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Thoughts on a meme

6K views 74 replies 26 participants last post by  sokillme 
#1 ·
#4 ·
What a difference in views. The woman doesn't want to leave. The guy is happy to be relieved of his burden. Of course, he'll expect her to be available when and if he ever gets there. He'll be generous enough to thank the guy for taking care of her for him.

He's a moron if only because he wears sandals to climb a ladder.
 
#6 ·
Good catch on the sandals. Good attention to details.

The young man is happy to be relieved of the burden because he was scared poopless that he might weaken and might drop his prized lover (and himself, of course).

Both were foolish in trying to climb such a ladder: With no safety climbing straps, no leather gloves, no carry-along portable seats to rest, no food and water for such a long journey.

And, no pre-training for such a climb.

Love knows no bounds, no heights, it seems.
 
#7 ·
Whose idea was it to climb the ladder....hers (probably)

Who begrudgedly said yes to make the other “happy”.....him (probably)

Who faltered first due to lack of upper body strength....her (definitely)

Who jettisoned a backpack of supplies to accommodate the other....him (of course)

Who, when the first opportunity arose, bailed on the hardship and took the easy way up.....her (obviously)

Who sacrificed everything for the other and got zero in return....him (sadly)

This is a memetic if a typical modern woman and a Mr. NiceGuy.
 
#10 ·
They began a journey together, they realized she would not make it and he would not leave her behind, unexpected assistance was offered and only one could take it, they realized the levity, they accepted the best solution for them both, they were sad to part but to me the value of chivalry stands with the stronger willingly protecting the weaker while hopes are reached for.

I had to actually look up monkey-branching... I would never have seen that in this.
 
#15 ·
Sorry! I am very sure that you are not chopped liver, but a very nice lady :D

I have no clue what you want us to say or think? I thought it was a weird comic strip that had some underlying message but the message is so odd that I cannot even guess what the artist was trying to say.

Is it just another “women are so weak and don’t understand that men always carry them” message, then ok whatever, weirdo artist.

But for me personally, I thought to myself nah, she would never leave that cute brown boy for the boring white boy. She and the brown boy should have just pulled the white boy out of the space ship and hijacked it, and then left him on the ladder. They could always go drop someone off on the moon and then one of them could go back to pick him up. The end, everyone is happy.

Like I said, that’s just me. So I’m sure that’s not what the artist was trying to say.
I’m a woman. She obviously doesn’t want to leave him but knows it’s the best solution. The look on his face at the end is relief that both are safe and will reunite soon.
My reason for asking was it seemed to cause a divide, with many women finding it inspirational and many Indian men seeming to find it aspirational, with USA and UK men such as myself thinking it a pile of poo.

But, so many women seemed to find it inspiring, that I questioned myself and my impression.

I see it as treating the woman like a dumb child, who has a passive desire and all will and action to make it happen is up to the men. My thought was that far from being brave and feminist, it is actually rather old fashioned. Putting the woman first is not a new idea. This suggests she is a passive object.

I did wonder which way the more cynical residents of TAM would see it!
 
#16 ·
I view it as the way things were in the past. Something I often heard growing up many decades ago? “If it was that easy to do then we’d get a girl to do it”. The message sent to girls of my generation? Men are strong. Women are weak. Nope. Not this girl.

PS
I didn’t notice the boy was supposed to be brown but I agree with FW that he’s cute.
 
#18 ·
AND he just hulked her up a ladder. Yum!

Also let’s see here....since there is literally a ladder to the moon, and spaceships that can hover with no air disturbance...this land clearly is full of plenty of whimsy and magic.

So it can be assume (by me at least) that there will be no problem for another spaceship to come right back and pick up the pilot.

Being a true gentleman, maybe he isn’t the one who suggested it.

“Oh dear you are both in bad physical shape. Please take my spaceship and get yourselves to the moon safely. I’ll call a Space Uber and be right behind you”.

The couple easily drive to safety because these spaceships are so advanced anyone can drive them. They are our cars now. Space Uber only took 5 minutes to pick up the pilot.

The couple and the gentleman pilot meet up on the moon and have wine together later with all their friends. The end.
 
