Wedding Disorientation
When we last saw the Shawna-Marie and Brian wedding 2 weeks ago:
a. Julia was trying to convince Anthony to make his move on Liz.
b. The garter was being removed, which is an event, along with the bouquet-throwing, which I think normally occurs shortly before the bride and groom are about to leave.
c. The wedding party was located at an outdoor tent, where the wedding had taken place.
Two weeks later:
a. The reception has moved to an indoor hall.
b. We get one speech to the groom and one speech to the bride.
c. Then Mason the best man / master of ceremonies passes out from drinking too much.
What is wrong with this storyline?
Three big things. The first thing is virtually no scenes of feminine bonding in the wedding. Weddings are built for feminine bonding. Bridal showers, and bachelorette parties, and fancy dresses are a veritable estrogen bath. Where was this stuff?
I remember when my wife acted as the maid of honour at her best friend from university’s wedding. She had a bridal shower for her, hosted her bachelorette party, and during the wedding ceremony was in there, helping her get dressed, helping her deal with people, making sure everything went smoothly, and of course was available with stories about her best friend at the reception and during the rehearsal dinner designed to honour her. This was really an opportunity to show Liz and Dawn Enjo as helpers, supporters, and good friends of a woman they have known (and we have known by loyally reading this strip) for ages. All we get in For Better or For Worse was a single joke about a corset when the 3 friends were together.
Second thing. The removal of the threats must occur before Liz and Anthony can get together. Julia is shown not to be a threat to Liz and Anthony because she is short, fat, and suspiciously enthusiastic about the idea that Liz and Anthony should be together. Mason is nice-looking, and has the physical strength to heave Liz’s bulk above the mud, but has an unfortunate drinking problem or narcolepsy or something. Now Liz and Anthony are free to move together, because their competition has melted away in a sea of jolly fat and alcoholism. Once again, Anthony and Liz are made to appear to choose each other for no other reason than there is no one else suitable.
What Lynn Johnston fails to realize is that when two people really care for each other, it does not mean that there are not other good choices for mates out there. In fact, the story is more powerful if Julia really likes Anthony and she is smart, pretty, funny and a reasonable competition for Liz; but Anthony chooses Liz anyway. Likewise, if Mason had been shown to be a suave and sophisticated dancer, but Liz prefers the nerdier dancing of Anthony, then you have a love story. As it is, you have a “Well! You’re the only one left, so we might as well get together” story. I suppose some people get married for that reason, but it’s not very romantic.
Third thing. Françoise is ignored. If you want to court someone with a child, then you have to show the person wooing not only the parent, but the child. Tweaking the ear of an attacker is not going to do it. Helping someone pick out a car is not going to do it. Testimony at the courtroom on behalf of someone is not going to do it. Stepping in for a passed out master of ceremonies at a wedding, is not going to do it. Liz and Anthony could end the wedding sequence in bed after a night of passionate debauchery, and still, it is not going to do it. Liz must interact with Françoise, and we must be made to believe that she is going to be not only a good wife for Anthony, but a good mother for the little girl. Even schmaltzy Hollywood movies understand this.
What needs to happen to fix this?
a. Liz and Anthony agree to go out on a date involving Françoise, where we get to see the date and we get to see Liz bond with Françoise and Anthony.
b. Liz and Dawn need to get off their butts and spend a little quality time with Shawna-Marie, but I fear that it is too late in the wedding for this to occur.
a. Julia was trying to convince Anthony to make his move on Liz.
b. The garter was being removed, which is an event, along with the bouquet-throwing, which I think normally occurs shortly before the bride and groom are about to leave.
c. The wedding party was located at an outdoor tent, where the wedding had taken place.
Two weeks later:
a. The reception has moved to an indoor hall.
b. We get one speech to the groom and one speech to the bride.
c. Then Mason the best man / master of ceremonies passes out from drinking too much.
What is wrong with this storyline?
Three big things. The first thing is virtually no scenes of feminine bonding in the wedding. Weddings are built for feminine bonding. Bridal showers, and bachelorette parties, and fancy dresses are a veritable estrogen bath. Where was this stuff?
I remember when my wife acted as the maid of honour at her best friend from university’s wedding. She had a bridal shower for her, hosted her bachelorette party, and during the wedding ceremony was in there, helping her get dressed, helping her deal with people, making sure everything went smoothly, and of course was available with stories about her best friend at the reception and during the rehearsal dinner designed to honour her. This was really an opportunity to show Liz and Dawn Enjo as helpers, supporters, and good friends of a woman they have known (and we have known by loyally reading this strip) for ages. All we get in For Better or For Worse was a single joke about a corset when the 3 friends were together.
Second thing. The removal of the threats must occur before Liz and Anthony can get together. Julia is shown not to be a threat to Liz and Anthony because she is short, fat, and suspiciously enthusiastic about the idea that Liz and Anthony should be together. Mason is nice-looking, and has the physical strength to heave Liz’s bulk above the mud, but has an unfortunate drinking problem or narcolepsy or something. Now Liz and Anthony are free to move together, because their competition has melted away in a sea of jolly fat and alcoholism. Once again, Anthony and Liz are made to appear to choose each other for no other reason than there is no one else suitable.
What Lynn Johnston fails to realize is that when two people really care for each other, it does not mean that there are not other good choices for mates out there. In fact, the story is more powerful if Julia really likes Anthony and she is smart, pretty, funny and a reasonable competition for Liz; but Anthony chooses Liz anyway. Likewise, if Mason had been shown to be a suave and sophisticated dancer, but Liz prefers the nerdier dancing of Anthony, then you have a love story. As it is, you have a “Well! You’re the only one left, so we might as well get together” story. I suppose some people get married for that reason, but it’s not very romantic.
