Saturday, July 28, 2012

Ready to Serve

Is this a blatant phallic double entendre, or am I just seeing things?

Zoe Mozert — Ready to Serve — 1950

8 comments:

John Matthew Stater said...

Well, I've never found tennis so arousing, so you may have something there. ;)

Erik Johnson Illustrator said...

Very difficult to say. Its just on the edge of subtly.

Kid said...

Tsk. You're just seeing things, Thom. Now go and take a cold shower.

M. D. Jackson said...

Oh, dear...

Duckbutt said...

t may not hae been intentional.

dfordoom said...

It certainly looks intentional!

Daniel [oeconomist.com] said...

Blatant? No.

As to whether a double entendre were intentional, I don't know. I suspect that it were, but I don't know.

As well as themes that were simply not intended, there are themes that are conscious and themes that are not. In the absence of an admission, it can be difficult or impossible for a second party to tease-apart which are which. In fact, for people who lack self awareness, it can be hard to recognize their own unconscious use of themes.

I once had the idea of a picture that I thought would be very appealing, of a female warrior chatting with a mouse. In my mind, the mouse was a symbol of the gentle* and vulnerable. But, before I executed the drawing, I realized that a great many people would see the mouse as a symbolic penis. I just sort of threw-up my hands.

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*Real mice are not necessarily gentle, but that's somewhat beside the point.

Anonymous said...

it seems like a common pose for an imagined tennis player. reading way too much into it.