Rhetorical Analysis: Cats and Alienhead Norwegians

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Fa ra ra ra raaaaa! Ra-ra-ra-raaaaa. That doesn't have anything to do with anything, but I though you might enjoy that bit of timeless humor from A Christmas Story, now then back to more sensible words.
I know you said to refrain from doing the rhetorical analysis until Wednesday but since you shot my paper on guns (puns abound) out of the sky like a Christmas goose, I'm doing it anyways. Besides, I took Humanities 101 like 3 years ago, so basically I know everything there is to know about the arts. That being said, listening to most art critics makes me feel nauseous; a painting is a painting is a painting. To them I say, don't suffocate me with your pompous and pedantic insights about what the artist is really trying to say in his piece, lets' just ask him/her what they think and if they're not around leave me alone and let me enjoy it how and if I may.

" I was walking along a path with two friends—the sun was setting—suddenly the sky turned blood red—I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence—there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city—my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety—and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature." - Edvard Munch

Back in the 19th century most schizophrenics were locked up and subjected to all manner of cruel and unusual therapy (ironically leading many to believe that everyone was out to get them). However, some got to walk on boardwalks with their friends and paint swirly pictures instead. We now call these people, geniuses. The medium used in Scream is oil, giving it a heavier "weightier" feel. The sharp contrasting colors (inverted from a natural setting) have fast reckless strokes that contribute to the sense of anxiety and anticipation. Other than the crimson sky, all of the objects in the painting converge on the central figure; including the "water", boardwalk or path, and direction of motion of the other 2 personages. Instead of being positioned at center or observing the rules of thirds, the screamer is off center, creating a strain and uneasiness compounding his fear. "His" fear may not be entirely accurate. The creature depicted seems to be void of sex and other characteristics that would categorize it as "human", thus isolating the figure from the rest of humanity, alone even when others are present. It's not up to us to determine whether the two black figures in the back have hostile intent toward the subject, but rather that they have a role to play and in the mind of the screamer they may possibly be a primary or secondary source of his/her distress.
The connection that I wanted to make from the photo to the painting (other than an attempt at humor in their similarities) is the theme of self perception and isolation. Although cats by themselves have limited inherent value, similar to that of a manatee, the white cat is all the more interesting not so much because of his reptilian antics but because he has broken free of the pride of kittens to go off and do his own thing. Whether he is screaming or roaring, he's playing to his own drum, he's accepted himself for what he is, a crazy raptor mimicking kitten, a lesson our Norwegian alien screamer man could learn from our feline friend. Maybe then he would pipe down, take a xanax, and go watch sportscenter like the rest of us instead of trying to understand the universe, but then again Europeans are always so presumptuous in their intellectual capacities. Live and let live, I guess.