Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

The Joke

A prince arrives at the base of Rapunzel's tower and calls up the classic line: "Rapunzel! I have come to save you! Let down your hair!" The hair comes cascading down from the impossibly tall tower. When the prince grabs it, he recoils in disgust: "Oh my God. Has this ever been washed? It's... crunchy." Rapunzel snaps back, "It's a prison tower, not a fucking day spa." The prince, chastened, admits "I know, but I thought princesses were just sort of... magically nice." Rapunzel then warns him darkly, "Then you will find my legs shocking, sir."

The Humor

The comic applies realistic hygiene concerns to a fairy tale scenario that has always conveniently ignored them. Rapunzel has been locked in a tower with no access to modern (or even medieval) grooming products. Of course her impossibly long hair would be unwashed and disgusting. The prince's naive assumption that princesses are "just sort of magically nice" satirizes the fairy tale convention that imprisoned women somehow remain perfectly beautiful and well-groomed despite their dire circumstances. Rapunzel's final warning about her legs — implying they are extremely unshaven — is the cherry on top, further dismantling the sanitized fairy tale image. The comic pokes fun at unrealistic beauty standards in classic stories while giving Rapunzel a sharp, no-nonsense personality that makes the prince look like the naive one.

References

The fairy tale of Rapunzel, most famously recorded by the Brothers Grimm in 1812, tells the story of a young woman with extremely long golden hair who is imprisoned in a tower by an enchantress. A prince discovers her and uses her hair as a rope to climb up to her. The comic takes this well-known premise and subjects it to the kind of practical scrutiny that fairy tales typically avoid.