As an artist, I am drawn to things that are visually beautiful. As artists, we seek beauty in the world around us, one of the biggest inspirations being nature. Over the course of the past few months, I came upon a species called the Superb Bird of Paradise (Lophorina Superba). I was immediately drawn in by its beauty, but also its strange visage and behavior. When I first saw this species, it seemed like something out of this world, but it lives right here in Papua New Guinea. The male bird of the species looks like no other bird, especially when it is performing its mating ritual. The bird amazingly turns into a black oval, void of all light, with distinct markings that resemble a smiling face in a bright cerulean blue. The transformation of this bird is incredible and in itself nature's work of art. As an artist, I was intrigued, from a visual and scientific standpoint. Not only this but I was fascinated from a comical perspective. You can’t help but laugh at the hopping black oval, because of its movements, but also its foreign nature. I wanted to use the comedy that I experienced through my art.
Initially, I did what many humans do - I drew conclusions from patterns I saw in my own species. I internalized what I saw and compared it to the toxic masculinity I see from my own experience. I immediately wanted to use this aspect of comedy in my art, however, I was reminded of how we are pattern-seeking creatures. There are species spread all across the globe, many of which have not been discovered. They are all vastly different in their sexual behavior, gender… I came to the realization that we can’t compare any species to that of the human race. These sexual tropes we draw conclusions on and comment on, or even joke about, are harmful to the species.
In this realization, I continued to want to use the aspect of comedy, but in a way that’s respectful, and even confronts these sexual tropes that we apply to this species. I decided from this to make a comic strip, with two scenes that expose how we can poorly perceive these creatures.
In my first scene, I have an image of a female and male Superb Bird of Paradise in the process of a mating dance. The narration of the scene is reminiscent of those we hear in documentaries in tone and factual information. As the narrator describes the facts about the species ritual, they quickly digress to compare the bird’s behavior to our own, making the narrator compare it to a “bad first date”. This represents the sexual tropes we apply to the Superb Bird of Paradise.
In the following and final scene, we view a couple of Superb Bird of Paradise watching the documentary on their television. They immediately discuss the poor and unfair comparisons made between themselves and humans. The humanization of the birds, in a home, immediately puts the viewer into the perspective of the Superb Bird of Paradise. The bird couple discuss the documentary, making the comment, “Why do humans ruin it by adding their own sexual tropes. They can’t help but anthropomorphize us.” This forces the viewer to understand, in the Superb Bird of Paradise’s dilemma, and the unfair tropes we apply to them. Finally, the female bird makes the comment, “It’s like they seem to think we’re cartoons or something.” This adds some ironic humor, as the birds themselves are cartoon characters. When we compare animals to ourselves, we come into danger of making sexual tropes. Nevertheless, we as people can’t help but see patterns that compare us to other species. We can find comedy in our comparisons, we’ve all found laughter at a species or two.
We are pattern-seeking creatures, we will always anthropomorphize what we see and experience. The importance of that is to understand that pattern and see when we are abusing it and harming another species. I want the audience to be able to laugh like species like the Superb Bird of Paradise, just not at the expense of the species’ scientific integrity.
