Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

show-2

2024-03-29 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
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show-2
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Explanation

This comic imagines a world where God has to support the Universe through advertising revenue, and therefore must meet certain "standards of decency." A nude woman complains, "I keep trying to show you my nipples, but there's always a lamp or a potted plant in the way!" A nude man responds, "I want you to see my dong, but I keep turning at an angle that hides it!"

The caption below reads: "Once God had to support The Universe via ad revenue, he had to meet certain standards for decency."

The joke is a meta-commentary on the visual trope in television and film where nudity is strategically hidden by conveniently placed objects -- lamps, plants, furniture -- or by characters who always seem to turn at just the right angle. The comic reimagines this as a literal feature of the universe's physics, imposed by God because he needs ad revenue (like a TV network) and therefore cannot show explicit content. The humor lies in treating a filmmaking convention as if it were a law of nature, and in the characters' frustrated awareness of these invisible censorship rules. It satirizes both broadcast decency standards and the absurdity of the "convenient object" trope.

View History (1) Original Comic