Huh

[boojum]

Go look at this artwork (NSFW???) I really disagree with the artist as to what it depicts. The difference between what I see and what the artist sees fascinates me.

Further context, including the artist's title for the artwork. All his pictures are interesting.

(I'll put my interpretation of the artwork in a comment.)

Comments

[boojum]

To my eyes, the lemon juice bottle is obviously a Real Doll, or similar. I didn't see the artist's title initially, but when I did (in the paragraph about the chair), I got confused. I can't see this as a mail-order bride situation, unless it's a somewhat joking way of referring to sex toys by mail.

[caladri]

I agree about parsing it as a Real Doll. Mail-order brides are still citrus people, even if they aren't treated as such, which ought to be the point.

[benndragon]

I completely failed to see the title when I initially saw that page so I entirely had the same interpretation. He should've used a lime or orange if he was going for "foreigner" in that context, IMHO.

[keystricken]

+

[leora]

Mail order bride was actually my first thought, but with a side of forced and rape. What made me feel that way was the chair propped against the door handle. Why would you do that? Why take that sort of measure to prevent people from opening the door? Because you don't want anyone disturbing you while she screams was the only answer I could come up with.

[boojum]

I pretty much had the same interpretation of the chair as adrian_turtle did further down in the comments: to prevent parents or roommates from barging in on the sexual thing that Lemon is doing. It's definitely creepier if it's to keep them from coming in to intervene in an attack, yeah.

[keystricken]

Mail order bride was my first thought, too, but I thought the fake-lemon body meant that the "husband" saw the bride as a sex toy, not a person citrus. So my interpretation is quite similar to yours.

[freyley]

the image filename is mailorder something, so I got the words too quickly.

I did see the Real Doll interpretation before coming here, thinking about how lemon juice in a fake lemon bottle is fake.

[adrian_turtle]

I saw it as a RealDoll analog. The brand name for those plastic lemons full of reconstituted juice is "ReaLemon." It's obviously a reference. I don't think the image of the chair under the doorknob implied rape or kidnapping. Masturbation isn't actually criminal in the US or Europe...but it's often stigmatized. (See "wanker.") Masturbation with more elaborate props is more likely to be stigmatized. Consider the custom of plain brown wrappers for porn or sex toys. Stuff from Good Vibrations has the return address "Barnaby Ltd," which doesn't look at all unseemly, if one's parents or neighbors notice it

[leora]

It was the odd ad hoc nature of the way of keeping the door closed that made me think rape. If you go to the effort of buying a sex toy, can't you go through the effort of buying a lock for your door? And it was delivered to him, which implies he's over 18 and has a credit card/debit card.

It just seemed like something beyond usual privacy was needed, and I think someone who can order a realdoll should be able to arrange for basic room privacy. Maybe I'm wrong on that.

[azurelunatic]

How easy is it to iconically represent usual privacy in a miniature setting like that, though? I also read it as extra efforts, but extra efforts to be undistracted rather than specifically un-interfered-with.

[leora]

Well, I figured a simple chain lock would work quite well and seem more natural.

[vgo]

I guess Mail-Order Bride is empty in this case and the Male Lemon is gonna fill it with his juice.

[empty_fork]

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