Life — February 1935 — page 9: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# "Pure Affectation, Don't You Think?" This cartoon satirizes the streamlined, futuristic diner design craze of the 1930s. The illustration shows an ultra-modern, silver bullet-shaped roadside eatery with an "EAT" sign, featuring rounded windows and sleek industrial styling—the height of Art Deco modernism popular during the Depression era. The caption's snobbish comment mocks the pretentiousness of this "pure affectation." The joke targets how such restaurants adopted fashionable, impractical aesthetic design over substance or comfort. The well-dressed figures outside suggest upper-class diners evaluating whether this trendy establishment is truly refined or merely affected posturing. The cartoon reflects broader 1930s cultural tensions between modernist design aspirations and skepticism about their real utility.