Ahhh, sweet overindulgence. What else gives life such meaning?
Here, on full display, is the blitheness that makes The Dinette Set so special. Characters talk openly and earnestly about something they ought to be ashamed of. And we are invited to laugh knowingly at their faults along with the attractive younger couple in the background.
Did you forget to laugh, too? Oh, well.
What really sets this particular panel apart, however, is Jerry's comment. Jerry, as far as I can tell, is Burl's sister's husband. I am assuming Verl is Burl's sister despite the fact that, physically, she resembles Joy. My logic is that her name rhymes with Burl. And in the world of one-panel comics, rhyme defeats physical similarity.
Getting back on topic...Jerry is the hirsute person with the stupendous toupee to Verl's right. While Jerry agrees in principle with Joy, I'll be damned if Jerry is going to let something like a missing intermission deny him a second slurp at the concessions trough when he has a wife to fetch stuff for him. Of course, it's rude of her to want a summary of what she missed, especially when Jerry has a second tub of popcorn and 64 more ounces of Coca Cola to plow through...with just half a movie to go.
As for marginalia:
Here, on full display, is the blitheness that makes The Dinette Set so special. Characters talk openly and earnestly about something they ought to be ashamed of. And we are invited to laugh knowingly at their faults along with the attractive younger couple in the background.
Did you forget to laugh, too? Oh, well.
What really sets this particular panel apart, however, is Jerry's comment. Jerry, as far as I can tell, is Burl's sister's husband. I am assuming Verl is Burl's sister despite the fact that, physically, she resembles Joy. My logic is that her name rhymes with Burl. And in the world of one-panel comics, rhyme defeats physical similarity.
Getting back on topic...Jerry is the hirsute person with the stupendous toupee to Verl's right. While Jerry agrees in principle with Joy, I'll be damned if Jerry is going to let something like a missing intermission deny him a second slurp at the concessions trough when he has a wife to fetch stuff for him. Of course, it's rude of her to want a summary of what she missed, especially when Jerry has a second tub of popcorn and 64 more ounces of Coca Cola to plow through...with just half a movie to go.
As for marginalia:
- Jerry's first line of dialog has the most tortured punctuation of any 4 word/10 letter sentence I can imagine.
- Is there an inconsistency in the fact that Verl and Joy are sneaking sacks of candy into the movie and yet they expect refills at the concession stand? Or is this just more indication of their gluttony?
- Is Verl's bag meant to contain her oxygen supply? Or is it, like Joy's, making the joke that something important (oxygen, first aid) is being replaced with candy? Maybe it's a reference to the Oxygen channel? Given her subserviant relationship with Jerry, I imagine Verl spends a lot of time watching Oxygen.
- Thanks to a helpful commenter in another post, I now understand that the Pong on Burl's shirt is a lame play on the golf equipment manufacturer Ping. I think someone could write a dissertation on the pathology that compels the artist to substitute silly mocking brand names in The Dinette Set.
- Speaking of which, let's note the movie titles. Seven II, a reference to the psychological thriller Se7en and Porky VIII, a reference to the teen-sex film Porky's. I'm willing to forgive not correctly writing the name of the move Se7en. However, leaving off the apostrophe from Porky's was completely unecessary to the joke. And not doing 10 seconds worth of research to find that they only made 3 Porky's movies was just plain lazy.
- Anyone who can explain Jerry's shirt should win a prize, if only I had a prize to offer. All I can find about Matt Helm is that he was a fictional U.S. government counteragent. No mention of diseases. Maybe he was a mysoginist and it's a reference to Jerry's relationship with Verl.
- I love the way the artist crammed the price of movie tickets in as an afterthought. Better complain about that while were here since there's no knowing when Burl and Joy will get back to the movies. Of course, where I live, $8.00 for a movie ticket is a complete bargain. Unless we assume they are going to a matinee. Which is probably a safe assumption, but has forced me to think too deeply about a joke the artist could barely fit between dialog balloons.
