From Research Guy Joe Carter:
NRO’s amusingly in-depth deconstruction of Governor Huckabee’s “What Matters Ad” reminded me of this exchange from Whit Stillman’s comedic masterpiece, Barcelona (1994).
Fred: Maybe you can clarify something for me. Since I’ve been, you know, waiting for the fleet to show up, I’ve read a lot, and…
Ted: Really?
Fred: And one of the things that keeps popping up is this about “subtext.” Plays, novels, songs – they all have a “subtext,” which I take to mean a hidden message or import of some kind. So subtext we know. But what do you call the message or meaning that’s right there on the surface, completely open and obvious? They never talk about that. What do you call what’s above the subtext?
Ted: The text.
Fred: OK, that’s right, but they never talk about that.
Through clever eisegesis you guys have inserted the subtext. But the text—”God bless and Merry Christmas”—you never talk about that.