This is an odd joke for The Far Side. Usually, judgments are either done by other characters in-universe, or done by the narrator against characters that only exist in-universe. But here, it seems to be Larson, who is a real person, joking that nobody cares if a normal real mime is killed by a tree.
I’ve seen others like this, but you are right these are less common.
I’d interpret it a little differently though. I would describe the voice for this kind of caption (any where it isn’t the characters speaking) as 3rd person narrator, just as in fiction, and we don’t need to hear as Larson’s voice directly anymore than we need think about Larson speaking through his characters.
I think because it is a question rather than the narrator describing events, it may be easier to slip into hearing it as Larson rather then an impersonal narrator. But it’s a play on a common expression which happens to be a question. If it were a play on a common expression not formulated as a question, like “a stitch in time saves mime” we’d just hear it as the narrator.
This is an odd joke for The Far Side. Usually, judgments are either done by other characters in-universe, or done by the narrator against characters that only exist in-universe. But here, it seems to be Larson, who is a real person, joking that nobody cares if a normal real mime is killed by a tree.
I’ve seen others like this, but you are right these are less common.
I’d interpret it a little differently though. I would describe the voice for this kind of caption (any where it isn’t the characters speaking) as 3rd person narrator, just as in fiction, and we don’t need to hear as Larson’s voice directly anymore than we need think about Larson speaking through his characters.
I think because it is a question rather than the narrator describing events, it may be easier to slip into hearing it as Larson rather then an impersonal narrator. But it’s a play on a common expression which happens to be a question. If it were a play on a common expression not formulated as a question, like “a stitch in time saves mime” we’d just hear it as the narrator.