Monday, October 20, 2008

Carpal Knowledge

Bizarro is made possible by a grant from the Peter Fitzperfect and Karrin A. Driveway Foundation.

I love finding new angles on cartoon cliches. Of all the many such cliches in our culture – guy-on-a-desert-island, guy-crawling-through-the-desert, mice-in-a-maze, etc. – the "Tunnel of Love" one is an oddity because I haven't ever seen or heard of an actual Tunnel of Love (that isn't a modern version of the cliche) and suspect they haven't been around in half a century or more. Yet, the romantic carnival attraction remains a well-used cliche in our culture, popping up with fair regularity.

These cliches are no accident, of course. Certain set-ups just lend themselves to commenting on life. The psychiatrist's couch and the gates of Heaven are two perfect examples. You can just say so much about the human condition in those situations.

The "Tunnel of Love" cliche represents the beginning of one of life's many journeys, one that starts out all rainbows and unicorns, but as often as not turns out badgers and amputations. I've seen much better Tunnel of Love cartoons than this one of mine, in fact, I think I've done better ones myself, but I like the wordplay of this one, combined with the image of the person with a computer in a boat.

13 comments:

Professor Batty said...

There is one at the Minnesota state fair that is about 80 years old, it remains pretty much unchanged.

http://flippistarchives.blogspot.com/search?q=tunnel+of+love+tableaux

Jezzka said...

tunnel of love should really be depicted more like white water rafting, at least level 4 rapids. if love can make it through that, then anything is possible.

have you seen river wild with kevin bacon and glenn close? i think it came out mid-90s. it's not the best movie in the world, but it's an entertaining suspense thriller. the film's score is excellent, enough so, i ended up buying the soundtrack to the film.

La Framéricaine said...

I like this cartoon very much, Dan! Probably because I work as an admin asst and have typed away at a keyboard for 11+ years now.

As an aside, what is the name of the cartoonist who did the Lassie with Laing cartoon? I can't read the signature, but I'm very curious to know if it could have been that cartoonist who did the cartoon 22+ years ago where two dogs were talking and one says to the other, "Ever wonder if Sartre had a dog?"

I would really like to give that cartoon to my husband as a gift but I have had no luck tracking it down. If you get a lead on it, would you please point me in the right direction. I would be most appreciative.

I'm not funny so I could not trade you a cartoon idea but you can sleep at my house in central France after 2009 if you come through there in a probable future!

FIDO said...

Hey guys its me Fido, As most of you may know my grandpa or as they say in french pepere possesses a virgin ass

i appreciate being part of a blog where i can discuss my pepere amongst other things.

thank you for giving me and my pepere props. my pepere however has thought about losing his ass virginty but its just talk as we are christian and it is wrong

the red spot however is pretty cool he showed me....theres a few hairs there but the very deserving one maybe a member of this blog will get the chance ....my pepere is 81 and fun..he likes reading and corn

Unknown said...

Interesting that you link to a Gary Larson. He was one of my favorites as I was really gaining on my ideas about life in the 80's. He did two of my all time favorite cartoons. In one, a field full of grazing animals and one stands up and shouts "We don't all have to be SHEEP!" ( of course they were sheep) In the other, two bears are in the cross-hairs of a rifle scope and one is pointing at his oblivious buddy. Who better to sight Larson that Piraro? Awesome dude.

derekamalo said...

The funniest Gary Larson cartoon ever


was the one where the dorky guy is talkig to the big bad wolf and hes shouting... We're george and Harriet miller we just dropped in on the pigs for coffee, we dont want any trouble...lol..my all time favorite

Lorie said...

What about the "cat fud" sign the dog put up that points the cat toward the open dryer?!?! HAHAHAHA! Oh, my God, and the pole-dancing cow with the garter on and the caption "I bet they're not real" about her udders! Sorry. This is Bizarro Blog. But I loved the Far Side. Sniff.

Tiglizzyclone said...

We just watched Patrick McGoohan in The Prisoner's, "The Girl Who was Death" where he went through a tunnel of love. We have always been intrigued by this Prisoner episode.

doug nicodemus said...

i think that one was a streeeetch but i do like ted ralls columns.

Penny Mitchell said...

Lorie, me too! I miss The Far Side SO MUCH!

Dan, I love the second "tunnel of love" cartoon you posted. Remove the children from the equation and suddenly the load is much lighter. ;-)

Piraro said...

La Framericaine –
the "lassie, get help" cartoon is by Danny Shanahan and you can find it on the New Yorker site and order a print of it there. Here's a link to the page.

http://tinyurl.com/6qy77u

Sorry, don't know how to hotlink in this comments box.

La Framéricaine said...

Thank you, Dan.

The Lassie one I like is yours, about Lassie checking to see if it has been worth all that saving of Timmy's life. I want that one on my wall as a reality check to see if it has been worth my time saving my own!!!

I'm going to check out Danny Shanahan and see if he did "Ever wonder if Satre had a dog?"

Thanks again!

agony said...

La Framéricaine, I think the artist you are thinking of is Richard Stine - his style is very similar to that Lassie/psychiatrist cartoon, and he has a Sartre/Dog themed cartoon.