behold-2
Explanation
The Joke
The comic shows a male pop star figure, surrounded by attractive backup dancers, declaring: "Behold my extremely fine motor control, highly symmetric body, and my command of many fertile females!" The caption below reads: "I'm always skeptical of evolutionary psychology theories until I see pop music videos."
The joke reframes a typical pop music video -- a charismatic performer surrounded by dancing women -- in the dry, clinical language of evolutionary biology. Instead of seeing entertainment, the comic invites you to see a display of biological fitness signals: fine motor control (dancing ability as a proxy for neurological health), body symmetry (a known marker of genetic fitness), and the ability to attract many potential mates.
The Humor
The humor lies in the jarring contrast between how we normally experience pop music videos (as fun, sexy entertainment) and how they look when described through the lens of evolutionary psychology. When you strip away the cultural framing, a pop music video starts to look remarkably like a peacock's display or a bower bird's dance -- a biological fitness demonstration. The comic pokes fun both at evolutionary psychology (for its tendency to reduce all human behavior to mating strategies) and at pop culture (for being, when you squint, exactly what evolutionary psychologists describe).
References
Evolutionary psychology is a field that attempts to explain human behavior as adaptations shaped by natural selection. Concepts like body symmetry as a fitness indicator and male display behavior are standard topics in the field. The comic's title "Behold" parodies the grandiosity of both pop star performances and evolutionary psychology claims.