Difference between revisions of "647: Scary"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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(Explanation: Expanded on the significance of using 9/11 as the age marker)
(Explanation)
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| title    = Scary
 
| title    = Scary
 
| image    = scary.png
 
| image    = scary.png
| imagesize =
 
 
| titletext = I'm teaching every 8-year-old relative to say this, and every 14-year-old to do the same thing with Toy Story. Also, Pokemon hit the US over a decade ago and kids born after Aladdin came out will turn 18 next year.
 
| titletext = I'm teaching every 8-year-old relative to say this, and every 14-year-old to do the same thing with Toy Story. Also, Pokemon hit the US over a decade ago and kids born after Aladdin came out will turn 18 next year.
 
}}
 
}}
  
 
==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
No hidden meaning here, but this sure is scary. What's being implied here is that time is moving really quickly and we're getting older faster than we think. Events that seem like they "just happened" have happened long enough ago for a whole other person to come into existence, grow up, and learn to carry on a conversation.
+
Uncle [[Rob]] is telling his eight-year-old nephew a ghost story, employing such stereotyped devices as a flash light-lit face and stock ghost story endings.
  
{{w|September 11, 2001}} was the day several terrorists flew airplanes into several famous buildings in the U.S. Most famously both the North and South towers of the {{w|World Trade Center}} collapsed planes flew into them. Another plane flew into {{w|the Pentagon}}. A fourth plane, {{w|United Flight 93}} appears to have been headed for the {{w|United States Capitol|Capitol Building}}, but the passengers managed to overcome the hijackers and crash the plane in a field. All non-essential flights over the United States were {{w|September 11, 2001#Immediate response|grounded}} for quite some time.
+
Rob's nephew thus characterizes the ghost story as "lame," meaning that it was unimpressive or unconvincingly feeble. His uncle Rob ask him if he can come up with something scarier. Sure he says and offers the much scarier notion that even though he has been born after {{w|9/11}} he is already old enough to be able to have this kind of conversation.  
  
In America and elsewhere it is considered one of the most infamous events in recent history and thus a distinctive marker for the passage of time, in contrast to the more contrived examples mentioned in the title text. Furthermore, as an intensely traumatic event for the American public, even for those not directly affected by the attack, anyone not old enough at the time would often be regarded as unable to fully appreciate the impact of the event, further emphasizing the age difference between Rob and his nephew.
+
No hidden meaning here, but this sure is scary for many adults. What's being implied here is that time seems to be moving really quickly and we're getting older faster than we think. Events that seem like they "just happened" have happened long enough ago for a whole other person to come into existence, grow up, and learn to carry on a conversation. Every time we get reminded of this fact, it can be scary, as you then realize that you are now closer to your death...
 +
 
 +
9/11 was a terrorist attack in the United States in 2001, on September 11th. Major events such as the assassination of {{w|Assassination of John F. Kennedy|Kennedy}}, the Moon Landing of {{w|Apollo 11}} or 9/11 are easily memorable. It is often said that "everyone remembers where they were when they first heard...". In consequence, these events act as milestones in our memory. They are recalled more vividly, and seem more recent. Today this is maybe also topping the {{w|Attack on Pearl Harbor}} happened in 1941.
 +
 
 +
The title text mentions that [[Randall]] is teaching his 8 year old relatives to say the same as in the comic — presumably to the annoyance of his older relatives who will be reminded of the fast passage of time. He does not stop here, but teaches the 14 year old's to say they are born after {{w|Toy Story}} — a major block buster hit from {{w|Pixar}} which came out in 1995. A movie many people will remember fondly and feel just came out the other day... He continues with these scary thoughts by mentioning that {{w|Pokémon}} (1996) came out over a decade ago and that kids born after the big {{w|Disney}} hit movie {{w|Aladdin_(1992_Disney_film)|Aladdin}} from 1992 will turn 18 next year (i.e. in 2010 a year after this comic was published).
 +
 
 +
[[Randall]] has since this comic tried to make people feel old several times in [[891: Movie Ages]], [[973: MTV Generation]], [[1393: Timeghost]], [[1477: Star Wars]], and [[1624: 2016]]
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
:[Rob and his nephew are sitting on the ground. Rob is holding a flashlight up to his face.]
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:[First panel: Rob and his nephew are sitting on the ground. Rob is holding a flash-light up to his face.]
:Rob: But they NEVER FOUND THE GHOST'S HEAD!
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:Rob: But they ''never found the ghost's head!''
 
:Nephew: Lame story, Uncle Rob.
 
:Nephew: Lame story, Uncle Rob.
 
:Rob: And you could do scarier?
 
:Rob: And you could do scarier?
 
:Nephew: Sure.
 
:Nephew: Sure.
  
 +
:[Second panel: Rob has removed the flash-light from his face.]
 
:Rob: Try me.
 
:Rob: Try me.
 
:Nephew: 9/11 happened before I was born, yet I'm old enough to have this conversation with you.
 
:Nephew: 9/11 happened before I was born, yet I'm old enough to have this conversation with you.
  
:[Rob has dropped the flashlight.]
+
:[Third panel: Rob has dropped the flash-light.]
  
:[Rob has curled up and wrapped his arms around himself.]
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:[Last panel: Rob has curled up and wrapped his arms around himself.]
  
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Rob]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Rob]]
 +
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
 +
[[Category:Comics to make one feel old]]

Revision as of 01:23, 8 January 2016

Scary
I'm teaching every 8-year-old relative to say this, and every 14-year-old to do the same thing with Toy Story. Also, Pokemon hit the US over a decade ago and kids born after Aladdin came out will turn 18 next year.
Title text: I'm teaching every 8-year-old relative to say this, and every 14-year-old to do the same thing with Toy Story. Also, Pokemon hit the US over a decade ago and kids born after Aladdin came out will turn 18 next year.

