For Better or For Worse Musings
I’ve been spending more time than necessary thinking about just why it is that Lynn Johnston portrays characters who, to my mind are not particularly sympathetic, as heroes. Obviously, I’m referring to the Liz-Anthony-Paul triangle, but there are incidences with other characters as well. For example, Mira Sobinski, Mike’s mother-in-law is portrayed as bossy and interfering, yet when Elly engages in the same kind of behavior, it’s always portrayed positively: Mira butts in, Elly helps out. Michael seems to leave a lot of child care stuff to his wife, Deana, in one episode standing by like a department store dummy while his sick wife put their sick kid to bed, and then putting the moves on her, which is portrayed as a cute move on the character’s part.
Just writing this introductory paragraph clears my thoughts about the strip’s clear biases. I have tried, Lord knows, to imagine that Lynn Johnston is trying to make her characters three-dimensional, inherently flawed in some way or another, for the sake of a richer storyline. This theory would go a long way toward explaining Liz’s decision to come back home to Milborough: life isn’t perfect or easy, and sometimes you have to do what your gut tells you, no matter who you hurt in the process. I can think of numerous examples in my life. Anthony married Therese for reasons he even he can’t articulate: it seemed like a good idea at the time, my thinking wasn’t clear. I ask you: how many bad marriages have you seen because the couple tied the knot for the wrong reasons?
This would be a good explanation, except for one flaw: Lynn Johnston’s refusal for any of her characters to take responsibility for their actions, or rather, for the omniscient narrator to suggest that certain behaviors are just plain wrong: there are no consequences. The Liz-Anthony-Paul story is the strongest example of this: Lynn Johnston’s narrative thus far would have us believe that Liz all of a sudden felt homesick and couldn’t bear being apart from the Patterson clan any longer, and the longing was so strong, that not even her love for Paul could keep her back. This plot, for the past however many months, has flown directly in the face of the “Wait!” incident on May 1, 2006.
And for the past three months, we have not seen Liz tell Paul about Anthony. For that matter, we have not seen Liz talk to anyone about Anthony. But not only has she not told Paul about Anthony, she has specifically told him she is leaving because of her family. Whether this is a white lie to protect his feelings (ie, she is going home because just wants to make sure she has no feelings for Anthony) or a black lie, is immaterial: what we see is Liz is lying to someone who loves her, and with who she is theoretically in love. What we do not see is Liz, who is ALWAYS portrayed as a thoughtful young woman, pondering the consequences of her actions. She does not seem to think of the potential impact her decisions have on this man, and she is quite happy to deceive him if necessary to get her way. If such agony were illustrated, I would be able to accept so much more of what followed, from Jesse’s disappointment to the drive home to the inevitable meeting with Anthony. And the narrator of this story does not suggest in any way that such nonchalance for other people’s feelings, for promises made, is in any way problematic.
I’d like to thank Terib in comments for pointing out that “WAIT” has a deeper meaning here. I always thought it went back to the unfinished affections between Liz and Anthony dating back to high school, but it perhaps has to do with the aftermath of Howard’s attempted rape, from August 2005.
Anthony’s surprising spine, yet hideous pornostache, as he steps up for the punt.
“I have no hooooooooooome!” and it’s airborne!
And here we are again. “Wait!”
In the past few days since I began this post, I have found myself off track, getting into my own perceptions of the characters’ motivations. It’s hard to get past this when you enjoy the strip you’re tearing to shreds on a daily basis, wishing it was better than it was. [For an example of a strip that is engaging, well drawn, and smart, check out Pibgorn, currently re-enacting A Midsummer Night's Dream] Yet from regular reafding no other conclusion can be drawn. A look at the website and the characters’ “letters home” proves the point. Michael is portrayed as a struggling writer, working on a novel. Good luck man: if your narrative writing is anywhere near as pompous and craptacular as your letters home, you have your work cut out for you:
This should tell you all you need to know: he ignores his family, leaving his wife to deal with their two children. This is presented as a positive characteristic: the fact that he feels bad but is just SO driven makes the neglect OK. Deanna seems to have prepared:
There’s a survival class that they can take when they’re about twelve so they’ll know what to do in case of a canoe capsizing et cetera, and there’s a lifesaving component to the higher-level classes. If they complain about all the lessons, I’ll get Auntie April to come over
God knows Pop’s not around: he’s working on his next piece for Penthouse Forum.
and tell them about how she fell into the ravine behind her house and nearly drowned. Well, maybe that would be excessive, but the thought of something like that happening to my children terrifies me. I keep a very close watch on them when they’re anywhere near water
.
But there’s more. FAR more, from Michael the misunderstood genius:
I have written seven chapters so far, and the characters seem to appear as if they belonged there. The story begins in England toward the end of World War Two. A young English nurse falls in love with a wounded Canadian soldier. After a brief courtship, she follows him to Saskatchewan where they are married. I had planned the story to take place in Alberta, but the strangest thing happened. When Sheilagh Shaughnessy steps onto the train in Montreal, her ticket is for Bodner Saskatchewan, not Alberta at all! From then on, the story is being written by Sheilagh and not by me. It’s as if she has taken charge of my mind and I’m simply writing down what she tells me to.
