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My new, holiday wallpaper

An instant classic (and the obvious winner) from Xyling, produced for the otherwise disappointing Fark thread "A very white trash Christmas."

The humor'll likely wear off and the depressing aspects take over, but for now I'm tickled by what he came up with.

To better appreciate all the touches, here's the Norman Rockwell original:

Comments

Anonymous said…
That is great! Thanks for the laugh.
9:38 PM
Anonymous said…
Well, I like this one MUCH better than Dorothy and Sam.
10:31 PM
Mike Norton said…
A: You're welcome. I did the easy part.

C.L.: That's the other family member missing from the scene!

T: I can understand that. Each of them has a sad element to it and a different twist to the humor.
11:21 AM
Chuang Shyue Chou said…
Hahahah. Okay, that is indeed a very funny take on the Norman Rockwell classic.
8:55 PM
Mike Norton said…
It'll probably strike me as cruel somewhere along the way, but I hope that I'll continue to see it as some much-needed parody and social criticism. Turning our lives into a series of cheap commercials and living down to the lowest expectations, the truth behind this parody is something an historian of the future might justifiably point to as a sign of our coming downfall as a culture. All of the grotesque brand symbols on display, especially on the caps, strike me as simultaneously sad and funny.

The patriarch, for instance, loses far more dignity points with the addition of the Texaco cap than he does by simply trading in his dress clothes for the muscleman's tee shirt.

The expression in and around the eyes of the man in the bottom right, looking at the viewer, captures the respective spirits of each piece beautifully. It's my favorite contrasting point. In the original it's warm, inviting and happy. These are truly smiling eyes. In the new version he's simultaneously embarassed and apologetic for the rest of the scene.
4:57 PM
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