Why doesn’t his disappointment help matters?
Awe and respect (towards the fancy get-up etc) would be worse, no?
I think this one goes way over my head.
But i still love the drawing!
I don’t think it goes way over your head, that’s a perfectly valid question. It seems to me that this is simply a case of cognitive dissonance: on the one hand the teen believes that he is looking at his future self, on the other this embodiment of his future self doesn’t fit with his own self image. Studies that have looked at this sort of psychological tension seem to show that people, when presented with facts about themselves that go against their self image, are capable of behaving highly irrationally to preserve said image, hence the implication that the kid’s behaviour asserts that there’s no way someone of his charm, wit, intelligence, beauty, whatever, could ever turn out like that.
Zom.
thanks for trying to explain but i’m still lost.
i thought the disappointment would back up the older chap’s point.
“you don’t want to end up like me,” sort of thing.
now i’m starting to think the disappointment must come after an initial positive feeling of “cool suit, i want one of those.”
and it is a very cool suit, with superb crackling sparkly bits.
and the kid’s face is brilliant.
Not sure Dan intends the suit to be read as cool – at least, it seems to me that the door is definitely open to the opposite reading: the guy who’s wearing it looks miserable and it does nothing but expose his poor physique, the colours are drab and muted, it looks like a romper suit, etc…
Ahh! got it. yureeker!
so it’s also incredulity: “why should i listen to you, you uncool old twerp. in your crappy suit that i scorn. you must be a fool.”
and thus he ignores the advice and ends up doing the same things etc.
i missed the irony in the suit.
i will now look at funny animal cartoons in a new, more subtly nuanced light.
phew, what a journey i have been on this day, thanks everyone, especially the beast (or anti-beast).
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October 23rd, 2008 at 8:24 am
There’s an entire film/book/comic series in this
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:41 am
Ha, yeah we were slurring about this feeling on Saturday. I see where you were going with it – bloody brilliant.
October 23rd, 2008 at 11:59 am
You know I’d pay for these Terminus strips, right? And I can’t be the only one.
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:04 pm
[whisper]And you might just get the opportunity[/whisper]
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:28 pm
Vol:1 of Terminus is being sorted out now, and I’m going to sell it through the site. Probably with Paypal or some other hi-tech shenanigans…
October 23rd, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Very Eddie Campbell.
October 24th, 2008 at 12:22 am
Why doesn’t his disappointment help matters?
Awe and respect (towards the fancy get-up etc) would be worse, no?
I think this one goes way over my head.
But i still love the drawing!
October 24th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Why doesn’t his disappointment help matters?
I don’t think it goes way over your head, that’s a perfectly valid question. It seems to me that this is simply a case of cognitive dissonance: on the one hand the teen believes that he is looking at his future self, on the other this embodiment of his future self doesn’t fit with his own self image. Studies that have looked at this sort of psychological tension seem to show that people, when presented with facts about themselves that go against their self image, are capable of behaving highly irrationally to preserve said image, hence the implication that the kid’s behaviour asserts that there’s no way someone of his charm, wit, intelligence, beauty, whatever, could ever turn out like that.
People can be bloody stupid, basically.
October 24th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Fucking. Brilliant.
Best yet, fella.
October 24th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Zom.
thanks for trying to explain but i’m still lost.
i thought the disappointment would back up the older chap’s point.
“you don’t want to end up like me,” sort of thing.
now i’m starting to think the disappointment must come after an initial positive feeling of “cool suit, i want one of those.”
and it is a very cool suit, with superb crackling sparkly bits.
and the kid’s face is brilliant.
October 24th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Yes, I understood your initial point.
Not sure Dan intends the suit to be read as cool – at least, it seems to me that the door is definitely open to the opposite reading: the guy who’s wearing it looks miserable and it does nothing but expose his poor physique, the colours are drab and muted, it looks like a romper suit, etc…
October 24th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
The disappointment is what any 17 year old know-it-all would feel when confronted with a lecture from a saggy jaded vision of ones future-self.
October 24th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Jaded. Hence green
October 24th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
I’m going to start writing annotations
October 24th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
Ahh! got it. yureeker!
so it’s also incredulity: “why should i listen to you, you uncool old twerp. in your crappy suit that i scorn. you must be a fool.”
and thus he ignores the advice and ends up doing the same things etc.
i missed the irony in the suit.
i will now look at funny animal cartoons in a new, more subtly nuanced light.
phew, what a journey i have been on this day, thanks everyone, especially the beast (or anti-beast).
October 24th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Huzzah!