#20 ·
I’m the literal type and didn’t read as much into this. The two decided to take a journey, she physically couldn’t make it so now they have a problem. Someone else zooming by saw the predicament and offered help. I thought the part where she was all teared up about leaving was a tad dramatic but whatever lol! I didn’t notice the skin colors. I only saw people.

Now that I think about I do think she was a little annoying with the theatrics but they did have a problem that needed a solution.
 
#21 ·
I must say, that is literal. I am very much not like that, so I am glad you are around to ground me!

I took the moon to represent happiness. They were working to get there together, it being a struggle he gave up his baggage (which I assume to be hobbies, interests social circle etc). As the route up became harder, she was too tired, so he had to carry her up. Eventually another man came along who could offer her an easy route to that happiness (represented by the moon), and while he missed her he and she was sad to lose him, he knew it was all for the best.

The bit that annoyed me as an old fashioned man was the implication that men do not normally love women and this morality tale would teach us. The second objection was more progressive, that is depicts the woman purely as a passive object of experience with no agency of her own.

What shocked me was how many women in the non-TAM world thought it was deep and beautiful!
 
#22 ·
You could also look at it that in the third panel, when she was having trouble, he took it upon himself to fix it instead of realizing she didn’t have the same stamina and just needed to catch her breath. By the fifth panel he is angry and resentful about it and then shocked when someone else comes and makes life easier for her without being told what a burden she is.

It is not deep and beautiful, it is sad. The person that takes on the heaviest load and thinks they are moving the couple forward is sometimes doing the most damage.

If this were my cartoon it would be me in the ladder with my XH on back. But he would be made to leave his freaking backpack with me before getting on that ship.
 
#23 ·
This thread does give me faith in TAM.

Also, I see we are often reading it differently. I suspect it was drawn my a man who hates men, idolises women as passive objects and thinks himslef a guru. And is actually an arse. Perhaps we are both reading past experience into it.

I did not see him as angry in the fifth, merely exhausted, i.e. he does not want a woman who is a teammate not a burden. The final panel shows him smile as another man takes her to the moon.
 
#25 ·
My reading of it was that it was showing that she was sad to leave this man behind who had sacrificed so much, but they knew it was for the best. She was shuffled off, selflessly, but I agree it showed no agency.

It does seem that for many UK/US women out there, this seems aspirational. The TAM women seem to have a more male eye for it! I am not sure what to make of that :D
 
#29 ·
I was thinking they started with what they both had on hand, and didn't have the fortitude to hang in there while they jointly worked towards the first upcoming break which may have been a three seater space Uber, or a 7-11 Travel Center in the next cloud cover.

She opportunisticly took the first more comfortable "out" that came along.
 
#32 ·
I think that the ladder symbolizes married life and it’s journey.
There should have been another picture where she’s the one who is supporting/carrying him.
In the end she doesn’t want to keep going as they are and reluctantly leaves him. He is smiling because he wants her to be happy and knows that he isn’t capable of doing this.
In my opinion the last picture is of the sun and it’s telling us that he had gotten to the moon but still wanted more.
Or I could be wrong.
 
#36 ·
Hey the guy in the spaceship could be a psycho and she was never seen again!

Maybe the guy trudging on the ladder was an early Bill Gates or Mark Wahlberg paying dues early on then hit it big.

Then the MEME becomes a story, which becomes a book, which is marketed on TAM.

We may never know. :smile2:
 
#33 ·
-Its a piece supporting Imperialism by white people. Don't worry if you can't get there brown people, give your women to us and us whiteys and our superior technology will get them to the moon.

-Or its a pro-Cuckold piece. Can't get your woman to the "moon"? Bring in another guy and he'll get her there. ;)



But seriously as others have said its so open to interpretation. Can be taken almost anyway you want to. Interesting how our life experiences influence how we see it though.
 
#38 ·
So here's what happened.

He was like 'hey let's go climb this latter to get to better things' (marriage, kids, careers)
So, she was like ' that's a great idea!'

After a while, she drags ass, starts moaning and complaining, so he is like 'jump on, I can carry us both!'

