What I like about this snake image is the way in which it’s playing on the idea of snake = rampant sexuality. The joke is based on the notion that untrustworthy men are known colloquially as snakes, which is an idea that goes all the way back to the idea of the serpent tempting Eve with lies (there’s also a phallic connection, but I think that’s slightly less relevant right now). A snake is untrustworthy because a) it damned us all in Judeo-Christian thought, and b) it can shed its skin – start anew in a way that people can’t. The cartoon plays on both of these notions: the woman is being betrayed by a snake once more and the snake’s assumption that because it’s a snake, she should have expected his behavior.
Day: September 8, 2008
Assignment #2
Your assignment for this week is quite simple, and in keeping with some of the images we’ve been discussing in class. I would like for each of you to go online and find a media image from within the past couple of decades (we’ll say from 1990 on) that employs snake imagery. It could be a clip from a tv show, or movie, an advertising image or cartoon – whatever you can find. Once you’ve posted your clip, I’d like you to write a short paragraph explaining the way in which the symbolism is being used.
Due: 9/14 at 5pm