2014-11-16
Explanation
The Joke
A woman confronts the architect of a building, asking why it looks like a "giant heartless cube of concrete." The architect explains that the building symbolizes disaffection and anomie in modern life -- "life is brutal, and so is my art." The woman counters that she actually has to work in the building every day for the next 30 years, while the architect probably works in a nice coffee shop or something. The architect admits he has a cottage in the country. The woman repeats his earlier words back at him: "So, when you said life is brutal..." He clarifies: "I meant statistically. Like, not my life in particular." The woman says she wishes she had a cottage in the country, and a bystander responds: "Well, you should've become an architect."
The Humor
The comic skewers the hypocrisy of artists and architects who create deliberately ugly, uncomfortable, or brutalist works in the name of expressing the harshness of modern existence -- while they themselves live comfortably removed from those harsh conditions. The architect imposes his philosophy of suffering on people who actually have to inhabit his creation, while retreating to his pleasant cottage in the country. When pressed, his defense -- that he meant life is brutal "statistically," not his own life -- only deepens the irony. The final line about becoming an architect adds insult to injury, suggesting the solution to living in a depressing building is to be the one designing it and living elsewhere.
References
- Brutalism is an architectural style that emerged in the 1950s, characterized by massive, monolithic concrete structures with raw, unfinished surfaces. It is often criticized for being cold and unwelcoming.
- Anomie is a sociological concept, popularized by Emile Durkheim, referring to a breakdown of social norms and values, often associated with feelings of disconnection and purposelessness in modern life.