GUE 6: Lycanthropification

The original version of this comic had a much longer script that I ultimately decided to cut down for everyone’s benefit, in which the explanatory flashback would have the form of an Adam Curtis documentary, with all the illustrations replaced with public domain photographs. It was a fun idea, to be sure, and I figured that the themes of paranoia, hysteria, and the absurdities of human nature would have fit in well with the likes of Hypernomalization  and Can’t Get You Out of My Head.  The problem was, it proved incredibly difficult to accurately parody Curtis’ unique brand of storytelling and narration (outside of dropping the occasional “but then, something rathe strange happened…”), especially in a non-film medium; so much of the style comes from Curtis’ speaking style, and replicating that in written form was a real challenge. Finding appropriate images proved to be huge headache too, so ultimately the idea was scrapped. 

We finally get a look at the inside of GUE’s National Park staff housing; I know everyone’s been chomping at the bit. Getting a cabin all to yourself is maybe a little on the luxurious side, from what I understand, even if the accommodations are pretty bare-bones; in Astrid’s case, I imagine she fought tooth and nail to live by herself, and would have happily accepted a minimalist bed-bathroom-bookpile domicile. In an unused, and therefore temporarily non-canon script, it was explained that this particular single-room staff housing unit was actually a renovated version of Ted Kaczynski’s former summer home, which the park service won from the FBI in a friendly poker game. Since it was his vacation home, they surmised, it’s unlikely he would have constructed any bombs here, and thus the FBI’s claim to it is more on a “would be sick to have” basis. 

Astrid’s single piece of decorative art is Mother Mary With The Holy Child Jesus Christ, painted in 1913 by one Adolf Hitler. Not the original of course, merely a print— does that make it any better? In a way, isn’t that actually kind of worse? Ah well. There was a cut series of jokes relating to it, which I may come back to, and it’s easy to imagine why a misanthropic student of history would have a shock-value piece on their wall like this. Remember that Zizek interview where he has a Stalin portrait in his apartment? I’m sure Astrid has a similar explanation locked-and-loaded.