Bridgland’s Forward, Conquer! We Have a Car and Can Picnic in the Country! Is part fun and part satire. Yet, whether Bridgland knows it or not, no other mode of transportation has boosted picnicking and helped make them ubiquitous. See Adam Bridgland. Forward,...
Gahan Wilson’s humor is a marvel. Any attempt to explain Picnic Reception robs it of its satiric sting. (Pardon the pun.) Featured Image: Gahan Wilson. “Picnic Reception, “The New Yorker (July 31, 2006)
According to Stephen Frears, the Balmoral picnic is a glum episode as the Queen and family deal with the grief and notoriety resulting from the death of Princess Diana. Having retreated to Balmoral, a glum royal family tries to find solace outdoors. When the Queen...
Talbott’s satire Cheesecake Picnic Party: A Killer Batch of Tasty Treats (2007) evokes the Hollywood film noir. It’s a satire of the so-called cheesecake images of sexy women. Featured Image: David Russell Talbott. Cheesecake Picnic Party: A Killer Batch...
Sweeney Todd and Nellie Lovett’s picnic is a satiric commentary on middle-class values that seems typical, but it’s not quite what it seems. The screenplay describes an ideal setup: “Mrs. Lovett and Todd rest on a picnic blanket, just like any other couple...
Discussing Chaucer and Shakespeare, Bloom coins the interesting but enigmatic phrase “picnic of selves”: “A critic addicted to what is now called “language” but might more aptly be called the “priority of language over meaning” will not be much given to searching for...
Talbott’s Apple Pie Picnic is a send-up of the cliché “As American as apple pie.” Talbott jams as many icons as he can on the picnic cloth. Marilyn Monroe is on her knees next to a picnic basket, a steaming apple pie, a copy of Jack Kerouac’s...
Linhare’s picnickers, always women, are always naked. I’m not sure about the bee on the picnic cloth. See Judith Linares. Picnic Rock (2007). Gouache
Bright Star (2009), Jane Campion’s version of John Keats and Fanny Brawne’s love affair, invents two romantic courtship picnic scenes. These moments are poignant because we know the romance will end in heartbreak. The first is a picnic at which they kiss....
As sappy romantic novels go, David Nicholls’ One Day (2009) is about a one-night sexual encounter that becomes a life-long romantic heartache. Dexter and Emma’s picnic on Arthur’s Seat is never revealed, but we do know what each brings in their...
