2012-08-20
Explanation
This comic humorously contrasts how cat owners perceive their pets versus how the cats themselves might experience the situation. A woman excitedly tells her friend "Let me show you my kitty!" while the cat, shown in a thought bubble, is cursing: "Oh God you BITCH I'''m SLEEPING NO!" The owner then proudly shows off the cat perched on her shoulder, saying "He LOOOVES sitting on my shoulder!" while the cat thinks "Oh FUCK ME not this." The friend coos "Aww! He'''s a little shoulder cat!" as the cat internally screams about being woken up and forced to balance on a shoulder to amuse an idiot friend.
The punchline comes when the friend says the classic pet-owner line: "You know the way we clean up and take care of them, I bet they think THEY'''RE in charge. And WE'''RE the pets!" Both women laugh uproariously at this, while the cat -- who has indeed been miserable and powerless throughout the entire comic -- screams "I'''M IN HELL! I'''m in HELLLL!" This inverts the common joke that cats think they'''re superior to humans; in reality, the cat is not a pampered overlord but a helpless prisoner being subjected to unwanted social interactions.
The comic works by playing against the popular internet-culture narrative that cats are aloof masters who have domesticated humans. Instead, Weinersmith presents a cat that is genuinely distressed by its owner'''s behavior but completely unable to communicate this, making the owners''' smug joke about cats thinking they'''re in charge deeply ironic.
The votey shows the owner cheerfully asking "Who wants to be upside-down?!" while the cat thinks "NOBODY!" -- one final example of the owner misreading the cat'''s preferences and imposing unwanted handling on the helpless animal.