Explanation

Uncle Rob is telling his eight-year-old nephew a ghost story, employing such stereotyped devices as a flash light-lit face and stock ghost story endings.

Rob's nephew thus characterizes the ghost story as "lame," meaning that it was unimpressive or unconvincingly feeble. His uncle Rob ask him if he can come up with something scarier. Sure he says and offers the much scarier notion that even though he has been born after 9/11 he is already old enough to be able to have this kind of conversation.

No hidden meaning here, but this sure is scary for many adults. What's being implied here is that time seems to be moving really quickly and we're getting older faster than we think. Events that seem like they "just happened" have happened long enough ago for a whole other person to come into existence, grow up, and learn to carry on a conversation. Every time we get reminded of this fact, it can be scary, as you then realize that you are now closer to your death...

9/11 was a terrorist attack in the United States in 2001, on September 11th. Major events such as the assassination of Kennedy, the Moon Landing of Apollo 11 or 9/11 are easily memorable. It is often said that "everyone remembers where they were when they first heard...". In consequence, these events act as milestones in our memory. They are recalled more vividly, and seem more recent. Today this is maybe also topping the Attack on Pearl Harbor happened in 1941.

The title text mentions that Randall is teaching his 8 year old relatives to say the same as in the comic — presumably to the annoyance of his older relatives who will be reminded of the fast passage of time. He does not stop here, but teaches the 14 year old's to say they are born after Toy Story — a major block buster hit from Pixar which came out in 1995. A movie many people will remember fondly and feel just came out the other day... He continues with these scary thoughts by mentioning that Pokémon (1996) came out over a decade ago and that kids born after the big Disney hit movie Aladdin from 1992 will turn 18 next year (i.e. in 2010 a year after this comic was published).

Randall has since this comic tried to make people feel old several times in 891: Movie Ages, 973: MTV Generation, 1393: Timeghost, 1477: Star Wars, and 1624: 2016

Transcript

[First panel: Rob and his nephew are sitting on the ground. Rob is holding a flash-light up to his face.]
Rob: But they never found the ghost's head!
Nephew: Lame story, Uncle Rob.
Rob: And you could do scarier?
Nephew: Sure.
[Second panel: Rob has removed the flash-light from his face.]
Rob: Try me.
Nephew: 9/11 happened before I was born, yet I'm old enough to have this conversation with you.
[Third panel: Rob has dropped the flash-light.]
[Last panel: Rob has curled up and wrapped his arms around himself.]


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Discussion

Not wishing to detract from the gravity of the 9/11 events (expounded at very great length), but the first thing we read, "...never found the ghosts head", is perhaps a lighter parody of the kind of endings that accompany "It was a dark and stormy night..." at the start. Usually in a ghost and/or a horror story (headless ghosts aside) it's usually a newly-found corpse whose head is missing. Hence there's strange imagery involved in the concept of a decapitated ghost (as opposed to a ghost of a decapitee). It could have been an interestingly compounded set of tropes, of course, but given its apparent lameness it probably wasn't. 178.99.247.73 17:22, 21 May 2013 (UTC)

They never found any traces of firemen in the ruins of the twin towers did they? No fireproof, extremely hardwearing clothing, nor axes, gas cylinders etc.? Horrific or what?
And the layer at the top of the mounds should have contained some traces of human DNA. Right?
That's more horrific. -- Weatherlawyer (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Using movies as a reference for making people feel old and scared about how fast time flies was used also in http://xkcd.com/891/ --108.162.229.31 12:03, 15 May 2014 (UTC)

Children born after xkcd first came out are now old enough to have this conversation. 173.245.56.183 19:12, 5 May 2015 (UTC)

Warning: it is not a good idea to consider how much further we are from this comic, than this comic was from the events it describes. --172.69.68.4 18:26, 23 September 2021 (UTC)

I was born after 9/11, yet I am old enough to read this comic.141.101.104.30

Two years from now, people born after the turn of the millennium will start to graduate high school. International Space Station (talk) 05:16, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

I just saw this comic (again) today, and also a highlighted German wikipedia article regarding a photography of the smoke clouds. The look/stlye of the people in it (their appearing carelessnes was also discussed in the article) made it clear to me again how LONG this was ago. People looked as in "Full house" or "Friends". (Another take - not related to the photopgraphy - is, that the time between the fall of the Berlin wall, and the attack on the WTC was far less than the time since the attack.) --Lupo (talk) 09:02, 24 January 2020 (UTC)

A comment on the actual comic instead of the passage of time ... nobody mentioned Cueball's skull imploding in the last panel? Nitpicking (talk) 11:58, 8 May 2022 (UTC)

I read it as a furrowed forehead. Albeit that a non-linedrawing head does this with mostly just by wrinkles that emerge as the face frowns, the options for portraying this with Randall's penmanship of semi-ovoid heads (surprisingly expressive, you can get the direction and attitude from the sweep of the 'brush'!) requires something different.
As an 'early' comic, I think it is different from how contemporary ones would do it. Some 'grizzle' lines emanating from the character's head, or floating punctuation. Perhaps even finer forehead lines on the (already more nuanced) head-space?
Though modern Cueballs don't tend to face the 'camera' as much as this one does. With exceptions, they tend to be more in profile (however much up and down they may face, it's often more left/right than here). I have an image in mind of a "straight towards the reader" cueball head... I can't remember which comic it might have been, but it was early-to-mid era and not at all recent. 172.70.162.77 14:26, 8 May 2022 (UTC)

I was born after this comic, yet I am old enough to read (and edit) this comic. Greetings from the future! SilverTheTerribleMathematician (talk) 17:52, 6 December 2022 (UTC)