This is Your Brain on a Diet
May 23rd, 2022 Barry Posted in Barry's favorites, Fat Acceptance | No Comments »
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TRANSCRIPT OF CARTOON
This cartoon has six panels, plus an additional tiny “kicker” panel below the bottom of the cartoon.
At the top of the entire cartoon is a large caption, which says THIS IS YOUR BRAIN ON A DIET.
The first five panels show a human brain, but anthropomorphized: It has arms, legs, hands (gloved with three fingers, a la Mickey Mouse) huge eyes and a pointy crown. It’s in some sort of dimly lit round space.
The brain is speaking to a cell-like creature, with little blobs of oil falling off of it, and this creature has also been anthropomorphized, and has a mouth and two big eyes. The cell-like creature is wearing a black bowler hat.
PANEL 1
The brain is speaking a bit imperiously to the cell-like creature, who is named Mr. Ghrelin. Ghrelin looks a little nervious.
BRAIN: Mr. Ghrelin, you have a report?
GHRELIN: Your majesty, I bring word from the stomach! We’ve been getting less food and we’re losing fat!
PANEL 2
A close-up of the brain. The brain is looking up thoughtfully into the hair, one finger pressed to the side of what I’ll call its cheek, as if its trying to remember something.
BRAIN: Less food? Losing fat? There’s a word for this…
BRAIN: What’s that word? It’s something I learned millions of years ago in evolution school…
PANEL 3
The brain has jumped up, holding the sides of its, er, head and with an extremely panicked expression; Mr Ghrelin is in turn surprised by the brain’s reaction. The word “starvation” is written in huge red letters.
BRAIN: GASP!
BRAIN: This is called STARVATION!
PANEL 4
A shot of the brain, raising its fists high as it yells, with a determined expression on its face. The background has disappeared, replaced by bright yellow, with waves of action lines (indicating great energy) shooting out from the brain.
BRAIN: I’m declaring a state of emergency!
BRAIN: Slow down metabolism! We must preserve our precious fat!
PANEL 5
The brain is now surrounded by a bunch of Ghrelin-types, each of who looks the same, except they’re wearing different hats (we can see: bowler hat, top hat, cabbie cap, 50s dad hat). The brain, still yelling, is pointing decisively as it gives marching orders.
BRAIN: Release the stress hormones! Have them produce constant, extreme hunger! And store all the fat we can! Just in case!
BRAIN: We’ll keep this up for years if necessary!
PANEL 6
A fat man sites on a sofa. Next to him, on an endtable, are a lamp, a drinking glass, and a pen. On his other side is a cell phone and a throw pillow. On the back of the sofa, there’s a folded blanket and, lying on the blanket, an orange cat. He’s wearing fuzzy slippers that are designed to look like mice, with little ears sticking up.
He’s holding a book; we can see the book’s cover, with the title “THE COMMON SENSE DIET.” A caption above the book shows what he’s reading in the book.
CAPTION: Just eat less! It’s easy!
TINY KICKER PANEL BELOW THE BOTTOM OF THE STRIP
Mr. Ghrelin is speaking to the brain again; the brain is facing away and looking anxious.
GHRELIN: Good news! We’re getting normal amounts of food again.
BRAIN: But for how long? Better store more fat.
