FOOB: Not So Nice When It “Happens” To You
So let’s back it up a moment.
On May 1, 2006, your sister wrote you to tell you your dorky ex-boyfriend split with his wife. The one who didn’t like you, because she knew you and her husband still had feelings for each other.
Your reaction to the news is here:
Were you HONEST with your new boyfriend, the cop who had just transferred to be in a precinct closer to you?
No: you said nothing to him about dear sweet Anthony. Instead, you said you missed your family. And that it was out of your control:
“I just realized it.” Swept away by fate, driven to return home. It was out of your control.
Remember what you said to Jesse, the Ojibway student who worshipped you, when you told him you were leaving his school?
It’s on the tip of my tongue…
Ah yes, that’s what it was. “These things just happen.”
But when it happens to YOU, it’s a different story isn’t it. All of a sudden “lying doesn’t ‘just happen’”. “Pretending and covering up doesn’t ‘just happen’” (I will eschew “cheating” even though it’s clear you and Anthony have been carrying on an emotional affair since May 2006).
You’re right: these things don’t “just happen”. People make things happen. And as someone who’s done her share making things happen, you have no right to stand there and wail at your now ex-boyfriend who just served you the same way you served him.
As my friend Jim Krewson wrote in a song,
So I’ve found another love to take your place
The longing in my bitter heart has finally run its race
Go find someone else to fight with and push away
I could never be a winner at that loser’s game you play.
It’s a pleasure to know you…
“It’s a Pleasure to Know You”, Jim and Jennie and the Pinetops
What is, of course, most obnoxious is that Lynn Johnston has either forgotten her own characters’ history or thinks her readers have. And neither reflects well on Lynn Johnston as a writer.
The character of Paul, essentially caught in the same kind of passive aggressive dishonest nonsense as the character of Lizzie, is a right bastard. But when Lizzie lies it’s out of purely good intentions, so it’s not really lying.
As I’ve said before, this is the kind of writing you’d expect from a fifth grader. Not from someone who’s won awards for her work. At least Watterson, Larson, and Breathed had the sense to retire before their work became a self-perpetuating joke at the author’s expense.
Comments are open on this post, at the suggestion of the Lovely Christina. They are also open on yesterday’s FOOB posts as well.
January 12th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Wonderful analysis! up there with the essay on Anthony hate. That’s what has angered me about this plot. It would be nice if Vivian chews out Liz in this storyline about that. But LJ seems to have gone Marysue on us, so it won’t happen.
January 12th, 2007 at 9:09 pm
and the worst part is that this fucking strip is the first thing I look at every morning.
before the news even.
The most disappointing bullshit since the Death of Aldo Kelrast in “Mary Worth”.
January 12th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
Thanks so much for your foobanalysis! I love reading it! I’ve been wasting scary amounts of time trying to figure out why the hell this strip has been driving me crazy. I mean, unlike many people who’ve posted comments such as “these strips used to be posted on our fridge at home” etc., etc., I never even really liked FBOFW. I just used to follow it with mild interest because of the aging in real time gimmick. I remember starting to be really annoyed with the strip right when Anthony reappeared, with his creepy little wistful, yearning thought balloons. As I’ve said before on other blogs, Johnston appeared to think this was interesting and romantic, when it was the exact opposite. It was as if she forgot that the first Blandthony/Liz relationship (in high school)ended with a whimper. I remember clearly that they weren’t even portrayed as being that passionate about each other. She was often annoyed because he would rather goof off with his buddies than go out with her. After high school, there wasn’t any talk of going to the same university to be together, and once they were separated, they just lost interest and stopped writing to each other.
So when Johnston brought Blandthony and his Liz-induced thought balloons back into the strip, my first thought was “Whoa! What the hell? They weren’t all that crazy about each other in high school, but now she’s his long-lost love? I’m not buying it.” Instead of making Anthony sympathetic, it reminded me of how I’ve seen people behave when they’re lonely and life isn’t working out for them and they start saying things like “Remember [insert name of some ex from a fizzled romance here]? Yeah, I know we didn’t really get along that well – but I’ve been thinking, maybe the relationship was better that I remember. Gosh, I’m so lonely, I wonder what [ex from fizzled romance] is up to?
January 16th, 2007 at 9:25 pm
Perfect! You absolutely nailed this whole atrocious mess. I would love to flood the FBoFW website with this article!