Presentation and perception

Two cartoons — a Bizarro and a One Big Happy — in today’s feed about hiw things are presented and how they are perceived. There’s often a gap:

(#1)

(If you’re puzzled by the odd symbols in the cartoon — Dan Piraro says there are 4 in this strip — see this Page.)

(#2)

Gunslinger pics. #1 plays on a fact of on-line hookup culture: people present themselves as they would like to be, so that others will perceive them to be attractive sexual partners. The present themselves as younger, fitter, and better-looking than they are, and if they’re men, especially men seeking men, they’ll exaggerate the size of their dicks. Or in the slightly metaphorized version above, their guns.

I’m tickled by the idea that gunslingers would arrange for show-down gunfights via a cowboy version of Grindr.

In the eye of the beholder. #2 presents a classic issue in aesthetics: how to balance the intentions of the artist (as the artist understands them) and the interpretations of the audience? James presented his drawing as a naked lady (and Ruthie accepted that description), but it’s a little kid’s schematic drawing, so Ruthie’s grandmother doesn’t perceive any nudity. If it’s a dirty picture, it’s a mental dirty picture.

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