Thursday, March 25, 2010

Smokin' on the Suwannee BBQ Festival

This, ladies and gentlemen, is a cry for help.

What you're seeing is the dark side of suicidefoodism—it has a bright side?—where the rush to die is shown in its proper context. To wit, the substance abuse and psychiatric issues that result from the animals' insistence on making objects of themselves.

This hallucinatory scene, this tableau with the vertiginous color sense of Van Gogh, is the headiest we've come across in years. While the sun stabs the sky and the water teems and seethes, the "food" animals float toward their doom.

As evidence of the deep wound in their psyches, take note of the two white flags of surrender and the chicken's "We give up!" posture. These animals aren't escaping: they are meeting their butchers head-on. Of course, one look at the cow's spiraling eyes is enough to make us wonder whether the poor animals even know where they are.

Regardless, they made a pact and they're in this thing together. When the end comes, which it will, soon, they'll face it like heroes. Disoriented, psychologically damaged heroes.

3 comments:

Desdemona said...

The cow's Hunter S. Thompsonesque affect suggests a sort of Gonzo BBQ aesthetic, in which the ribs, wings, "drumsticks," etc. are marinated in heady combination of LSD, mescaline and peyote, and served with a side of grilled psilocybin mushrooms. "Fear and Loathing in the Backyard!"

Unknown said...

Suwannee River? This has to be a shout-out to Deliverance. And the pig looks like he knows that pretty soon some sadistic hillbillies are going to make him squeal like Ned Beatty.

Ben said...

(But that was the Cahulawassee River.) But we don't doubt the impending Ned Beatty business.