Have you seen “Lazy Sunday,” the music video with a couple guys rapping about Narnia that played on Saturday Night Live ? Depending on your tastes, that might sound either exceptionally stupid, absolutely brilliant, or just nonsensical. (My friends and I laughed ourselves silly. Tony especially enjoyed the line “You can call us Aaron Burr from the way we’re droppin’ Hamiltons.”)

I found out about this video in an article in the New York Times forwarded to me by my roommate, titled, “Nerds in the Hood, Stars on the Web.” In that article, one of the video’s creators describes an amusing exchange with his mother:

Mr. Samberg found himself in the delicate position of having to explain to his mother that the song’s chorus is a play on words involving the name “Chronicles of Narnia” and the word chronic, a slang term for marijuana. “She’s like, ‘So is it actually about weed?’ ” Mr. Samberg said. “It makes you think it’s going to be about weed, but then it’s actually just about ‘Narnia.’ She’s like, ‘Oh, I think I get it.’ “

I can see how this might potentially be confusing for someone who has no idea what the Chronicles of Narnia are, even if the video seems pretty obviously ridiculous to me, what with major segments devoted to rapping about cupcakes and online map programs.

This exchange reminded me, though, of a shirt I bought recently which features my new favorite cartoon character, Stabby McKnife. A wicked-looking dagger with eyes and feet happily instructs, “Hey kids! Put me in your enemies!” Stabby hasn’t appeared anywhere but this t-shirt, to the best of my knowledge, but that’s probably just as well; this is comedy gold, as far as I’m concerned, and I’d hate to see the joke stretched too thin. I always get at least a couple compliments from my fellow youngsters when I wear this.

I have been noticing though, that I’ve also gotten several people telling me, “I don’t get it.” So far, they have all been women over the age of 40—and intelligent women whom I respect, as well. I don’t mean to imply that women over 40 are incapable of getting the joke, or that it’s only this particular group that is incapable of getting the joke. Nevertheless, I think it’s potentially telling that the people I’ve had telling me that they miss the joke represent a demographic similar to that which calls for legislation to regulate video games, comics, or other media that could be “harmful” to children. (Please excuse this rhetorical and logical leap if you’re one of the people who missed the joke but doesn’t support such politics. Even better, please post a comment to set me straight.)

You need to understand two things, as I see it, to get the “Stabby McKnife” joke. First, you need to understand that cartoons are for children. Second, you need to understand that cartoons aren’t just for children. Basically, you need to separate the form from its stereotypes but also recognize that those stereotypes are there. Similarly, to get “Lazy Sunday,” you need to understand that rap is about drugs and thugs, but also that the irony of applying such tropes to cupcakes and children’s fantasy is pretty damn funny.

I don’t think that the people who miss these jokes are incapable of understanding irony—hey, sarcasm is a type of irony, and we all use that at some time or another. I do wonder, however, if art and entertainment in recent decades have relied much more heavily on deliberately utilizing the tension between forms and their stereotypes. Just in the realm of humor, South Park is a pretty obvious example. More literary endeavors also make use of this, however; Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Maus, for example, takes advantage of the fact that we don’t expect the Holocaust to happen to cartoon mice, making the whole thing that much more horrific.

I wonder if some people have just missed the boat on such developments entirely. And I wonder how long such works can remain relevant, as such media get separated from their stereotypes over time—after all, you do need to know the stereotype to “get it.”