Editing 59: Graduation

Jump to: navigation, search

Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.

The edit can be undone. Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision Your text
Line 4: Line 4:
 
| title    = Graduation
 
| title    = Graduation
 
| image    = graduation.jpg
 
| image    = graduation.jpg
−
| titletext = Opening dialogue by Scott
+
| titletext = Opening dialogue by [[Scott]]
 
}}
 
}}
  
 
==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
−
[[Megan]] and [[Blondie]] (in her first appearance) discuss their plans for life after college. Megan has taken the increasingly unusual choice of pursuing a career as a {{w|Lighthouse keeper|lighthouse operator}}, a path that has become increasingly less traveled, as lighthouses have become ever more automated and supplanted by other solutions. Before GPS technology, {{w|Lighthouse|lighthouses}} were invaluable markers of where dangers to marine navigation, such as shallow reefs or coastal headlands, were located. Megan likes the idea of subverting the {{tvtropes|GirlInTheTower|trope of the helpless maid in the tower}} who needs saving, by helping to save seafarers by operating a lighthouse that helps them to find their way safely back home.
+
A young [[Miss Lenhart]] and [[Megan]] discuss their plans after the college. Miss Lenhart doesn't know what she wants to do with her life, so she is going to go to {{w|Graduate school|grad school}}. Graduate school is the next level of education after {{w|undergraduate education|undergraduate work}}, where students pursue a master's or doctoral degrees.
  
−
When it comes to her turn to answer her own question, Blondie answers that she plans to pursue {{w|Postgraduate education|postgraduate education}}, but admits that she has no purpose for doing so. After obtaining an {{w|undergraduate education|undergraduate}}/{{w|Bachelor's degree|bachelor's}} degree, {{w|Graduate school|graduate school}} is the next level of education, where students pursue a {{w|Master's degree|master's}} or {{w|Doctorate|doctoral}} {{w|Academic degree|degree}}. Augmenting one's education with post-graduate studies is a conventional career path, and would imply that the student has a definite plan for their career, yet some people may attend grad school only ''because'' it is conventional, without having any definite plan for their career. This appears to be the case for Blondie, contrasted with Megan's choice of a seemingly {{w|Blue-collar worker|blue collar}}/{{w|Skilled worker|unskilled}} career — one might expect such a career to indicate someone who has no specific career plan, yet Megan seems to know her exact purpose, unlike Blondie. The fact that Blondie then accepts an invitation to spend her breaks at Megan's lighthouse suggests that she finds this a more attractive prospect than her more conventional path.
+
Megan, on the other hand, has decided to become a lighthouse operator. Which is a path that is becoming increasingly less travelled. Fewer people need lighthouses. Before GPS technology, lighthouses were invaluable markers of where the sea ended and where land began. Megan likes the idea of being the maid in the highest tower. Except where most fairy tales portray the {{w|Rapunzel|maid in the tower}} as helpless, waiting to be rescued, operating a lighthouse is far from helpless. It can be one of the most needed jobs for sea-farers to find their way back home safe.
  
−
Other comics with a similar theme about finding or taking unexplored paths, instead of fitting into the mold, include [[137: Dreams]] and [[267: Choices: Part 4]].
+
Other comics with a similar theme about finding or taking unexplored paths, instead of fitting into the mold, includes [[137: Dreams]] and [[267: Choices: Part 4]].
  
−
[[Scott]] appears to be a friend of [[Randall Munroe]]. Comics 57 through 59 all have the title text ''[[:Category:Opening dialogue by Scott|Opening dialogue by Scott]]'', forming a sort of informal mini-series inspired by him. They are:
+
[[Scott]] appears to be a friend of [[Randall Munroe]]. Comics 57 through 59 all have the title text "Opening dialogue by Scott", forming a sort of informal mini-series inspired by him.
 +
 
 +
Referenced in:
 +
 
 +
*[[17: What If]]
 +
*[[35: Sheep]]
 
*[[57: Wait For Me]]
 
*[[57: Wait For Me]]
 
*[[58: Why Do You Love Me?]]
 
*[[58: Why Do You Love Me?]]
 
*[[59: Graduation]]
 
*[[59: Graduation]]
−
As there already was a comic released on Monday that week, the first of these three was released on Tuesday, then Wednesday and Friday. This may be related to the fact that this was the first week where the comics were not also released on [[LiveJournal]].
 
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
−
:[Megan and Blondie are talking.]
+
:[Megan and Blonde are talking.]
−
:Blondie: What do you want to do when you graduate?
+
:Blonde (or Ms. Lenhart): What do you want to do when you graduate?
−
 
 
−
:[Same scene as before.]
 
 
:Megan: I want to become a lighthouse operator.
 
:Megan: I want to become a lighthouse operator.
−
:Blondie: Oh?
+
:Blonde: Oh?
 
:Megan: Yeah.
 
:Megan: Yeah.
−
 
 
:[Cut to scene of lighthouse with text overlaid.]
 
:[Cut to scene of lighthouse with text overlaid.]
 
:Megan: Lighthouses are built on interesting pieces of coast, so I'll have an interesting place to walk and swim, and great views of all kinds of weather. I'd feel good about myself and my work every single day.
 
:Megan: Lighthouses are built on interesting pieces of coast, so I'll have an interesting place to walk and swim, and great views of all kinds of weather. I'd feel good about myself and my work every single day.
−
 
+
:[Cut back to the two girls.]
−
:[Cut back to Megan and Blondie. Megan has her arms up.]
+
:Megan: I'd get to be the girl in the tower, only I'd be the one rescuing people.
−
:Megan: I'd get to be the girl in the tower, only <u>I'd</u> be the one rescuing people.
+
:Megan: Why. What do you want to do ?
−
 
+
:Blonde: I'm going to grad school. I don't really know why.
−
:[Megan now has her arms down.]
 
−
:Megan: Why, what do you want to do?
 
−
:Blondie: I'm going to grad school. I don't really know why.
 
−
 
 
−
:[Same scene as before.]
 
 
:Megan: Wanna come hang in my lighthouse over breaks?
 
:Megan: Wanna come hang in my lighthouse over breaks?
−
:Blondie: ...yeah.
+
:Blonde: ...yeah.
−
 
 
−
==Trivia==
 
−
This is the first xkcd comic featuring [[Blondie]].
 
  
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}
−
 
+
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
 +
[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
 
[[Category:Comics with color]]
 
[[Category:Comics with color]]
−
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
 
−
[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
 
−
[[Category:Comics featuring Scott]]
 
−
[[Category:Opening dialogue by Scott]]
 
−
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]
 

Please note that all contributions to explain xkcd may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see explain xkcd:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!

To protect the wiki against automated edit spam, we kindly ask you to solve the following CAPTCHA:

Cancel | Editing help (opens in new window)

Templates used on this page:

Retrieved from "https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/59:_Graduation"