Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

worse

2018-04-25 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
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worse
Votey panel for worse
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Explanation

The Joke

The comic shows a family dealing with divorce. In the first panel, a parent tells the kids they are getting a divorce. The kids ask if it is their fault, and the parents respond that of course not -- this is what parents are "supposed" to say. In the next panels, the parents begin listing the grim realities of divorce: sex, emotional estrangement, uncomfortable family holidays, awkward bedroom encounters, and divided assets. When the children protest ("I told you they shouldn't know, it would upset them"), the parents dismiss their concern.

The final twist comes in the last panel where the child announces, "Aaand I'm getting my emancipation paperwork" -- meaning the child is so fed up with their parents' inappropriate oversharing that they want to legally separate from both of them.

The Humor

The comedy here is a satire of how some parents handle difficult conversations with their children. The standard advice is to reassure children that a divorce is not their fault, but these parents go in the completely opposite direction, dumping all the ugly adult details on their kids. The punchline -- the child seeking emancipation -- is funny because it shows the kid being more mature and decisive than the parents. Instead of being traumatized, the child simply decides that neither parent is worth keeping. It plays on the idea that sometimes children are the most reasonable people in a dysfunctional family.

View History (1) Original Comic