Monday, November 17, 2008

Disaster Manhattan?



This is a manhattan in front of a television. I don't recall now what show it was. It looks like it may have been a news show about people in an emergency putting together relief packages, in which case this would be an interesting juxtaposition: a manhattan, which would normally be something a person who is relatively comfortable and well off would consume, and a scene of natural or man made disaster, in which people's needs are much more basic. In fact, people in such dire circumstances probably wouldn't even want a manhattan were one available -- or at the very least they shouldn't drink one until their situation is resolved because it would provide no nourishment and could diminish their ability to think clearly and make the type of decisions that would enable them to survive. Of course this might not be an actual news show but might just be a television drama about people in the midst of misfortune or it might not be a show depicting human misfortune on a large scale at all. In these cases, the juxtaposition is not really as satisfying.

1 comment:

omnivore said...

In my youth, said the playwrite, they said it was.....bad
to mix Dubonnet rouge with sour mash.
Now I hide my Manhattans in a mug labeled.....DAD
and imbibe 'til I'm flat on my ash.