Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

2010-11-18

2010-11-18 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
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2010-11-18
Votey panel for 2010-11-18
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Explanation

This comic takes a sardonic look at the romanticization of nature. In the first panel, a couple on a savannah safari begins to wax poetic about nature's beauty -- "the sunset, the sweet savannah breeze" -- before being interrupted mid-sentence by something shocking ("HOLY SHIT--"), implied to be a disturbing scene involving wildlife.

The second panel drives the joke home with a pie chart showing the breakdown of nature: a tiny green dot represents the "Portion of Nature that is actually beautiful," while the overwhelmingly large remainder represents the reaction "WHY IN GOD'S NAME WOULD A TIGER MOUNT A DEAD RHINO?" The comic humorously argues that the vast majority of the natural world is not the serene, picturesque experience people imagine, but rather a chaotic, disturbing, and often grotesque spectacle that we prefer to ignore when celebrating "the beauty of nature."

View History (1) Original Comic