2011-11-16
Explanation
This comic depicts a father'''s internal struggle when his young daughter announces she wants to grow up to be a princess and marry a prince. The father immediately spirals into an elaborate internal debate about parenting, gender roles, and the messages he should send his daughter.
He worries that the princess fantasy will make her dependent on "some guy'''s whims," but then fears that disapproving of it will make her think he disapproves of all romantic love. He swings back to worrying she'''ll be "dominated by some rich dude" and needs to be independent, then worries that pushing independence too hard will make her emotionally cold and unable to experience love. Another voice in his head catastrophizes that without direction, she'''ll end up in dire straits. Finally, he arrives at a thoughtful, balanced conclusion -- tell her to be equal in relationships, independent, strong, yet kind, gentle and nurturing.
The punchline undercuts all of this agonizing: we see the little girl happily playing with a toy castle, and she appears to be eating the toy prince, growling about taking the throne. The father simply says, "Enjoy playtime, sweetie." All his overthinking was unnecessary because his daughter was already playing with far more agency and ferocity than he imagined. The votey panel continues the joke, with the daughter noting the prince "just didn'''t have a good head on his shoulders" -- implying she removed it.