[RD] Safe Travels

[BvBPL]

New Yorker cover for August 20, 2018. “Safe Travels” by R. Kikou Johnson. What does it mean? What does it mean to you?

An explanation that you shouldn’t read follows below. Seriously, don’t read the spoiler. Just tell us what you think. In fact, tell us what you think before you read anyone else’s statement it. Let us get your initial take before responding to others’.

Spoiler :

This is an illustration that is loaded with meaning, but that meaning will differ from viewer to viewer. Here, I want to see what meanings people take away from this. I think the illustration evokes enough meaning that you won't need an additional prompt.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Interesting.

Spoiler :

To begin, there is more in the cover picture than I would have normally noticed. What I noticed:

• A non Trump supporting, middle class+ family is vacationing at a place where a Trump supporter is also vacationing.
• The "Safe Travels" title raises a different set of questions than would be raised if the title was "My Weekend in the Pokonos"
• The cover says, be careful when you leave the safe confines of the city and head into Trump Country. They have guns and will use them.
• Life jackets may save your children from drowning, but it won't keep them safe from Hillbilly Bob.
• Poor white Christians are dangerous
• "Safe Travels" now includes the danger of political extremism ruining your vacation in multiple ways.

 

[Farm Boy]

An image for an image.

Spoiler :

 

[Zkribbler]

Spoiler :

Life jackets will do you no good when your psychopathic father decides to smash your skull in with a boat oar.

 

[The_J]

Not a very long reply, have not yet read the spoiler:

Spoiler :

I don't think the interpretation is that hard: Safety means different things for different people, or at least they think it should be implemented in a different way. Some think you need a gun to be safe, some life vests. Both offer some kind of safety, but not at all the same.

 

[Cutlass]

I prefer my travels be like an Indian Jones movie.

 

[Broken_Erika]

Spoiler :

Rednecks support trump, and trump supporters are more likely to believe that license plates are secret government tracking devices.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Added my reply

 

[Farm Boy]

Have to admit Bird:

Spoiler :

My first thought was something along the lines of "You coming out with us too, Dad?" And then I realized I was (probably) being way too generous and not nearly judgy enough for anticipated readership.

Maybe something more about "You say your names are Tucker and Dale?"

 

[Birdjaguar]

Have to admit Bird:

Spoiler :

My first thought was something along the lines of "You coming out with us too, Dad?" And then I realized I was (probably) being way too generous and not nearly judgy enough for anticipated readership.

Maybe something more about "You say your names are Tucker and Dale?"

Yeah, my initial thoughts were along these lines...

Spoiler :

The dad drove the truck and the mom drove the van and the family had split political allegiances. Way too complicated for a cover. A closer look provided what I wrote above.

 

[Farm Boy]

Spoiler :

Still not entirely certain why the right side comes off as yuppies. I think it's metagaming it from the publication and the title. It would have seemed utterly mundane, otherwise. I mean, we don't do the truck rack things around here, but I can't imagine caring at first glance.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Spoiler :

Canoe, the guy's hat and sandals, kids (and mom) wearing life jackets before they have even unloaded the canoe, and mini van. Who uses canoes? I think the artist wanted to make sure that Trump, Christian, and NRA were all there. In addition, the old rusting truck says poor.

 

[Bugfatty300]

Spoiler :

Everything that the yuppie family is doing (driving, swimming, boating) is less safe than gun toting statistically speaking. Also no one actually leaves a firearm openly unattended in a public parking (Just having a gun rack is an invitation to have your vehicle broken into) so this is Hollywood's idea of meeting a redneck.

But this is just a typical political cartoon in the guise of a horror movie plot. The are style has a name but I don't remember it. What's so special about it BvB?

 

[Arwon]

I wonder how much that custom MAGA licence plate cost that redneck, and how that other family got away with not having one at all

 

[Timsup2nothin]

I wonder how much that custom MAGA licence plate cost that redneck, and how that other family got away with not having one at all

That's a bumper sticker. Neither has a license plate.

As for my take on the image:

Spoiler :

One word. Deliverance.

 

[Hrothbern]

Spoiler my first impression :

A classic family, the kids well raised..... what are they small compared to the cars.... and that innocence from their looks and their car.....
She busy with the kids, he doing the canoe..... but disturbed by a feeling of something not "ok" and looking around
The shouting red Ford like a crack in the natural harmony, like a anachronism

 

[Farm Boy]

Yeah, bugfatty has this pegged.

 

[Yeekim]

Spoiler :

It seems to be contrasting someone who improves safety by owning a gun with someone who does it by using life vests?
Given that the latter are clearly more useful when canoeing, probably anti-gun message?

 

[Uberfrog]

Spoiler :

To me, it brings to mind the conflict and political division that has become more apparent in the United States. An American tourist is holidaying with his family in a beautiful rural part of the USA, his home country. But it is also the home country of the man –and his family?– whose truck is parked in the space next to him. This man has, presumably, a quite different opinion of the President than the other man does. The juxtaposition of the gun pointing towards the family adds a sense of quiet threat to the division, as well as the idea that gun ownership and how that relates to the safety of children might be other things the drivers of the two vehicles fundamentally disagree on.

 

[Bamspeedy]

Non-political observations:

1. $8.99 for a weekly magazine?

2. People owning their own canoes are very rare. I do have one neighbor who owns one, but I've only ever seen him polishing it, never seen him take it out on the river, but maybe I'm just not looking at the right times. Most people just rent one from a place right on the shore of the river.

3. Where, oh where has anyone had a gun rack on their truck in the last 40 years? I'm pretty 'rural' and I have never seen it. Edit: ok, upon googling, extended cabs gave more options of places to store guns where they are not so visible.

4. He's going to lose his sandals in the mud. Who wears sandals while canoeing? Edit: Aargh, ok, I guess his sandals have enough straps on it, maybe he won't lose them in the mud. I just have a beef with sandals in general as they aren't sturdy and straps break too often.

5. Those hats with the strings are so annoying, why anyone would get one is beyond me, unless horseback riding.

6. The mountain tells me they aren't in the Midwest. Sure, it's not a huge mountain, but bigger than anything the Midwest has.

7. I am not confused that they are already getting life jackets on before getting in the water, it's something to do while the dad is getting the canoe down. I hope there is a life jacket for him lying around somewhere.