Among the most remembered comics that Gary Larson ever produced during The Far Side executed in publication is his “Smoking Dinosaurs” panel, which reveals to readers “the real reason dinosaurs became extinct“was that they smoked cigarettes. It’s perhaps one of Larson’s most straightforward jokes – and that has at least something to do with its success.
The Far Side regularly confused readers, but in a sense it could be argued that Larson’s penchant for esoteric, layered humor managed to make his simplest jokes stand out when they appeared.
“Smoking Dinosaurs” is an example. If The Far Side was often “niche” in his comedy, Panel is a glaring exception, featuring an unmistakable joke. The cartoon is, in fact, elevated by its accessibility, just as, conversely, Larson’s more absurd and obscure comics are elevated to the pantheon of “greatest Far Side entries” for how inscrutable they are.
Cartoon “Smoking Dinosaurs” by Gary Larson (Why is it so funny? Why is it so memorable?)
First published: 1982
“Smoking Dinosaurs”, like many of the best Far Side comics, It’s based on a fun premise: dinosaurs were killed by cigarettes, not an asteroid or an Ice Age. The caption, “the real reason dinosaurs became extinct”, adds a subtle note of conspiracy; if this is the “real” reason, what the reader previously knew is some kind of cover-up. Far Side however, the cartoon, instead of just being a good one, is the illustration itself – with the body language of the dinosaurs mirroring that of young people smoking illicitly.
What makes it memorable, once again, is its simplicity, on every level. At the time of the cartoon’s publication in the early 1980s, the average reader would generally have been aware of the dangers of smoking; Likewise, the average reader would probably have at least some sort of knowledge about dinosaurs and what killed them – if not to the extent a generation later, after the release of Michael Crichton’s novel Jurassic Parkand Spielberg’s subsequent film adaptation. In other words, the outcome of this Far Side Dinosaur comics immediately connect with readers.
“Smoking Dinosaurs”: The Perception of This Fan-Favorite Far Side Comic, So Vs. Now
The changing perception of Gary Larson’s work
In 1982, readers might have been quite aware of the dangers of smoking – but the cultural shift on the topic of cigarettes was still in the process of shifting toward today’s more safety-conscious attitudes. In other words, “Smoking Dinosaurs” by Gary Larson Far Side cartoon would have contributed to an ongoing discourse that was very much in the zeitgeist at the time. This made it more than just funny at the time; “Smoking Dinosaurs” was socially relevant and its impact has only become more pronounced over time.
“Smoking Dinosaurs” still suggests a strong anti-smoking stance, which will speak even more clearly to successive generations of new Far Side fans.
In some ways, “Smoking Dinosaurs” equates the idea of smoking, despite the available data on how dangerous it is, with being a dinosaur. Although Gary Larson would rarely, if ever, like to admit that Far Side While the cartoons conveyed any kind of “message,” this cartoon is certainly the closest thing to a public service announcement that the artist has ever produced. Even though it does not seek to influence its readers, in addition to provoking an immediate reaction, “Smoking Dinosaurs” still suggests a strong anti-smoking stance, which will speak even more clearly to successive generations of new Far Side fans.
In fact, it’s worth asking what smokers thought of the cartoon at the time. The Far Side It wasn’t without controversy during its run, as fans will know, but over the years, an interesting phenomenon can be observed with the comic and readers’ reactions to it. Some Far Side Cartoons that were considered controversial in the 1980s and 1990s are unlikely to impress modern readers, but the flip side of this is that a series of jokes that were innocuous at the time of their publication are likely to strike contemporary fans as insensitive and occasionally blunt. offensive.
How ‘Smoking Dinosaurs’ Reflects Far Side Creator Gary Larson’s Perspective
How Larson left an impression
With The Far SideGary Larson was never didactic, and while his interests and opinions motivated many of his jokes, he didn’t use the cartoon as a soapbox — at least not in the way a comic like Gary Trudeau’s would Doonesbury he did. Larson’s worldview manifests itself on the page more openly than, say, Jim Davis’s in Garfieldor Charles Schulz does in Peanutbut the extent to which he devoted himself to the page remains open to debate, given the artist’s somewhat reclusive nature.
That is, Larson often began with his own opinion but subverted it to achieve the final form of a given opinion. Far Side joke. It is not out of the question, for example, that Larson himself was a smoker – at one time, or even when “Smoking Dinosaurs” was published – and that he was berating himself as much as the smokers among his readers. Without a doubt, however, the clarity that the panel presents, whatever its motivations, is what made it unforgettable for so many readers.
Exploring the Counterfactuals of Far Side’s Approach to Comedy
Auditing the Legacy of Gary Larson’s Career
Of course, when talking about Gary Larson and The Far Sidethe discussion is always framed, to some extent, in the context of the artist and the legacy of his art, decades after the end of the strip’s publication The Far Side had a notable impact on popular culture – the extent of which is still traced to this day – but so many “What?” questions that the cartoon raised during its exhibition, There are also a number of “And if?” questions that might be asked about your success and popularity.
It is possible that, without its reputation for being bizarre and incomprehensible, The Far Side would not have stood out from his peers in the funny pages.
In other words, it is worth at least considering whether The Far Side would have been more or less successful if more of his cartoons had been closer in style and content to “Smoking Dinosaurs”. If Gary Larson had calibrated his comedy for a more general audience, it’s possible the strip would have been even more acclaimed – though perhaps it wouldn’t have lasted longer, as Gary Larson’s exhaustion with public notoriety came quickly and bothered him until he finally retired.
On the other hand, it is possible that, without its reputation for being bizarre and incomprehensible, The Far Side would not have stood out from his peers in the funny pages. The virtue of The Far Side was that Gary Larson offered something totally different from everything else in newspaper comics at the time, or before, or since. While he may have stumbled upon a broad appeal joke like “Smoking Dinosaurs” every now and then, Leaning too much into this type of humor would have gone against his natural instincts and perhaps kept The Far Side to achieve your true greatness.