To me, one of the great mysteries of our day is the phenomenon of representing one’s family in sticker form on the back of a vehicle.
Why do people go out of their way to do this? Does this happen in other parts of the country? The globe? What does it mean about us? And why does it offend my sensibilities so much?
If you haven't been out on the road in the last 5 to 10 years, the baseline decal is this: dad, mom, brother, sister, baby are represented in a neat lil’ row, from biggest (daddy) to smallest (kid, or baby, or cat, or hermit crab, or whatever the smallest family member happens to be). One’s pets can be included, and sometimes the family’s name is printed beneath for all to see.
These stickers have spawned a legion of variations. I’ve observed families depicted in the following forms:
- Bear heads
- Footprints
- Sea turtles
- Mickey Mouse ears
- Hibiscus flowers
- Penguins
- Skulls & crossbones
- Flip flops
- Rubber chickens
- Palm trees
- Surfboards
- Monkeys
- Angels
- Team mascots
- Band members
- Darth Vadar helmets
- Jesus fish
- Tiki heads
- Exotic birds
- Athletes
- T-shirts
- The too-cute-for-words decal (teddy bears, Hello Kitties)
- The power family decal (hockey players, scientists)
- The “California Cool” decal (palm trees, sunglasses)
- The souvenir decal (family in Hawaiian shirts and hula gear)
- The “fuck family decals” decal (the Ass family, murder-suicide family)
Maybe I read too much into things (I can’t help it, I majored in English). And perhaps I don’t appreciate the decal's playful role of building camaraderie amongst the Reynolds or the Adamses or the Watsons (I can’t help it; I’m not very fun).
But the trend presents an interesting paradox: a desire to be a regarded as an individual (or, as it were, a family of individuals) and a self-conscious commitment to conformity. One advertises uniqueness (are we a Disney family or a surfer family?) AND fitting squarely in the mold of the middle class nuclear family. It strikes me as kind of dishonest; there are *so many* different types of families in this world.
This blog is supposed to be about finding a shred of positive in things, and here I am blah-blah-blahing again (what I do best).
So the silver lining I present is this: at least they haven’t made a family of Calvins pissing on things. Yet.
ahahahahahahaha! Oh my god Amber - yes! I swear we had this conversation on the road the other day. And yeah, I really can't put my finger on why it really irks me so - but it does - it realllly does.
ReplyDeleteIt's like family 'branding' these days you can't go anywhere without some sort of self promotion. Also really 99% of people out on the road do not care about your family - sorry but it's true. I get that YOU care about your own family and that your friends do, but other drivers/strangers out on the road do not. I also don't like the way it orders things like hmm okay tallest to smallest. I read it as 'head of family to the one with least power be it baby or hermit crab or hermit crab baby.
Just know you are not alone in disliking these things.
The craziest one I've seen is those spiky "M"s (the Monster energy drink logo). What is that family trying to communicate? That they are super intense? The whole trend creeps me out and I hope it goes away soon.
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