Eventually, it wears him down because she is no longer that small thing he started with! She has somehow grown...maybe too many happy meals while camped on his back...who knows? Plus, get this she is still complaining! Saying he is going to slow and that he is a moron for wearing sandals while trying to climb to the top....

Finally, dude with space shuttle comes by and see his camper (wife). Hes like 'hey dude you look tired, want me to take this whale off your back' (This could either be your divorce lawyer or the AP who likes hauling in whales). Also, she is crying probably cause shuttle dude just called her a whale...or something else. Who the hell knows?

So latter dude is like 'Yea take her, she is killing me!!' Then he goes up the ladder free of baggage and happy.

Off they go.
 
#55 ·
Why is it so romantic to take this lady to the moon? What will she do once she reaches the moon? She will either freeze to death or fry depending which side she is on, plus there is no drinkable water. I don't think she thought this through... The ladder dude and space dude however may have a covert pact to off her.
 
#54 ·
On the surface, it could be viewed as old-school, selfless, and romantic. Commencing the journey together, they have a shared dream. Along the way, despite his sacrifices and best efforts to support their endeavor, he realizes they won't be able to reach the moon together. Selflessly, he still wants her to achieve the experience - even without him. With the help of another, he can support this to happen. She's sad to part; he's happy in knowing this is something he could provide her.

Viewed through a different lens, which is completely left-field from the above, the climb to the top is incredibly difficult to achieve, as represented through the length of the ladder to the moon. Even with determination and sacrifice, the availability of resources makes the difference. The pilot was able to readily get to the moon as he had the resources available to him, okay, and likely some sacrifice and determination of his own, too. Utilizing his capital, the pilot provided her with the opportunity towards social mobility.

And yet another view, is how seemingly unempowered the woman is throughout the illustrated narrative; aside from showing up and demonstrating a small amount of effort at the start. To make it a little more cynical (why not, eh?), she could symbolize how the dominant view of physical beauty, versus effort, is rewarded.
 
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#59 ·
On the surface, it could be viewed as old-school, selfless, and romantic. Commencing the journey together, they have a shared dream. Along the way, despite his sacrifices and best efforts to support their endeavor, he realizes they won't be able to reach the moon together. Selflessly, he still wants her to achieve the experience - even without him. With the help of another, he can support this to happen. She's sad to part; he's happy in knowing this is something he could provide her.

Viewed through a different lens, which is completely left-field from the above, the climb to the top is incredibly difficult to achieve, as represented through the length of the ladder to the moon. Even with determination and sacrifice, the availability of resources makes the difference. The pilot was able to readily get to the moon as he had the resources available to him, okay, and likely some sacrifice and determination of his own, too. Utilizing his capital, the pilot provided her with the opportunity towards social mobility.

And yet another view, is how seemingly unempowered the woman is throughout the illustrated narrative; aside from showing up and demonstrating a small amount of effort at the start. To make it a little more cynical (why not, eh?), she could symbolize how the dominant view of physical beauty, versus effort, is rewarded.
This final view is how I saw it, and why I found it poisonous. My experience on any forum was that seeing it this way was seen by a surprisingly large majority of women as being eiher misogynist (i.e. we should not care about women) or that I did not understand it as I was simple minded. For my own peace of mind, TAM has, in contrast, been great on this :D
 
#56 ·
My take:

Guy 1 is obviously Lando Calrissian. He's like "hey, here's a ladder going up to Bespin here, I'm going to hike up and run the city."

The girl is clearly Leia, who's all like "Hey Lando, can I come to Bespin with you?" And then she gets tired and goes "Lando, FFS, I'm a princess and we don't sweat. Carry me up there so I can you know, rule Bespin and not be sweaty and gross."

And Lando now is in a big quandary, until Luke comes by and is all like "Leia, stop screwing around with Lando, we gotta go to Endor and blow up the Death Star." And Lando is all like "ya Luke, take her off my hands for me, I gotta get to Bespin and do my thing." And so off they go.

My only question is what they are walking around on in the first frame, because Bespin was a gas giant.
 
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