Garfield minus Garfield – or Context Creates Relevance
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Something interesting pointed out by Ze Frank – a “Garfield minus Garfield” comic strip. Here’s the description:
Who would have guessed that when you remove Garfield from the Garfield comic strips, the result is an even better comic about schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and the empty desperation of modern life? Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle. Let’s laugh and learn with him on a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against loneliness in a quiet American suburb.
Need I say more? Check it out here!
Actually I will say a bit more – the even more interesting part of this is that you would only enjoy these comics IF and ONLY IF you read the introductory paragraph.
“Friends, meet Jon Arbuckle…. a journey deep into the tortured mind of an isolated young everyman as he fights a losing battle against lonliness…”
Without that line above, you would pretty much miss the joke, nor enjoy the comics. With this line, the comics are quite hilarious.
That sentence is the context which gives better meaning or relevance to the information at hand – in this case a comic book.
Can you think of other places in your workday or life where knowing, understanding context can help you be better at something? Tell me, I’m interested to know.
Update: Another good example is Twitter. Without the “Where we ask you ‘what are you doing right now’?” premise, the service would just be a box that mass-SMSs your contacts. That sentence alone aligned everyone towards activity that has made the platform much more interesting.
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