Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

red

2018-10-22 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
red
Votey panel for red
This explanation is incomplete or may contain errors. It was generated by AI and has not yet been reviewed by a human editor.

Explanation

The Joke

The comic is a simple, striking visual: a landscape divided between a red sky and a white, snowy ground, with very little detail visible. The caption below reads: "Laugh all you want, for now. When Nuclear Winter comes, only the gingers will have perfect camouflage."

The image itself is the joke -- the red-and-white color scheme perfectly matches the stereotypical complexion of a red-haired, pale-skinned person (colloquially called a "ginger"). The comic imagines a post-apocalyptic nuclear winter scenario where the landscape is nothing but red skies (from atmospheric particulates) and white snow, meaning redheads would blend in perfectly.

The Humor

The humor works on multiple levels. First, it takes the common social experience of redheads being teased or mocked for their appearance and flips it into a revenge fantasy -- but an absurdly dark one that requires nuclear apocalypse. Second, the idea of camouflage being the key survival advantage in a nuclear winter is itself ridiculous, treating the apocalypse like a game of hide-and-seek. The deadpan, threatening tone of "laugh all you want, for now" gives the caption the feel of a supervillain monologue, which contrasts hilariously with the mundane subject of hair color.

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