In a Psychiatrist cartoon by Oren Bernstein in the New Yorker of 6/12/23:
(#1) The patient flopped on the therapeutic couch is a despondent octopus [6/14: oh dear, apparently a squid rather than an octopus; later on 6/14: not exactly a squid either (see comments) — so an OSB cephalopod, of a previously unreported species]; the analyst has presented the cephalopod with a Rorschach inkblot (designed as a projective psychological test), which has aroused the patient’s deepest fears, of fleeing the pursuit of death
I know, you don’t see the savagery of an attacking shark, but then you’re not an octopus [or squid].
A parallel. We have seen a parallel evocation of a cartoon invertebrate patient’s mortal anxieties on this blog, in my 10/24/22 posting “Bug on the couch”:
(#2) The patient is a mosquito, freaked out — and angered — by a Rorschach blot they see as a postmortem photo of a mosquitocidal windshield splat
The cartoonist is new to this blog, and not long on the New Yorker‘s roster (his first cartoon there was in 2020). Cartooning is a sideline, as I learned from the Grupp Works site on its R&D team:
Oren [Bernstein] is an accomplished mechanical engineering designer. He has developed multiple successful medical devices. He’s also makes many people laugh with his talent as a cartoonist.
Cartooning is gig work. You have to work hard to sell your stuff, and you’ve probably got to do all sorts of other things to make a living out of it. Or find a way to make a sideline out of it.
June 14, 2023 at 5:45 am |
I believe that’s a squid.
June 14, 2023 at 6:10 am |
I believe you are right. I am a cephalopod dunce.
June 14, 2023 at 11:13 am |
I am also not especially knowledgeable about these animals, but my understanding is that squids have ten tentacles; this one has eight that I can see. Perhaps the body is more squid-like than octopus-like, though.
June 14, 2023 at 11:42 am
Complexities. As it turns out, squids have 8 arms, plus two tentacles. (Octopuses just have the 8 arms.) The creature in the cartoon has the characteristic elongated head of a squid, but no visible tentacles on its head. So I suppose it’s an Oren Bernstein cephalopod, of a previously unreported species.