Rust Cohle, for all his nihilist pontificating, never could have sensed that his bleak theorizing would strike such a resounding note with the Sunday funnies, but thank goodness we have Tumblr to open our eyes.
Launched April 12, Time Is a Flat Circus pairs Cohle’s darkest, most prophetically savage quotes with seemingly innocent clippings from the long-running syndicated cartoon “Family Circus.” This would normally seem like an odd pairing, but, as a detective, Tumblr isn’t allowed to believe in coincidence. There’s something to all this. Something Cohle himself was too busy intimidating witnesses with his sniper/bar owner friend to have seen for himself.
After paging through a few entries that feature Billy, Dolly, Jeffy, and P.J. postured above the quotes, the level of synchronicity is inconsequential. At first, the consonance is charming, but you gotta look further, man, dig into it. See through all the bullshit. Maybe there’s no such thing as consequence in this click-stained continuum of brutally consumptive media. Maybe this is just an anagram of how Cohle’s anti-existential philosophy is applicable to even the most innocuous facets of our lives.
What are Bil and Jeff Keane really trying to say to us through the stories of this fat-faced family of toons? Somewhere, there’s a Lonestar can-riddled storage unit where these comic strips are married to their captions, and in that room is the only person who has the answers.
[Image credit: Time is a Flat Circus via tumblr]
