2013-08-09
Explanation
This comic takes the classic fairy tale of Rapunzel and applies practical thinking to it. In the first panel, a princess trapped in a tower calls out to a knight below: "Sir Knight! You must climb my hair and rescue me from this tower!" This is the traditional setup from the Rapunzel story, where the imprisoned princess lets down her long hair so a prince can climb up to her.
The knight, however, pauses and offers a much more sensible alternative: "Sure, I... wait a sec! Why not just tie your hair to something and rappel down? I weigh more than you, so it'''d hurt less and be more convenient." This is a perfectly logical observation -- if the hair is strong enough to support a climbing knight, it is certainly strong enough for the lighter princess to rappel down on her own. The princess, realizing the knight has a point that undermines the entire romantic rescue narrative, simply says "Dammit."
The humor lies in applying rational problem-solving to a fairy tale scenario that only works if nobody thinks about it too hard. The princess seems annoyed not because the plan is bad, but because it robs her of the romantic rescue she was hoping for. The votey panel escalates things further, showing Rapunzel pointing a gun and demanding "Climb the hair, motherf***er" -- she wants the fairy tale rescue and she is going to get it, practicality be damned. This adds a layer of dark comedy, suggesting the fairy tale damsel-in-distress scenario was never really about helplessness but about wanting to be rescued in a specific dramatic fashion.