I don’t get it. Where is the joke. (Seriously, I’m lost)
The link has extra panels and a comment from the artists that explains it more. This isn’t a joke so much as it is explaining their situation in a joking manner.
Amicable divorces are apparently funny?
I don’t know. It’s an odd one.
Comics don’t have to have a joke, they can just tell a story. This is a nice story of two people who care for and support each other in spite of discovering their selves and life goals don’t sync with continuing the original relationship. They manage to break up the romance with each feeling freed rather than dumped, so they can continue to be friends. Hopefully their eventual new partners will appreciate this.
Pretty sure it’s that they were a lesbian couple but one realises they’re a guy and the other realises they want kids so they break up but remain besties and try to set the other up
Part of the humor comes from subverting the expectations. You might expect this kind of conflict- that one wants kids the other doesn’t, that one wants to change their gender expression into something the other doesn’t like- to cause conflict. Fighting. Anger.
Instead they just fully support each other.
Further, it subverts the mainstream possessiveness of partners. It’s very typical for people to be like “don’t be interested in my partner!” Or to be very uncomfortable with their ex seeing other people. Instead, this person is being very supportive of their person.
A lot of behavior in typical monogamous relationships is really shitty and selfish.
It’s not the funniest thing ever, but that’s how I see the mechanics of it working. Subverting some relationship expectations.
I expected a comic strip to have a decent punch line and actually try to make the reader chuckle.
Boy, were my expectations subverted.
Alright… So lesbian relationship. One of them decides they’re not a woman anymore. They both decide to devorce…
Maybe I’m missing something, but is there supposed to be a joke somewhere in here?
Their mutual regard for one another transcends what they want from the relationship, which contrasts humourously with hetero norms of trying to change one other to get what you want
Ok, but… That’s not something that’s funny.
It would work in a greater narrative, perhaps, where we as readers know the characters. Not this one off thing.
Being selfish is hetero normative? I’m probably being defensive but this feels like a weird statement to make.
I’m here as a het to tell you that the gays do laugh at us, and it’s fine
So stereotyping is suddenly okay if the gays are the ones doing it?
They start discussing how to split their assets and suddenly it becomes less peaceful
There’s a weird feel from this comic for me. I’m glad that these two people could have an amicable divorce. I think the thing that feels off is how casual the decision feels in the comic. I suspect this might be why some people are having a negative reaction as well.
Even if you think marriage isn’t forever, it’s still a promise to love and care about someone, to cherish them and share your life with them. I think if you’ve been in a marriage and seen your loved one through hard times together, this comic just feels capricious. A discussion about ending such an important component of your life happening in the span of two panels in a car ride just feels abrupt and unserious.
I imagine in real life the conversation was more serious and the impact of changing you relationship from one of romantic love to friendship weighed on both parties more than the comic has space to show.
If you’ve loved and supported your spouse through difficult and unexpected change or been the recipient of that love and support, this comic can feel dismissive. If you’ve gone through the heartache of losing your special person, even if they are still a part of your life, the celebratory tone sounds wrong.
I am happy that they can separate and still care about each other, but I also understand why people feel like something is wrong about the comic.
I liked that about the comic.
Our society has adopted this expectation that once a relationship has turned into love, it must remain that, and if its not eternal soul mates in total devotion, it’s not true love. You’re not allowed to dial it down, take a break from it or return to being friends, or it’s a “failed” relationship.
The message of the comic subverts this, showing that without such baggage, you could just change the relationship to something else and still be happy.
Instead, we assume from the beginning that the relationship is forever, throw our households together, and when the point would be right to return to normal friendship, we force ourselves to stick close until we can’t stand each other anymore.
To all of the people saying this is sad, not all relationships have to last forever.
It’s okay to get separated, even if you are married. It’s actually good to realize your differences, decide that you work better apart, and provide support to an ex-spouse emotionally while you move on with your life as well.
I’m not sure that I fully agree. I mean, to each their own etc., but what you’re describing seems to be more suited for relationships without marriage. The whole idea of being married is that your discuss this stuff before your wedding and then don’t just get separated because you “don’t feel it anymore”. The idea is that, if you feel like you drifted apart, that your work on that and don’t just get out of that relationship on a whim. That’s the promise you give. And even if you agree with your partner to just go separate ways (yeah yeah, consenting adults can do whatever the fuck they want, sure), a divorce has the significant chance to screw you financially for decades. I mean, I don’t know how it is in the US, but I’ve seen too many people who got their finances completely fucked by partners that they consentingly parted ways with, who they swore would treat them fairly. Too many houses repossessed, too many careers ruined.
Is it okay to get separated? Sure. It’s obviously also okay to remain close and support each other, of course. But this comic promotes a lighthearted approach to something that deserves a much more careful and serious take that I don’t agree with. Those first few panels should have made them get counselling, not divorced.
whomesome comic
Lemmy: where’s the joke tho?Very nice though, amicable breakups/divorces are good.
I guess not all comic strips have to be funny or you know make sense.
really shit
I’m sure someone finds this relatable
Can’t believe this out of all things completely confused Lemmy. When I saw this I thought it was sweet, not funny. Not every comic has to be haha funny. I can just hope for half of this experience if I ever feel like I’m no longer compatible with one of my partners.
If it stopped at the third or.the fourth showed each of them selling each other then it probably would’ve been a little less confusing to me. The ending makes it seem like she’s more upset with him or something, idk. Then again it’s 5:30 AM after bass music woke me up at 4:30 AM and I can still hear it through ear plugs.
The ending makes it seem like she’s more upset with him or something, idk.
What the fuck are you talking about
Holy hell. I saw your comment first, then the rest. My favorite is the genius claiming this behavior is a symptom of narcissism.
Personally the two worst takes I’ve seen was “but the entire point of marriage is that it’s forever” and “this is why you talk about everything before you get married”. As if people stop changing at some point in their 20s or whenever people start getting married
What the fuck is this bullshit
I can’t tell if the author was serious or trying to be funny… I know I laughed at how dumb their dialogue sounds
That’s not funny that’s just sad
But they are both happy now? They can still be best friends.
What has society come to 🤦
Eww, a religious bigot baby🖕
What?
My guess why this comic is confusing people here is simply due to the fact that the Lemmy community is primarily made up of middle aged straight men, many of whom have probably dealt with bitter divorce and find the base concept of this comic impossible to relate to.
Man, that is not my take on the lemmy community lol.
Are you a middle age straight man?
If enough people don’t understand it, chances are the joke wasn’t fully flushed out. I understand it I just don’t think the punch line hit as well as it was intended. Maybe the last pane could have them having coffee and saying those things to an obvious suitor. Just an idea.
I disagree with the idea “you need to make your media as stupid as any potential audience”. Sometimes, people are too dumb to get something, and that’s okay.
