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| | ==Explanation== | | ==Explanation== |
| − | [[Black Hat]] is, once again, thoroughly confusing [[Cueball]] (another example of this is [[908: The Cloud]]). This time, when inquired about a chute protruding from his wardrobe, Black Hat explains that it is a {{w|Chute_(gravity)#Building_chute|garbage chute}} into another dimension. Apparently these kinds of portals appear on about half of all the furniture that Black Hat buys, and he is somewhat annoyed about it. (This sounds more like something [[Beret Guy]] would encounter, although he would have reacted very differently than Black Hat.) It would be interesting to know whether all the portals lead into the same alternative world/dimension, but it seems Black Hat is not interested in visiting these worlds, instead just being annoyed about his broken furniture. (Given Black Hat's personality, this may well be a practical joke meant to mess with Cueball's head rather than an actual portal to another dimension.)
| + | {{incomplete|Created by a human with slightly more intelligence than a BOT- Please change this comment when editing this page.}} |
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| − | Cueball quickly realizes this is a reference to ''{{w|The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe}}'', the first published book in {{w|The Chronicles of Narnia}} by {{w|C. S. Lewis}}. In the books, the child characters use different portals to get into the alternative dimension/world of {{w|Narnia}}. The children first find a portal inside an old wardrobe, and use it at least three times to travel into Narnia. Black Hat confirms his trash chute indeed leads to Narnia and explains how this is a great time-saver for him, as he can easily get rid of his trash. The Narnia books are for children and Narnia is a magical world, so Cueball is appalled to learn that Black Hat dumps his trash there.
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| − | A discussion of problems with this comic vs. Narnia chronology is discussed in the [[#Trivia|trivia section]].
| + | [[Black Hat]] is, once again, thoroughly confusing [[Cueball]], (like for instance in [[908: The Cloud]] and others). This time, when inquired about a chute extruding from his wardrobe, Black Hat explains that it is a {{w|Chute_(gravity)#Building_chute|garbage chute}} into another dimension. Apparently these kind of portals appear on about half of all the furniture that Black Hat buys, and he is kinda annoyed about it. (This sounds more like something [[Beret Guy]] would encounter, although he would for sure have reacted very differently than Black Hat) |
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| − | The "huge cat" he refers to is {{w|Aslan}}, a magical lion in Narnia. In his lion form he sometimes walks around and watches over Narnia, but not all the time. It is revealed in the last book that he is also the guardian of the other worlds, where he has different names and takes on different appearances, implying he ''is'' Jesus, just in Narnia.
| + | Cueball assumes that this is a reference to ''{{w|The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe}}'' the first book in {{w|The Chronicles of Narnia}} by {{w|C. S. Lewis}}. In the books the characters uses different portals to get into {{w|Narnia}}, and in the first book the children find the portal inside an old wardrobe, and they use it at least three times to travel into Narnia. |
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| − | Aslan, or any other large cat or inhabitants of such a different world, would probably be really upset that someone is throwing their trash there{{Citation needed}}. He would probably try to stop this by any means necessary, including coming up through a trash chute into another dimension. But because lions are a type of cat (feline), apparently Aslan can be repelled with an ordinary spray bottle. The joke is that this is a technique used to tame small house cats; it would be unlikely to work on a lion, especially if the lion was really a deity{{Citation needed}}.
| + | Black Hat confirms that it is Narnia, but it could be a portal into any of the many different worlds in different dimensions that are mentioned in the Narnia books. Only three of them are ever visited though, but in the book {{w|The Magician's Nephew}} (a prequel to the first book), it is revealed that there is a way station in between all these different worlds, a forest with lakes that leads into the different worlds. This forest was referenced in [[1352: Cosmologist on a Tire Swing]]. |
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| − | In the title text, the fact that time passes much faster in Narnia than on Earth is mentioned. (Time does not pass at a constant rate compared to Earth time.) This could also be the case even if the portal in Black Hat's wardrobe accessed a different world than Narnia. So everything that is actually pushed to the other side of the portal would be disposed of very efficiently, as the trash could completely decompose within just a few Earth minutes. This would then explain how Black Hat can keep pushing more stuff into the other world: anything sent through the portal will decompose and vanish before he comes with his next load of trash. | + | In Narnia where time passes differently from on Earth. Apparently, Black Hat has gotten his hands on the titular wardrobe and is using it to dispose of trash. |
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| − | The title text mention of {{w|Yucca Mountain}} is a reference to the {{w|Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository}}, a partially-built nuclear waste repository that has been defunded at the present time. Black Hat wants to contact those that wish to make such a repository and let them dispose of their radioactive waste through his "magical" portal, likely to make a profit for himself. If throwing trash into Narnia is terrible, radioactive waste would be far worse{{Citation needed}}. Of course in Earth time radioactive materials would soon decay back to background levels of radiation. This is thus another jab at all the world's environmental problems, as is also done with all the comics about [[:Category:Climate change|climate change]]. This comic could be a take on humans {{w|Marine_debris|dumping waste}} in the "endless" oceans, more specifically {{w|ocean disposal of radioactive waste}}. This was done in the past but is now banned, as Earth's oceans are not endless{{Citation needed}}.
