Lynn Johnston's Feminist Manifesto
Today’s strip in For Better or For Worse took the astonishing perspective that Liz, after having moved into her parents’ house, seemed to be pretending like fate or circumstances beyond her control had put her in the situation of living with her parents. Sometimes on April’s Real Blog, we take a Meta perspective in our snarking, but today’s strip was very close to the same thing being done in the strip itself. Liz seems to be unaware that everything that has happened was her own decision, like she is also commenting to us about the way she is being manipulated into Anthony’s arms. The fact that she actually uses the language about fate when she talks about her relationship with Constable Paul Wright should also give us a big clue how that relationship is going to end up.
Some of the commentary in the various For Better or For Worse commentaries, has taken the perspective that Lynn’s use of Liz is setting back feminism by several decades. Although I think Lynn is guilty of an extremely heavy-handed manipulation of the character, Lynn’s personal feminist manifesto is quite clearly evident in the way Liz has been acting.
Education for women: Elly has made it clear in the strip that she deeply resents having lost the opportunity to complete her degree, when she got married and started making babies. Both Liz and Deanna got their degree. April talks about a career choice as a veterinarian. Elly talks about Merrie getting the opportunities she didn’t. I think it is fairly safe to say, Lynn Johnston does not believe women should be uneducated.
Man is not the leader:The Lynn Johnston perspective, seems to me to be, not only is the man not the leader, but the man better stay out of the way of the woman, and he is lucky even to be consulted on majour issues. Elly berates John when he doesn’t do things her way, and she is shown to have complete control over burial plot selection, car purchases, and retirement home purchases. Likewise, Liz does not follow boyfriend Anthony to his choice of university, boyfriend Warren to British Columbia, and only consulted Constable Paul Wright about her job-changing to Mississauga after she had already made the decision. There are some women who believe men should be seen and not heard, and Lynn Johnston is clearly in that camp, based on these two characters.
Women are in charge of the children: Deanna is shown handling the kids much more frequently than Mike. Not only that, but this is the main objectionable feature about Thérèse Caine. The usual feminist approach is that the man and woman should be equal caretakers of the children, but it is clear Lynn Johnston would disagree with this perspective. My “Sex and Gender in Society” professor in university would disagree also. According to my professor one of the universal truths about every society in the world is that the women are the primary caretakers of children.
Women should have a career: Elly has been constantly seeking after jobs for the life of the strip. Not only that, but Elly strongly encouraged Deanna to return to work very shortly after Merrie was born. Also, Mira Sobinski, who was a stay-at-home mom was criticized severely for babying her 2 daughters. I personally think you could be a stay-at-home mom and be a feminist, but I think Lynn Johnston would disagree with me.
Women should experience adventure: Deanna went to Honduras. Liz went to Mtigwaki. And to be honest, Lynn is playing this one with a level playing field for men and women, since Mike got to go to Japan for the Divala interview. All 3 characters, after having their adventure, have since been made to come home.
So, even though I may think Liz is an idiot to destroy an almost perfect situation she had in Mtigwaki, and it is pretty obvious Liz left for no other reason than to pursue the now-divorced Anthony Caine, I wouldn’t say Lynn is setting back feminism. By chasing after Anthony in the face of common sense, Lynn is portraying Liz as a woman who goes after what she wants, even if she blames fate for making her do it.
Some of the commentary in the various For Better or For Worse commentaries, has taken the perspective that Lynn’s use of Liz is setting back feminism by several decades. Although I think Lynn is guilty of an extremely heavy-handed manipulation of the character, Lynn’s personal feminist manifesto is quite clearly evident in the way Liz has been acting.
Education for women: Elly has made it clear in the strip that she deeply resents having lost the opportunity to complete her degree, when she got married and started making babies. Both Liz and Deanna got their degree. April talks about a career choice as a veterinarian. Elly talks about Merrie getting the opportunities she didn’t. I think it is fairly safe to say, Lynn Johnston does not believe women should be uneducated.
Man is not the leader:The Lynn Johnston perspective, seems to me to be, not only is the man not the leader, but the man better stay out of the way of the woman, and he is lucky even to be consulted on majour issues. Elly berates John when he doesn’t do things her way, and she is shown to have complete control over burial plot selection, car purchases, and retirement home purchases. Likewise, Liz does not follow boyfriend Anthony to his choice of university, boyfriend Warren to British Columbia, and only consulted Constable Paul Wright about her job-changing to Mississauga after she had already made the decision. There are some women who believe men should be seen and not heard, and Lynn Johnston is clearly in that camp, based on these two characters.
Women are in charge of the children: Deanna is shown handling the kids much more frequently than Mike. Not only that, but this is the main objectionable feature about Thérèse Caine. The usual feminist approach is that the man and woman should be equal caretakers of the children, but it is clear Lynn Johnston would disagree with this perspective. My “Sex and Gender in Society” professor in university would disagree also. According to my professor one of the universal truths about every society in the world is that the women are the primary caretakers of children.
Women should have a career: Elly has been constantly seeking after jobs for the life of the strip. Not only that, but Elly strongly encouraged Deanna to return to work very shortly after Merrie was born. Also, Mira Sobinski, who was a stay-at-home mom was criticized severely for babying her 2 daughters. I personally think you could be a stay-at-home mom and be a feminist, but I think Lynn Johnston would disagree with me.
Women should experience adventure: Deanna went to Honduras. Liz went to Mtigwaki. And to be honest, Lynn is playing this one with a level playing field for men and women, since Mike got to go to Japan for the Divala interview. All 3 characters, after having their adventure, have since been made to come home.
So, even though I may think Liz is an idiot to destroy an almost perfect situation she had in Mtigwaki, and it is pretty obvious Liz left for no other reason than to pursue the now-divorced Anthony Caine, I wouldn’t say Lynn is setting back feminism. By chasing after Anthony in the face of common sense, Lynn is portraying Liz as a woman who goes after what she wants, even if she blames fate for making her do it.
posted by howard at 11:12 PM
2 Comments:
Don't forget that while women are to be the primary caregivers to the children, they have to resent them bitterly and receive martyrdom points for the time they spend with them, particularly in that short period between birth and full-time daycare. In Lynnworld, women who actually derive joy from caring for their children are either backwards or dishonest.
That's an excellent point. Although Elly and John both have those "Look! Our kids are actually getting along briefly! It was all worth it." moments. Those moments are few compared to the countless strips of miserable Mike and Deanna with infant Robin or Merrie. There could have been at least one strip where they were shown to be playing with the baby. Actually, I remember one now. Mira Sobinski was playing with baby Merrie, while Deanna made a comment about it.
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