"It's Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers" is a 2009 essay by Colin Nissan that was published in
''McSweeney's Internet Tendency''. The essay parodies people who are enthusiastic fans of autumn. Each year, the piece goes viral at the beginning of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere and has spawned parodies and spin-offs.
Essay
Creation
Nissan, who is a self-proclaimed fan of autumn, pitched the essay to ''McSweeney's Internet Tendency'' in 2009.
At first, Nissan was unsure about the profanity-heavy piece. However, with the help of the ''McSweeney's'' editor, Nissan narrowed down the curse words used to just the word "
fuck
''Fuck'' () is profanity in the English language that often refers to the act of sexual intercourse, but is also commonly used as an intensifier or to convey disdain. While its origin is obscure, it is usually considered to be first attested ...
" and modified the ending with the aim of making the essay funnier and more positive.
Synopsis
The piece is written from the point of view of a person who is obsessed with autumn.
The narrator, feeling the change of the season, wants to engage in a number of stereotypical autumnal activities such as placing "
shellac
Shellac () is a resin secreted by the female Kerria lacca, lac bug on trees in the forests of India and Thailand. Chemically, it is mainly composed of aleuritic acid, jalaric acid, shellolic acid, and other natural waxes. It is processed and s ...
ked vegetables" into a wicker
cornucopia
In classical antiquity, the cornucopia (; ), also called the horn of plenty, was a symbol of abundance and nourishment, commonly a large horn-shaped container overflowing with produce, flowers, or nuts. In Greek, it was called the " horn of ...
to make a centerpiece for a table.
The piece both parodies and celebrates autumn and the people who are enthusiastic about the season by highlighting contradictions between the "Genteel, white, upper class, rural or suburban" world of people popularly conceived as to be fans of autumn and decorative gourds, and the "gritty, expletive-filled diatribe of excess" presented by the essay.
Impact
When the essay was released, it garnered one million views in several days.
, the essay is ''McSweeney's Internet Tendency''s second-most-read piece.
Every year since its publication at the start of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, the piece
goes viral on social media.
At least a dozen monologues of readers performing the essay have been posted to
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
.
Nissan was not paid for the essay and receives no royalties from the piece's yearly popularity.
However, he does receive royalties from the mug that ''McSweeney's'' made with a quote from the essay. Nissan enjoys the notoriety that comes from writing a piece of perennial viral content and thinks it "is much more than I could ever have gotten from a residual".
The essay has been referred to as "the fall season's most iconic essay" by Randall Colburn of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...
''. The piece has become an ode to autumn and has spawned spin-offs such as "It's Scorpio season, motherfuckers".
Martha Stewart
Martha Helen Stewart (, ; born August 3, 1941) is an American retail business woman, writer, and television personality. As the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, focusing on home and hospitality, she gained success through a variety ...
has referenced the piece claiming that decorative gourds season is not overrated.
Notes
External links
It's Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers
{{McSweeney's, state=collapsed
2009 essays
American essays
Autumn traditions
Essays about culture
McSweeney's periodicals
Parodies