| + | If one cares about the rules of the Narnia continuity, this comic is playing fast and loose with them. First, the wardrobe would just fill with trash. Not only is the portal to Narnia transient (meaning most of the time Black Hat has a normal wardrobe), but it doesn't actually draw anything in; the trash would sit there on Black Hat's half of the wardrobe until he pushed it over. Also, Narnia is considered magical, so it may seem sacrilegious to be throwing trash there. (The portal to Narnia was previously featured in [[665: Prudence]] and [[969: Delta-P]].) |
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| − | The title text copies the idea behind the {{w|Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal}} comic from | + | The cat he refers to is {{w|Aslan}}, a Magical lion that inhabits and watches over Narnia. He would probably be really pissed that someone is throwing trash there. He would probably try to stop this by any means necessary, even if that means coming up through a trash chute into another dimension. But, because lions are a type of cat (feline), apparently he can be repelled with an ordinary spray bottle, usually used on small house cats. |
| − | [http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3513 October 15 2014]. The button at the bottom of that comic shows a sad {{w|Mr. Tumnus}}, a {{w|faun}} {{w|Lucy Pevensie|Lucy}} meets on her first visit to Narnia, rather than an angry Aslan as suggested in this comic. | + | The system would dispose of trash very efficiently because time passes much faster on Narnia than on earth (previously mentioned in [[821: Five-Minute Comics: Part 3]]). Because of this, within just a few Earth minutes, the trash could completely decompose. {{w|Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository|Yucca Mountain}} is a proposed nuclear waste repository. Black hat wants to use his method to help them dispose of radioactive waste, likely for a profit for himself. |
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| − | The portal through the wardrobe to Narnia was previously featured in [[665: Prudence]], [[969: Delta-P]] and [[821: Five-Minute Comics: Part 3]]. In the latter, the different passage of time was also mentioned. | + | A possible interpretation of why Randall associates Narnia with trash in this comic is that The Chronicles of Narnia are strongly influenced by Christian motives (cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Religion_in_The_Chronicles_of_Narnia&oldid=759754761#Christian_parallels) and Randall Munroe has already in the past made fun of religion (in particular Christian topics) in his xkcd comics, such as in [[812: Glass]], [[900: Religions]] or [[1575: Footprints]]. |
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| | ==Transcript== | | ==Transcript== |
| − | :[Cueball looking at garbage chute attached to wardrobe. Black Hat answers him from off panel.] | + | :[Cueball looking at garbage chute attached to wardrobe] |
| | :Cueball: What's this thing on your wardrobe? | | :Cueball: What's this thing on your wardrobe? |
| − | :Black Hat (off-panel): Garbage chute. | + | :[Black Hat off-panel] |
| | + | :Black Hat: Garbage chute. |
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| − | :[In a frame-less panel Cueball has turned away from the wardrobe (now off-panel) and he walks towards Black Hat.] | + | :[Cueball and Black Hat face each other] |
| | :Cueball: Into a wardrobe? | | :Cueball: Into a wardrobe? |
| − | :Black hat: There's some sort of portal to a magical land in there. Half the furniture I get has them-it's kinda a pain. | + | :Black hat: There's some sort of magical portal in there. Half the furniture I get has them - it's kind of a pain. |
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| − | :[Cueball stops walking closer to Black Hat.]
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| | :Cueball: You dump your trash in ''Narnia''? | | :Cueball: You dump your trash in ''Narnia''? |
| | :Black Hat: Yeah, it's a real time-saver. | | :Black Hat: Yeah, it's a real time-saver. |
| − | :Black Hat: There's a huge cat in there, but I have a spray bottle I use when he tries to come up through the chute.
| + | :There's a huge cat in there, but I have a spray bottle I use when he tries to come up through the chute. |
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| − | ==Trivia==
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| − | *If one cares about the rules of the Narnia continuity...
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| − | **If the portal travels to Narnia specifically, this comic would have to be set during the books (that is to say, during the 1940's) because in the last book Narnia ceases to exist.
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| − | **Note however in the continuity of the books, Narnia is not the only alternate world -- three of them are explored in ''The Magician's Nephew'' -- just the most famous to popular culture.
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| − | ***This other world could still also have Aslan, as implied in the books.
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| − | *The wardrobe in the first book only worked sometimes, and after the first book it could never be used again. Had this been such a wardrobe then it would just fill with trash, so this could not be that wardrobe.
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| − | **Even if it was always open, it doesn't actually suck anything in; Black Hat would have to push the trash over or it would just pile up on his side of the wardrobe, defeating the purpose of the trash chute.
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| | {{comic discussion}} | | {{comic discussion}} |
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| − | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
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| − | [[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
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| − | [[Category:Cats]]
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| − | [[Category:Time]]
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| − | [[Category:Chronicles of Narnia]]
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