Failed Metaphor of the Week

Cidu Bill on Nov 9th 2008

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Then again a cartoonist’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a metaphor?

Filed in Bill Bickel, Wizard of Id, comic strips, comics, economy, humor | 7 responses so far

7 Responses to “Failed Metaphor of the Week”

  1. Mattie Nov 9th 2008 at 05:39 pm 1

    Sky’s the limit!

  2. Hockey Baby-Mama Nov 9th 2008 at 09:09 pm 2

    I guess this strip means that the sky hasn’t crashed down and crushed us yet, but it’s hovering gingerly just above our heads. High-larious.

  3. Kevin Andresen Nov 9th 2008 at 09:18 pm 3

    Right, the whole point of “The Sky is Falling” was to point out the lethal distraction that can be caused by the hysterical reaction to a misinterpreted minor event. The news is not delivered hysterically; the news is not even couched as a catastrophic event; and the king does not put himself in jeopardy by joining a group formed out of a belief in imminent doom, the actions of which group would endanger his well-being.

    Any action taken or feelings felt after the mirror had delivered either a yes or no response would have been based on something approaching reality. I guess the idea of “the bottom falling out” merged with “the sky is falling” in the author’s mind, no?

    I never saw the Disney version (because I was a few minutes late, 3D glasses in hand); were Chicken Little’s friends still eaten alive? (From the previews, I had the feeling that Disney had avoided the whole point of the fable and made it into some “the boy who cried wolf” plot.)

  4. Powers Nov 10th 2008 at 07:46 am 4

    Kevin, yes, the fable was basically an inspiration for a totally different story in the movie. There was no Henny Penny or Goosey Loosey; Foxy Loxy was a generic school bully; and Turkey Lurkey was the inept mayor.

  5. rammy M Nov 10th 2008 at 10:40 am 5

    I saw it with 2 possible interpretations.
    1) The “Sky” is closer, ie the economy (or whatever) hasn’t crashed, but it is actually worse than it used to be.
    2) The “Falling of the Sky” hasn’t happened yet, but is more likely than before.

    It’s like “we didn’t fall off the mountain but we did slide down part way” vs “we didn’t fall off the mountain, but we are closer to the cliff’s edge”

    Either way, only mildly funny

  6. Ned Nov 10th 2008 at 07:42 pm 6

    I’m pretty sure the second one has something to do with “objects in mirrors are closer than they appear” … which makes it slightly funnier.

  7. Rainey Nov 11th 2008 at 11:22 am 7

    There is an adage about the world getting smaller because of our technological advances in transportation and communication. The world is not physically getting smaller,but it seems that way because we can connect to people and places faster than we could 100 years ago. The sky has also gotten closer in this respect due to aircraft and rockets. This strip does make sense to me but it is missing a time warp to the present from the medieval time period. This could have been accomplished by the wizard.

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