💾 Archived View for gemini.arkholt.com › essays › comic-language › 03-1-rube-goldberg.gmi captured on 2024-05-10 at 11:09:00. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2023-01-29)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Okay, let's start off with an easy one. Everybody knows what a Rube Goldberg machine is, right? It's one of those things that through a convoluted series of actions and steps finally accomplishes a simple goal. A fan blows a windmill which pulls a string which makes a ball drop, etc. You've seen them. There are tons of videos on YouTube with people who have built them. In fact, just Google "Rube Goldberg" and you're likely to find more information on those machines than you are about the man himself. In fact, Rube Goldberg is literally synonymous with doing something simple by way of many convoluted steps. Really. It's in the dictionary.
Merriam-Webster entry for 'Rube Goldberg'
But how many people actually know who Rube Goldberg was or what he did? Most people probably figure he was a guy who built weird machines. I did a search of Reddit, just because, and found a large number of posts on the "Today I learned" subreddit about people learning that Rube Goldberg never actually built any Rube Goldberg machines himself. People clearly don't know who he is or what he did.
He was a cartoonist, of course. He didn't build them. He drew them.
Goldberg drew a number of different comic strips (my other favorite being 'Boob McNutt'), but the machines he is known for appeared in the strip 'The Inventions of Professor Lucifer G. Butts, A.K.' The "G" of course stands for Gorgonzola.
The word that comes to mind when I think of that strip is "delightful." They are a joy to look at and to read. Thankfully, you can read them at your leisure at the official Rube Goldberg website, which I would highly recommend.
The official Rube Goldberg website
The most interesting thing about them, in contrast to most Rube Goldberg machines I see, is that Professor Butts' inventions were always meant to accomplish a specific task. There was always a convoluted series of steps to arrive at the conclusion, but it was always a practical conclusion. A lot of Rube Goldberg machines that you'll see in YouTube videos just go through the series of steps, but they don't do anything. A ball makes its way across the contraption, or all of the dominoes are finally knocked over, or something. I think that really goes against the spirit of a Rube Goldberg machine, or Professor Lucifer Gorgonzola Butts' inventions.
The other fun thing is that Professor Butts' inventions didn't only include machinery but also people, young and old, as well as animals, real and fictional. I'd like to see a YouTube video of someone integrating a snozzleduk into their machine.