This cartoon has been made in the present.
The joke is to show that the princess is stupid and let the canary out to sing with it, which led to the dwarves dying instead of the bird.
If the princess is able to enjoy interacting with the bird (as is shown in a typically cartoonish way of a character being able to communicate with an animal) then the characters “in-universe” are knowing or able to know that it’s a sentient being.
Yet the one that actually is seeing the bird as sentient is show as stupid, while the others are show as victims.
And that’s just from what the cartoon is showing, I didn’t need to bring historical sociopolitics into it to support my argument.
Also, it doesn’t really matter how things were, what matters is how things are impacted now. Are you one of those people that consider that TTRPGs should have racism, sexism, rape, homophobia, etc, because they are in a middle ages setting that warrants it? Because that’s a bit how it sounds like.
The humour is not in the princess being stupid, but rather in the juxtaposition between the relationships of the two groups with the object being moved: the dwarves see the canary as a necessary safety tool, while the princess views it as an object of curiosity and beauty. (Or a friend, or whatever. The point is the juxtaposition). It would have been precisely the same joke (though more technical, and thus have a less-widespread audience) if, for instance, Ariel were on a transatlantic voyage with her beau and she set the ship’s clock to a quarter hour later to make it chime, but then the sailors ran aground because they couldn’t accurately figure out their longitude with their chronometer and sextant. What one group views as a vital tool to ensure their safety, the other sees as beautiful and fun and, not having been exposed to the dangers and precautions of the world of which she is now a part, makes something beautiful happen which leads to the deaths of the others. Would Ariel be stupid for not understanding the precise nature and utility of a clock, having the week before not understood what a fork was? Is Snow White stupid because she does not understand why there is a canary in a coal mine? No. They do not have context for these things.
Would it be more politically correct to use a different version of the joke which does not involve a real practice which could lead to the death of a sapient being? Sure, but that doesn’t necessarily make for a very good joke, and “canary in the coal mine” is just sitting there.
As far as your impugning my choices in TTRPGs, for which you have no evidence, I don’t care to describe what I do or do not do in games, because it’s a non sequitur and none of your business, but I will say this: a TTRPG should include anything which allows the players to explore the themes which they want to explore, as long as it’s in a manner to which they all consent, and need not include anything else. That’s… The point of TTRPGS. If they want to explore themes of bigotry, then that’s something they should explore, as long as everyone at the table is cool with it. I think that it’s telling enough that you immediately took the opportunity to gatekeep how to play a god-damned game of make-believe to know that it is not worth wasting any more of my time conversing. You have thoroughly answered my question of “how big a dick are you”. Good evening.
![Song Break [Port Sherry]](https://media.piefed.social/posts/vX/aq/vXaqsJ4087RtK3U.webp){kind=link}
This cartoon has been made in the present. The joke is to show that the princess is stupid and let the canary out to sing with it, which led to the dwarves dying instead of the bird.
If the princess is able to enjoy interacting with the bird (as is shown in a typically cartoonish way of a character being able to communicate with an animal) then the characters “in-universe” are knowing or able to know that it’s a sentient being.
Yet the one that actually is seeing the bird as sentient is show as stupid, while the others are show as victims.
And that’s just from what the cartoon is showing, I didn’t need to bring historical sociopolitics into it to support my argument.
Also, it doesn’t really matter how things were, what matters is how things are impacted now. Are you one of those people that consider that TTRPGs should have racism, sexism, rape, homophobia, etc, because they are in a middle ages setting that warrants it? Because that’s a bit how it sounds like.
The humour is not in the princess being stupid, but rather in the juxtaposition between the relationships of the two groups with the object being moved: the dwarves see the canary as a necessary safety tool, while the princess views it as an object of curiosity and beauty. (Or a friend, or whatever. The point is the juxtaposition). It would have been precisely the same joke (though more technical, and thus have a less-widespread audience) if, for instance, Ariel were on a transatlantic voyage with her beau and she set the ship’s clock to a quarter hour later to make it chime, but then the sailors ran aground because they couldn’t accurately figure out their longitude with their chronometer and sextant. What one group views as a vital tool to ensure their safety, the other sees as beautiful and fun and, not having been exposed to the dangers and precautions of the world of which she is now a part, makes something beautiful happen which leads to the deaths of the others. Would Ariel be stupid for not understanding the precise nature and utility of a clock, having the week before not understood what a fork was? Is Snow White stupid because she does not understand why there is a canary in a coal mine? No. They do not have context for these things.
Would it be more politically correct to use a different version of the joke which does not involve a real practice which could lead to the death of a sapient being? Sure, but that doesn’t necessarily make for a very good joke, and “canary in the coal mine” is just sitting there.
As far as your impugning my choices in TTRPGs, for which you have no evidence, I don’t care to describe what I do or do not do in games, because it’s a non sequitur and none of your business, but I will say this: a TTRPG should include anything which allows the players to explore the themes which they want to explore, as long as it’s in a manner to which they all consent, and need not include anything else. That’s… The point of TTRPGS. If they want to explore themes of bigotry, then that’s something they should explore, as long as everyone at the table is cool with it. I think that it’s telling enough that you immediately took the opportunity to gatekeep how to play a god-damned game of make-believe to know that it is not worth wasting any more of my time conversing. You have thoroughly answered my question of “how big a dick are you”. Good evening.