be more supportable if the crescent moon in the sky had a star near its cusps, or if Hart had a prior history of identifying the crescent with Islam.

My reaction is that the cartoon is simply lame, much like the other cartoons that Hart hacks out.

Lame outhouse jokes like this are a staple of cheap "comedies," such as "Meatballs 2" (in which an alien visiting a summer camp on Earth is compelled to sleep in an outhouse, and he comments on the smell).
 
Which is more likely, that Hart cleverly devised subtle symbolic messages in his cartoon, or that he just ran out of funny ideas that day, and everything was a total accident?

To anyone who is familiar with the intellectual depth demonstrated by Hart in the last few years, the answer should be obvious.
 
dmarker said:
Dude, you're from Kentucky and you don't know that the traditional outhouse door has a crescent moon on it?
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Actually, if I remember correctly, there are several tradition designs for the outhouse door. the moon is just the steriotypical one.

Anyway, who knows what the man was thinking. He's denying the connection and no one can prove otherwise. Frankly, Hart's work has rarely been funny in the first place and it only gets worse when he evangelizes.
 
Sorry I don't see it at all.

I'm not a huge fan of BC, but I also find it inconceivable that someone without some very difficult stretching would think of Islam after reading that strip.

Nothing, including the moon on the door of the outhouse, or the slam sound effect seem to break with standard cartoon conventions to me.
 
Not being psychic, I have no idea whether Mr. Hart meant it as a veiled criticism of Islam or not. However it is unquestionable that it is stupid and makes no sense. Maybe Mr. Hart was criticizing Islam, maybe he just lacked inspiration the day he drew that (which would make it no different than any other day, from what I have seen). Maybe both.
 
phildonnia said:
Which is more likely, that Hart cleverly devised subtle symbolic messages in his cartoon, or that he just ran out of funny ideas that day, and everything was a total accident?

To anyone who is familiar with the intellectual depth demonstrated by Hart in the last few years, the answer should be obvious.
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Here here.
 
There's no star by the crescent moon, either in the sky or the outhouse door. It's just an unfunny joke, as usual with B.C.
 
T'ai Chi said:
I saw no religious slam in that cartoon.
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I did, but I will freely admit that I have no idea whether I would have seen it had no one mentioned it. Whether it was truly intended that way or whether it is like seeing faces in clouds is hard to say.
 
phildonnia said:
Which is more likely, that Hart cleverly devised subtle symbolic messages in his cartoon, or that he just ran out of funny ideas that day, and everything was a total accident?
Click to expand...

This is the hard part of the whole thing. Is there really enough evidence to suggest that it really was an intentional religious dig as opposed to the default position, which is that it was just a really dumb strip by Hart? Because we know very well that Hart has established himself as one of the absolute worsts. It's not like we are talking Berkeley Breathed here.

BTW, it is somewhat disingenious to suggest that "he just ran out of funny ideas that day..." I don't think he's had a funny idea in years, so why should Nov 10 be any different?
 
In analyzing this cartoon, semiotician Blonsky cautions against succumbing to the Intentional Fallacy: In criticism, he says, it is a mistake to give much weight at all to the artist's stated intention. For one thing, it discounts the strength and influence of the unconscious mind, he said. All that matters in artistic criticism, he said, is the effect of the art on its viewers: the way people interpret it. In other words, even if Hart intended no offense, the offense is there.
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Why doesn't it suprise me that they got semiotician to look at the cartoon? Reminds me of a headline from the Onion: English Grad Student Can't Stop Analyzing Mexican Menu.
 
I'm going to go against the grain here: It is kind of funny. Sort of a take off on the old expression, "Is it me or..." but that instead of "Is it me" meaning am I imagining it, it means do I stink. Oh, nevermind, if you have to explain a joke...

As for the Islam thing, who the f*ck has so much time on their hands that they can think up an insult here?!?!?!? And excuse me, but the cresent moon on the outhouse door is well established cultural iconography. Islam doesn't have a monopoly on cresent moons.
 
Originally posted by Hexxenhammer
In analyzing this cartoon, semiotician Blonsky cautions against succumbing to the Intentional Fallacy: In criticism, he says, it is a mistake to give much weight at all to the artist's stated intention. For one thing, it discounts the strength and influence of the unconscious mind, he said. All that matters in artistic criticism, he said, is the effect of the art on its viewers: the way people interpret it. In other words, even if Hart intended no offense, the offense is there.
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Why doesn't it suprise me that they got semiotician to look at the cartoon? Reminds me of a headline from the Onion: English Grad Student Can't Stop Analyzing Mexican Menu.
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Astounding. This has nothing to do with artistic criticism. It has to do with public speech, and as such, Hart is in no way responsible for how his audience chooses to react. He is responsible for what he says. This particular academic is too smart by half.
 
dmarker said:
Dude, you're from Kentucky and you don't know that the traditional outhouse door has a crescent moon on it?

http://www.jldr.com/ohrevist.html

http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Lake/6091/outhousesalute.html
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The outhouse door that I grew up with had an elaborate cut-out of the face of Jesus, so that we'd have our Saviour on our minds no matter what we were doing. Also, Pappy had the nicest jigsaw on Walton's Mountain.

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Anyway, maybe Berke Breathed should have said, "There's no explanation for that gag (period) It's meaningless." --omitting the phrase "without Islam."

I still think it's a little likely that it's an intentional Islam reference, but ... dunno.
 
Bluegill said:



The outhouse door that I grew up with had an elaborate cut-out of the face of Jesus, so that we'd have our Saviour on our minds no matter what we were doing. Also, Pappy had the nicest jigsaw on Walton's Mountain.
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Now if the Jesus face were on the door it would have made an interesting cartoon.
 
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