SKIRMISHER

The warning label on the jar of Grandma’s ashes has a very different effect from the “Super-Fun Mystery Drawer.” Instead of making Grandma’s less-than-savory remains more desirable, it seems to be more of a reminder–possibly to someone who is absent-minded or twisted to the point that it’s not obvious that eating Granny just ain’t kosher. There is a subtle “leftover” pun, which conveys a disrespect for the dead, contrasting with society’s usual reverence for the dead and elders. The disrespect and reverence are balanced out by the half-hearted care expressed by the Sharpie-scrawled wish to not have the loved-one devoured in a bleary-eyed midnight fridge-raid. The label could also be taken in other directions, e.g. Grandma is not supposed to eat the contents of the jar, or the jar belongs to her, and she wrote the label to keep others out of it. Despite the possible alternate views of the the photo, it is subtly nudged in the darker direction, which gives it a charm as dry as Grandma’s current corporeal state.

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