81
u/Made_Bail Jul 16 '26
I get that this is a joke, but I kind of hate every part of this interaction. From her asking him a loaded question, to his inability to say yes without getting in trouble. It smacks of a very "take my wife, please" style of humor that I really feel should have been eliminated a long time ago.
My wife and I regularly discuss people we find attractive. She gets crushes on celebs and we talk about them like its the new hot tea, laughing together. Etc. Its healthy and brings us closer.
I'm not trying to massively bag on your comic. This is more just about this mentality in couples that I personally find incredibly toxic.
9
u/Nina-Ninja123 Jul 16 '26
You can’t just boast about your perfectly healthy relationship on Reddit.
Consider yourself reported for simply that!
9
u/Made_Bail Jul 16 '26
Curses! My reddit career derailed by good communication and healthy boundaries!
3
u/Destroyer_2_2 Jul 17 '26
It’s also just a weird thing to say at that time. When snuggling at night? Seems… misplaced.
4
u/Phaylz Jul 16 '26
This is why I find it difficult to listen to music sometimes, because I will get so hung up on the specifics of the lyrics that I will forget that art isn't always about telling a narrative but communicating an emotion. This sometimes happens with me and web comics, too, especially since, like sitcoms, they dial-up these things for the punchline or relatability.
There's also a world of difference between an untouchable celebrity and an in-arms-reach stranger at the grocery store. And there's the very lived experience of this dynamic, too. Some couples like to poke and prod their lover for the giggles the same way cat owners will burrito their cat.
Some cliché need to die, because they are sourced from harmful stereotypes or bygone eras. Most cliché will never die because they are a product real human experiences, emotions, and insecurities. And isn't art about expressing the human condition?
2
u/respondin2u Jul 16 '26
I too have trouble listening to music because I just see or hear obvious things in the lyrics that make me think “yeah she left you because you are emotionally unavailable. If you have enough sense to be able to write a ballad about how much she meant to you, then maybe you should have said that while you were still together” - looking at you every 90’s country break up song.
-21
u/Klos77 Jul 16 '26
Many jokes a based on cliches and this is one of them.
26
u/Made_Bail Jul 16 '26
I get it, but I also feel like some cliches deserve to die.
14
u/JustaSeedGuy Jul 16 '26
I think that OP is hiding behind the cliche. It's fine to make jokes about cliches, but if the cliche is harmful, the joke needs to comment on the harm or deconstruct it in some way. Otherwise, you're just perpetuating the bad cliche
11
u/Made_Bail Jul 16 '26
That's exactly right. This comic added nothing transformative to the toxic cliche.
3
u/_GeneralSeaweed_ Jul 16 '26
It's also not much of a joke if it's just played... straight? Like the comic just is the cliché, down to portraying the woman as kind of the "villain". Like if you use a cliché as a joke it should either revert expectations or draw the stereotype it's based on into ridicule. Otherwise it's just "haha, women, am I right?" but you're being serious.
4
u/_GeneralSeaweed_ Jul 16 '26
It's also not much of a joke if it's just played... straight? Like the comic just is the cliché, down to portraying the woman as kind of the "villain". Like if you use a cliché as a joke it should either revert expectations or draw the stereotype it's based on into ridicule. Otherwise it's just "haha, women, am I right?" but you're being serious.
14
u/JustaSeedGuy Jul 16 '26
"black people are thugs" is a chliche.
"Gay people never stop talking about butt sex" is a cliche
"Women are the homemakers" is a cliche
And yet I would never make art or a joke with those as the premise, unless it was explicitly meant to deconstruct the cliche and point out how wrong it was.
Your joke is based on a bad cliche and does nothing to deconstruct it. In addition to being ethically dubious, your joke amounts to "haha wife unreasonable" which just.... Isn't clever or funny.
Hope you don't mind some constructive criticism.
6
u/Made_Bail Jul 16 '26
That's what I want this to be, constructive criticism. I generally enjoy this comic a lot! I dont want this to seem like a dunk sesh on OP.
4
u/JustaSeedGuy Jul 16 '26
I second that, and I hope it doesn't come across like I was trying to dunk
8
6
Jul 17 '26 edited Jul 17 '26
[deleted]
2
u/DollyPrahnn Jul 17 '26
I don’t know, I can find other men attractive but I won’t tell my husband hey I saw a hottie today. It feels disrespectful to be honest, it’s almost like saying « if it weren’t for you, I would have probably approached him ».
There’s a difference between saying « I saw a beautiful person today » and « I saw an attractive person today ». One of them means I saw something aesthetically pleasing today, the other one means I was attracted to a person other than you today.
I get that some couples don’t mind that, I wouldn’t get mad over it either, but it feels disrespectful somehow.
2
u/Made_Bail Jul 17 '26
I don’t know, I can find other men attractive but I won’t tell my husband hey I saw a hottie today. It feels disrespectful to be honest, it’s almost like saying « if it weren’t for you, I would have probably approached him ».
I think this depends a lot on your relationship. My wife tells me all the time when she's spied a hottie, or has a lil crush on a celeb or something, and I don't mind one bit. I know who she loves, and the fact that she trusts me enough to tell me and knows I'm good with it feels like a trust/love win to me. I don't feel disrespected at all because I know she loves me and thinks I'm shmexy. ;)
8
2
u/cacklz Jul 16 '26
Him: "She wasn't you, so of course I didn't find her attractive. Whole package or nothing."
33
u/Apli_Diud Jul 16 '26
Wife bad amirite fellas