…and then I ejaculated all over my hand! BLECCCCH! I’m to believe this guy is talented? Feh: he couldn’t get a job working for Harlequin Romance. He couldn’t get a job working for JACK CHICK. And how the FUCK do you pronounce the heroine’s name? Is the “-agh” guttural, like hawking a lugey? Sheilakkkkhh The spelling itself is enough to let you know what kind of writer Michael is: a producer of pretentious, bodice-ripping garbage. Yet the omniscient narrator presents Mike as a highly talented young man: there is no mention of the trite nature of the novel, or the impact of his absence on his family. Not only is there no criticism of his clear familial neglect, rather his pedestrian, run-of-the-mill romance is presented as his contribution to the world of literature. “It’s as if she has taken charge of my mind and I’m simply writing down what she tells me to.” Please. Tell it to that slutty secretary at the office you’re trying to nail.
My Mom has been so helpful. She’s a great editor and good at continuity. She asks me logical questions; details about things like passenger cars, luggage, clothes and telegrams. I’ve had to do quite a bit of research. I want to be accurate and believable, and somehow this is all taking me physically and mentally back in time.
Always with the self-aggrandizement, eh Lynn? Always with the self-aggrandizement. The blatant Oedipal conflict depicted here is noted, but left for others to dissect.
I can’t find the comment, but a Foobiverse reader suggested that Michael’s book would be published the same day Liz married Anthony, with the title “For Better… Or For Worse”: I may place a wager on that one. But I digress.
Or maybe I don’t: Elly Patterson is a proxy for Lynn Johnston. Her characters are based on her kids. Johnston writes her characters into implausible and unsympathetic positions, and then breaks with any semblance of reality to extricate them lest they be unsympathetic to the reader. This is acceptable in a plot driven strip such as FBFW only when the strip involves superheroes, and thus the assumption of the supernatural. There is no supernatural in FBFW, and thus reality should apply to some greater degree. Also, since FBFW has not yet become cranked-out-as-if-by-machine like strips such as Gil Thorp, Mary Worth, Rex Morgan MD, and Garfield (which threw in a completely unexpected surprise last week), the writing is, and should be, held to a higher standard.
Yet our intelligence are continually abused by Johnston: the characters’ inherent goodness is forever jammed right into our faces, like Jimmy Cagney with a grapefruit, no matter how outrageous or mundane their actions, no matter how contrary to common decency.
It’s impossible not to note how heroic Anthony is portrayed for, you know, being a good parent to his kid, what with the worshipful angle from which he’s drawn. Never mind all the stuff about emotional infidelity suggested above, Anthony is a good person because unlike other single fathers, he actually cares about his child. The one his wife never wanted to have. That evidently he nagged her into. “You’d be proud.” Proud of what, you doing your job? “I feed the kid and everything! I even change her diapers!” Well, whoop-dee-fucking-doo, pin a medal on the father-of-the-fucking-year. The rest of us would just let the kid starve if left to ourn own devices. We’d probably take LSD and shove ‘em in the microwave because they were melting.
Knowing what we know about Lynn Johnston, the above three panels are simply disturbing, the two personalities duking it out, between the promise of freedom from this wretched controling woman, the perhaps now too late Lizzie finally sees. What the FUCK was I thinking? I came home for Pornostache the Cinnabon Man and my goddamn meddling mother? What the fuck was I thinking? And it’s all going on in Lynn Johston’s head: who is she to identify with Lizzie-get-your-wings or Elly, her alter ego since day one?
Way to go meta Lynn/Elly. Way to go SUPER meta.
Ominous, ain’t it?
Extraneous Notes
How much of that still-legal Canadian dope was the artist smoking when this abomination was squeezed out?
In both panels, Granthony’s nose is MIA, while his freakishly large mandible takes up most of his head. It doesn’t even look like the fucking character just a few panels before. He’s turned into a leprechaun or something.
Finally speaking as a guy, I have no idea what Liz is supposed to see in this weenbag. He’s whiny, clingy, stalky, wears bad clothes, has bad posture, and is just overall lame. I fucking hated LJ’s Fabio-esque portrayal of Paul (gotta wonder with LJ’s own trip to the north whether she had a little fling), but at least the character had a set of balls. If I knew Liz personally, I’d be saying “Run. Get the fuck out of this town before you get knocked up and stuck here under your mother’s thumb. Go. Run. Hurry, before sunset.”
Yes, I realize all this means I am completely insane.
5 Responses to “For Better or For Worse Musings”
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August 2nd, 2006 at 4:03 pm
Brendan, you really should be writing your own strip.
August 2nd, 2006 at 4:14 pm
I have no artistic ability unfortunately.
besides, my strip wouldn’t be able to appear in a family paper. First of all, no one goes to college and comes out a virgin. NO ONE.
Lizzie would be fundamentally different.
In my strip, she’d be gettin’ it in her fundament.
August 2nd, 2006 at 11:57 pm
Getting it in the fundament is precisely how a lot of girls keep their hymens intact–thus “remaining virgins”.
August 3rd, 2006 at 1:05 am
I know!!
Dan Savage did a HILARIOUS column about that a few months ago. I think he claimed it was one of the unintended consequences of abstinence education.
Tee hee…
December 18th, 2006 at 12:06 am
[...] Thus, Richard’s invited me to guest blog in his place, so I’ll take a half drunken moment to introduce myself. My name is Brendan: you may know me from the comments, or from my blog Brendan Calling, where I rant about politics and deconstruct For Better or For Worse. I’ll try to be relevant and entertainging here at the All Spin Zone. More later, when I’m -hic- sober. Igglllllllllles!!!!!! Brendan Skwire | Sunday, December 17th, 2006 [...]