The lunchbox, as outlined in
lunch box, is a hinged metal or plastic container with a
handle, designed for holding a small meal. The plastic sort is oftened decorated with some design or
character.
However, the lunchbox is also so much more.
The lunchbox is one of the true artifacts of kitsch. All you who were once kiddies remember these - in blue, purple, and red, with cheap adhesive covers with ALL YOUR FAVORITE CHARACTERS! He-Man, Skeletor, Spiderman, Josie and the Pussycats. Poorly drawn, brightly colored cartoon characters were all that stood between your peanut butter and jelly sandwich and that one shrewd little bastard who was always weaseling everyone else out of their food via his cleverly planned "trades."
Lunchboxes have now been enshrined, along with the Atari 2600, Pong, Dukes of Hazzard, and Transformers, in that wonderful period of their lives which now forms the center of their retro obsession.
And of course, there's also the post-retro effect - some use lunchbox's kitsch value to underline their dark and scary message, because they are so dark and scary. Case in point - Marylin Manson has his own lunchbox.