Liz is Nervous
A late post for me, but my computer at home is starting to flake out on its internet connection and I couldn't get on-line last night.
I wasn't sure how long eeknight would have to play his Anthony-preparation posts, but it was not as long as I expected. Anthony has appeared and his resolute demeanor from being around John earlier in the year, is now completely gone. The theme established last year when he asked Elizabeth to wait for him has come true, and he gallops out to meet her, as if she is a knight coming to rescue him. Lynn is portraying the man as being completely and utterly spineless.
I am pretty sure Liz is going to end up with Anthony with the clues that have been given (Paul doesn't want to move to Toronto, the overly friendly greeting with Susan Dokis). However, I am trying to understand how Lynn must be viewing this. Lynn is all about female empowerment, i.e. when the woman says "Jump," the man says, "How high?" We see Elly regularly browbeat John. We see Iris regularly browbeat Jim. We saw the long torture that was the Deanna and Mike courtship, where Deanna pushed away Mike again and again before finally agreeing to marry him. I can only reference those strips in my head, since they are not on-line and I don't have a collection, but I remember lines like "I can't get engaged until I get a job. I can't get engaged until I go to Honduras." I remember at the time being shocked Mike didn't drop her for being so controlling. Anyway, now we have Liz and Anthony. Lynn really must be looking at this with the traditional Knight rescuing fair maiden attitude, except with gender reversal. Liz is going to be the hero, because Liz is going to rescue this poor man from the perils of single parenthood. Lynn might be thinking that it is a great modern spin on the old Jane Austen kind of material. I am reminded of the old George Gershwin musical, "Oh Kay" where Kay, the daughter of a rum-runner, rescues the leading man from a snooty society girl.
Except of course, the problem is Anthony doesn't need rescuing. Therese has already left and Anthony has been handling things fine without her. Anthony is coming off as a completely delusional guy, who believes that Liz is the only girl for him and now she has finally realized that too. He is coming off as obsessive, and the eeknight portrayal is only a few notches away from the Lynn Johnston portrayal. Even if Lynn were to turn around and portray Constable Paul Wright as a child-molesting, serial killer; she cannot erase the taint she has put on Anthony in today's strip. Whatever job she has tried to do to erase the repulsive Anthony from last August, it is all back today. If Liz rejects Paul, the readers will still not want her to be with Anthony.
I am really curious what Lynn is going to do now. Under normal circumstances, the setup is for Liz to really trash Anthony for the crap he put her through last summer. If she does that, Liz's character is redeemed. The more likely scenario is that Liz and Anthony will have a series of meetings. "Come and have dinner with me and see little Francoise. " "OK. But remember I have a boyfriend." "Come and close dance with me." "OK. But remember I have a boyfriend." "Look at the romantic stars with me." "OK. But remember I have a boyfriend." And all the while, Elly gives Liz more lectures about how nice it is have the attention of a man, so much like John, living so close, and with a job that isn't dangerous. It will be so awful. I can hardly wait.
I wasn't sure how long eeknight would have to play his Anthony-preparation posts, but it was not as long as I expected. Anthony has appeared and his resolute demeanor from being around John earlier in the year, is now completely gone. The theme established last year when he asked Elizabeth to wait for him has come true, and he gallops out to meet her, as if she is a knight coming to rescue him. Lynn is portraying the man as being completely and utterly spineless.
I am pretty sure Liz is going to end up with Anthony with the clues that have been given (Paul doesn't want to move to Toronto, the overly friendly greeting with Susan Dokis). However, I am trying to understand how Lynn must be viewing this. Lynn is all about female empowerment, i.e. when the woman says "Jump," the man says, "How high?" We see Elly regularly browbeat John. We see Iris regularly browbeat Jim. We saw the long torture that was the Deanna and Mike courtship, where Deanna pushed away Mike again and again before finally agreeing to marry him. I can only reference those strips in my head, since they are not on-line and I don't have a collection, but I remember lines like "I can't get engaged until I get a job. I can't get engaged until I go to Honduras." I remember at the time being shocked Mike didn't drop her for being so controlling. Anyway, now we have Liz and Anthony. Lynn really must be looking at this with the traditional Knight rescuing fair maiden attitude, except with gender reversal. Liz is going to be the hero, because Liz is going to rescue this poor man from the perils of single parenthood. Lynn might be thinking that it is a great modern spin on the old Jane Austen kind of material. I am reminded of the old George Gershwin musical, "Oh Kay" where Kay, the daughter of a rum-runner, rescues the leading man from a snooty society girl.
Except of course, the problem is Anthony doesn't need rescuing. Therese has already left and Anthony has been handling things fine without her. Anthony is coming off as a completely delusional guy, who believes that Liz is the only girl for him and now she has finally realized that too. He is coming off as obsessive, and the eeknight portrayal is only a few notches away from the Lynn Johnston portrayal. Even if Lynn were to turn around and portray Constable Paul Wright as a child-molesting, serial killer; she cannot erase the taint she has put on Anthony in today's strip. Whatever job she has tried to do to erase the repulsive Anthony from last August, it is all back today. If Liz rejects Paul, the readers will still not want her to be with Anthony.
I am really curious what Lynn is going to do now. Under normal circumstances, the setup is for Liz to really trash Anthony for the crap he put her through last summer. If she does that, Liz's character is redeemed. The more likely scenario is that Liz and Anthony will have a series of meetings. "Come and have dinner with me and see little Francoise. " "OK. But remember I have a boyfriend." "Come and close dance with me." "OK. But remember I have a boyfriend." "Look at the romantic stars with me." "OK. But remember I have a boyfriend." And all the while, Elly gives Liz more lectures about how nice it is have the attention of a man, so much like John, living so close, and with a job that isn't dangerous. It will be so awful. I can hardly wait.
posted by howard at 6:23 AM
2 Comments:
Oh, God, I think you are absolutely right about the series of encounters and the Elly spin on them. I wish Liz would tell him to step off, but you so know she won't!
Liz's first chance to tell him to step off will come this week, maybe starting tomorrow.
I must confess there is a part of me that hopes this whole storyline with Anthony is a very well-written storyline, where Liz's rejection of Anthony is her last step on the way to realizing that she really should be with Paul, and the Susan Dokis thing and Paul's thought balloon about not trying too hard to transfer to Toronto are red herrings. Honestly, if that happened I would be very impressed with the way Lynn has led us to believe she is setting up Liz with Anthony, and I would take the final "Mr. Wright is Mr. Right" pun with grace.
Realistically, the way Lynn has been writing these days, there is no way that is going to happen.
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