Furries Bet Update: Comics, Books, and Commercials
gaping_asshole sent me this comic as an example of me losing the bet. At the bottom it includes a tagline which says "Someone, somewhere, is dressing up like your favorite cartoon character and having sex". This is not an example of me losing the bet. I shall explain my opinion.
The bet does not concern whether the public will become more aware of furries. The bet concerns whether "Furry subculture will shed its "sub" culture and become mainstream" by January 12 2009. The issue is not awareness, but acceptance. Consider the interracial kiss in "Star Trek" vs. the interracial kiss in "Shanty Tramp". "Star Trek" portrayed interracial relationships in a progressive, positive, accepting light indicating a broadening of social norms. The episode invited racist trekkies to reconsider that perhaps making out with Uhura would not be so bad after all. The latter portrayed interracial relationships as a scandalous and shameful affair and worthy of outrage from decent people; keeping social norms narrow. I think the comic is more a "Shanty Tramp" than a "Star Trek". The furry reference is inserted as shock humor. The author's message to the reader is not "Someone is finding new joy by rediscovering and reinterpreting their childhood memories from an adult perspective; perhaps you would benefit from a similar experimentation." The author intends for the reader and other decent people to be shocked by the deviants. The author assumes that the audience will be appalled by furries and cartoonsexuals. The comic is evidence that I am not losing the bet.
I've also been offered the cover of this user manual as another data point. I don't think this one weighs in either way. At most it's an example of a furry illustrator sneaking a detail into a mainstream book the same way that a Disney artist was rumored to have drawn a phallus into The Little Mermaid poster. The disney phallus was an isolated incident of mischief or a look into a single artist's subconscious but not a formal endorsement of phallus acceptance by the Disney Corporation. The anthropomorphosed lion furry on the cover of the LaTeX book is not an endorsement of furry fandom by the Addison-Wesley corporation. He's not even sexualized in the first place; he's a random anthropomorphosed animal, doing an everyday task just like anthropomorphsed animals have done in myths and illustrations for thousands of years.
Far less clear-cut and more troubling is this new Orangina ad:
First, these are obviously furries. These furries are not only anthropomorphosed but explicitly sexualized in over-the-top detail. Furthermore, with this piece I have a hard time determining artistic intent, let alone popular opinion. The artists have clearly taken a lot of care to proportion, animate, and render the characters attractively and portray them positively. The characters' sexualized exhibitionism seems to be sincere and enthusiastic. It doesn't seem far-fetched to consider this a "Star Trek" rather than a "Shanty Tramp"; the artists might actually be expecting a normal viewership to say to themselves "I've never thought about it before, but I'd sure love to fuck that there lady deer." Then again maybe the ad's over-the-top sincerity is just a deeper and more subtle form of shock humor. Everyone who's sent me that ad certainly seems to be shocked by it. Then again this ad was produced for the French and who really knows what's going on over there.
The bet does not concern whether the public will become more aware of furries. The bet concerns whether "Furry subculture will shed its "sub" culture and become mainstream" by January 12 2009. The issue is not awareness, but acceptance. Consider the interracial kiss in "Star Trek" vs. the interracial kiss in "Shanty Tramp". "Star Trek" portrayed interracial relationships in a progressive, positive, accepting light indicating a broadening of social norms. The episode invited racist trekkies to reconsider that perhaps making out with Uhura would not be so bad after all. The latter portrayed interracial relationships as a scandalous and shameful affair and worthy of outrage from decent people; keeping social norms narrow. I think the comic is more a "Shanty Tramp" than a "Star Trek". The furry reference is inserted as shock humor. The author's message to the reader is not "Someone is finding new joy by rediscovering and reinterpreting their childhood memories from an adult perspective; perhaps you would benefit from a similar experimentation." The author intends for the reader and other decent people to be shocked by the deviants. The author assumes that the audience will be appalled by furries and cartoonsexuals. The comic is evidence that I am not losing the bet.
I've also been offered the cover of this user manual as another data point. I don't think this one weighs in either way. At most it's an example of a furry illustrator sneaking a detail into a mainstream book the same way that a Disney artist was rumored to have drawn a phallus into The Little Mermaid poster. The disney phallus was an isolated incident of mischief or a look into a single artist's subconscious but not a formal endorsement of phallus acceptance by the Disney Corporation. The anthropomorphosed lion furry on the cover of the LaTeX book is not an endorsement of furry fandom by the Addison-Wesley corporation. He's not even sexualized in the first place; he's a random anthropomorphosed animal, doing an everyday task just like anthropomorphsed animals have done in myths and illustrations for thousands of years.
Far less clear-cut and more troubling is this new Orangina ad:
First, these are obviously furries. These furries are not only anthropomorphosed but explicitly sexualized in over-the-top detail. Furthermore, with this piece I have a hard time determining artistic intent, let alone popular opinion. The artists have clearly taken a lot of care to proportion, animate, and render the characters attractively and portray them positively. The characters' sexualized exhibitionism seems to be sincere and enthusiastic. It doesn't seem far-fetched to consider this a "Star Trek" rather than a "Shanty Tramp"; the artists might actually be expecting a normal viewership to say to themselves "I've never thought about it before, but I'd sure love to fuck that there lady deer." Then again maybe the ad's over-the-top sincerity is just a deeper and more subtle form of shock humor. Everyone who's sent me that ad certainly seems to be shocked by it. Then again this ad was produced for the French and who really knows what's going on over there.