Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

Sacrifice

2021-02-17 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
Sacrifice
Votey panel for Sacrifice
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

A group of hooded cultists are performing a ritual sacrifice. The leader announces: "And now the born sacrifice!" Another cultist says "Oh boy." The leader then declares: "Our extraordinarily, the serpent-eyed dark god doesn't count oral." Someone asks: "What about butt stuff?" The leader replies: "No! Only penis-in-vagina sex displeases the dark master."

A red-haired cultist observes: "That is kinda heteronormative, isn't it?" The leader responds by explaining that Bazmodali was born before time in the black belly of the vale-dimension and his views are uncomfortable by modern social customs. The red-haired cultist says: "I am sorry, I can't in good conscience participate in a non-inclusive human sacrifice." Another member agrees: "Same, going now." The leader, now desperate, pleads: "God, this game, how am I going to find new entrance -- I'll go to court drive."

The comic depicts a dark cult whose sacrificial ritual requires a virgin, but the definition of virginity becomes a debate about heteronormativity and inclusivity, ultimately causing the cult to fall apart because its members refuse to participate in something so socially regressive.

The Humor

The comedy works by collision of contexts. Ancient dark rituals and cosmic horror tropes are thrown headfirst into modern progressive social discourse. The idea that evil cultists worshipping a serpent-eyed dark god would abandon a human sacrifice not because of moral objections to murder, but because of the cult's narrow definition of virginity, is delightfully absurd. The cultists have perfectly fine moral priorities -- they are okay with killing someone, but draw the line at heteronormativity. This inversion satirizes both the outdated tropes of horror fiction and the sometimes selective nature of moral outrage. The leader's frustrated reaction at the end, struggling with recruitment, adds a practical mundane layer to what should be a terrifying scene.

References

The comic satirizes the virgin sacrifice trope common in horror fiction and mythology, where a "pure" victim must be offered to appease a dark deity. The debate about what "counts" as sex and the heteronormative assumptions embedded in traditional concepts of virginity reflects real contemporary discussions about how virginity is a social construct with inherently heteronormative definitions.

View History (1) Original Comic
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