Happy Meal Game: Find the Blasphemy

Happy Meal Game: Find the Blasphemy

A bunch of Catholics in France are offended by this image:

That’s a puzzle that came with a McDonald’s Happy Meal in France. Decoded, the message reads “Do you take Suzanne to be your meal?” At least one priest is all bent out of shape about it.

But what annoys me is that I don’t see it. Maybe I’m stupid. Feel free to enlighten me in the comments.

The post at Le Monde describes the characters in the picture as potatoes, and the figure on the cross as a frog. I’ll take their word for it; the artist’s style makes it hard for me to tell the potatoes from the frogs.

At first, I thought the idea was that Suzanne is the bride, and that Catholics are upset at the implied cannibalism. I can see how that would be the intent, in a kiddie-humor-at-McDonald’s sort of way.

Except that other offended commenters describe the “potatoes” as aliens or monsters. The picture comes from an existing comic book series, and according to some commentators, they’re aliens, who appear as recurring characters.

Then I thought maybe Suzanne was the crucified frog, and that Catholics were upset at the idea of eating a figure on a cross. Except, of course, that they do that every Sunday.

As far as I can tell, they’re screaming blasphemy because the alien priest is a Catholic bishop, as evidenced by the mitre and robe, and is conducting a Catholic ceremony, as evidenced by the chalice. In other words, the idea that Catholicism might spread to alien planets is blasphemous. Or something.

At any rate, angry letters have been written, McDonald’s and Dupuis, which published the original comic, have sent out generic apologies, and society seems not to have crumbled just yet.

Oh, and a lot of the comments at Le Monde and elsewhere say that no one would dare offend Muslims this way. It’s nice to see that fatwa envy transcends borders.