2011-03-13
Original: 2011-03-13 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (top, split scene): A bald man in a suit reacts in horror.
Man (thought): "OH NO. THAT OLD LADY DROPPED HER PURSE IN THE AMBIGUOUS ZONE!"
The scene shows an elderly woman in a purple dress standing on a floor that is color-coded into zones, with her purse having fallen near her.
Panel 2 (large overhead diagram): The bald man stands on a large floor map of overlapping colored zones. A legend on the right reads:
- Red: "Inappropriate to help"
- Blue: "Appropriate to help"
- Green: "AMBIGUOUS ZONE"
The old lady and her dropped purse are in the green ambiguous zone; the man is in the blue zone, approaching.
Panel 3: Close-up of the man, sweating.
Man (thought): "IF I HELP HER, I HAVE TO WALK AT HER QUICKLY FOR TEN FEET, AND RISK LOOKING LIKE A MUGGER."
Panel 4: The man, now even more distressed, veins on his forehead.
Man (thought): "BUT IF I DON'T HELP AND SOMEONE NEAR ME DOES, I'M A JERK!"
Panel 5: Extreme close-up of the man screaming in panic.
Man: "AAH! THE PRESSURE IS TOO HIGH! AAAH! AAAH!"
Panel 6: The man, mid-panic, sees the old lady has picked up her own purse.
Man (thought): "OH THANK GOD. SHE GOT IT HERSELF WITHOUT ME MAKING ANYBODY UNCOMFORTABLE."
Panel 7 (bottom): The old lady in the foreground, the sweating man behind her. The old lady thinks to herself.
Old lady (thought): "STAY CALM, MAVIS. HE'S PROBABLY HARMLESS."
Votey:
Title text at top: "WHY SUPERMAN IS INSANE"
A shirtless man (Superman) lies in bed, eyes wide, distressed.
Superman (thought): "EVERY ZONE IS THE BLUE ZONE! EVERY ZONE IS THE BLUE ZONE"
Man (thought): "OH NO. THAT OLD LADY DROPPED HER PURSE IN THE AMBIGUOUS ZONE!"
The scene shows an elderly woman in a purple dress standing on a floor that is color-coded into zones, with her purse having fallen near her.
Panel 2 (large overhead diagram): The bald man stands on a large floor map of overlapping colored zones. A legend on the right reads:
- Red: "Inappropriate to help"
- Blue: "Appropriate to help"
- Green: "AMBIGUOUS ZONE"
The old lady and her dropped purse are in the green ambiguous zone; the man is in the blue zone, approaching.
Panel 3: Close-up of the man, sweating.
Man (thought): "IF I HELP HER, I HAVE TO WALK AT HER QUICKLY FOR TEN FEET, AND RISK LOOKING LIKE A MUGGER."
Panel 4: The man, now even more distressed, veins on his forehead.
Man (thought): "BUT IF I DON'T HELP AND SOMEONE NEAR ME DOES, I'M A JERK!"
Panel 5: Extreme close-up of the man screaming in panic.
Man: "AAH! THE PRESSURE IS TOO HIGH! AAAH! AAAH!"
Panel 6: The man, mid-panic, sees the old lady has picked up her own purse.
Man (thought): "OH THANK GOD. SHE GOT IT HERSELF WITHOUT ME MAKING ANYBODY UNCOMFORTABLE."
Panel 7 (bottom): The old lady in the foreground, the sweating man behind her. The old lady thinks to herself.
Old lady (thought): "STAY CALM, MAVIS. HE'S PROBABLY HARMLESS."
Votey:
Title text at top: "WHY SUPERMAN IS INSANE"
A shirtless man (Superman) lies in bed, eyes wide, distressed.
Superman (thought): "EVERY ZONE IS THE BLUE ZONE! EVERY ZONE IS THE BLUE ZONE"
Alt text
A multi-panel comic about social anxiety over whether to help a stranger. A bald man in a suit panics when he sees an elderly woman in a purple dress drop her purse. A large overhead diagram shows the floor divided into color-coded zones with a legend: red = 'Inappropriate to help,' blue = 'Appropriate to help,' green = 'AMBIGUOUS ZONE.' The purse landed in the green ambiguous zone. The man agonizes in thought: if he helps, he must rush at her for ten feet and risk looking like a mugger; but if he doesn't and someone else does, he's a jerk. He screams 'THE PRESSURE IS TOO HIGH!' Then he sees she picked up the purse herself and thinks 'OH THANK GOD. SHE GOT IT HERSELF WITHOUT ME MAKING ANYBODY UNCOMFORTABLE.' In the final panel the old woman, named Mavis, eyes the sweating man and thinks 'STAY CALM, MAVIS. HE'S PROBABLY HARMLESS.' Votey: titled 'WHY SUPERMAN IS INSANE,' a shirtless Superman lies in bed wide-eyed, thinking 'EVERY ZONE IS THE BLUE ZONE! EVERY ZONE IS THE BLUE ZONE' — because his powers make him capable of helping everyone everywhere.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.