Third thing. Françoise is ignored. If you want to court someone with a child, then you have to show the person wooing not only the parent, but the child. Tweaking the ear of an attacker is not going to do it. Helping someone pick out a car is not going to do it. Testimony at the courtroom on behalf of someone is not going to do it. Stepping in for a passed out master of ceremonies at a wedding, is not going to do it. Liz and Anthony could end the wedding sequence in bed after a night of passionate debauchery, and still, it is not going to do it. Liz must interact with Françoise, and we must be made to believe that she is going to be not only a good wife for Anthony, but a good mother for the little girl. Even schmaltzy Hollywood movies understand this.
What needs to happen to fix this?
a. Liz and Anthony agree to go out on a date involving Françoise, where we get to see the date and we get to see Liz bond with Françoise and Anthony.
b. Liz and Dawn need to get off their butts and spend a little quality time with Shawna-Marie, but I fear that it is too late in the wedding for this to occur.
posted by howard at 1:33 AM
9 Comments:
Terrific analysis! Nothing to squabble with...
I don't really disagree with you, but here is what I think Lynn is thinking--
The issue of the very young child from the first marriage. Lynn went through this herself. I wonder if it led her to conclude that a very small child does not really need "courting," because the child will not remember a time before New Daddy/Mommy joined the family. That wouldn't be so terribly unreasonable, frankly, based on what I've heard from people who went through this situation. When the kid is under 3 or so, their opinion frequently doesn't figure into the courtship.
Of course, the reason for no "estrogen fests" is because men are not present at those parts of the wedding, and the whole part of this wedding is to present the "will she pick Mason or Anthony?" tension. I don't think Lynn cares about portraying her characters as having good characteristics anymore, like being a good friend, etc. She just tells you that they are. I think she feels she doesn't have time for anything that isn't advancing a major storyline for her characters.
I also think Lynn sees "Anthony is the only decent man" as romantic. I suspect that may be how she thinks of her courtship with Rod. Every other man Lynn ever dated, according to her, was scum. I think she probably thinks finding a good man in a sea of jerks as being romantic, and doesn't think of it as "you're just taking the only option available to you."
Q.N.
Interestingly, though, Lynn has recounted that when she started to date Rod, Aaron was very possessive of her and resentful of having her share her attention with this interloper. And when Rod proposed marriage, he said something along the lines of "If you're willing to take me on, I'm willing to take on Aaron." Swoonfully romantic, eh? So based on that, I'd expect Françoise's reaction to Liz to figure in at least a bit. Maybe Lynn's keeping that in her back pocket.
anonymous,
Thanks for the compliment.
qnjones,
I can't speak for the situation of the single parents you knew with kids under 3 who got married. However, I remember in my single days, when I dated women who had small kids, I specifically planned dates that were outings to include the child and I had to be willing to get in the floor and play with the kid, or I was toast with the mom. Of course none of those relationships ever worked out for me, so maybe you're right.
You are also probably right about the reason why Lynn is ignoring the female bonding possibilities with the wedding in favour of pursuing the Anthony / Liz story. It is disappointing because Liz was the Patterson child who seemed to relate better to women than any of her siblings during high school and university. However, the post-university Liz seems to have lost that touch, even in a wedding situation.
aprilp_katje,
I hope Lynn does decide to use Françoise. However, I fear she will used solely for the purpose of giving some comeuppance to Thérèse, should she decided to pop up for some comeuppance delivered Patterson-style. I think having Françoise call Elizabeth "mommy" in front of Thérèse would do it. However, if Lynn never shows Françoise bonding with Elizabeth, such a moment would be poorly done.
Wow. "Willing to take on Aaron"--?!? That actually makes me think that the reason Lynn doesn't show Liz courting Francoise is that she had a negative experience herself, with Aaron and Rod not really bonding until after the marriage (or maybe never, for all I know).
BTW, I don't have kids, but if I did, and a man asked me to marry him but indicated he considered my kid a necessary evil, as Rod did--I would tell him to hit the bricks. I think it says a lot about Lynn that she was willing to marry someone who would say something like that. Yikes.
I don't have kids, but if I did, and a man asked me to marry him but indicated he considered my kid a necessary evil, as Rod did--I would tell him to hit the bricks.
Yes! That and some of the other things she said about Aaron in the interview really make me feel bad for him [Aaron, not Rod].
I wanted to check, to make sure I wasn't misremembering. The quote, which comes from here, is:
Rod wanted to move to the Northwest Territories. He wanted to be a flying dentist. He was in his second year of dental school, he was brought up in the Arctic. His father was a miner and a prospector, and his mother had been one of the first teachers to go up into the Arctic. I thought, "I don't want to lose this guy." And he was going to have a rough time accepting Aaron, because Aaron was a very difficult child who wanted his mother all to himself. He did not want Rod around, so he'd scream all night and throw these temper tantrums where he'd foam at the mouth and bang his head against the wall. And one day, Rod said to me, "Look, I'll take on Aaron, and you take on the bush, and we'll make it." And we did. I've been married to him for 17 years now, and I'm still crazy about him.
And he was going to have a rough time accepting Aaron, because Aaron was a very difficult child who wanted his mother all to himself. He did not want Rod around, so he'd scream all night and throw these temper tantrums where he'd foam at the mouth and bang his head against the wall.
Yeow! I've seen this before. My boy used to do that, but it didn't have anything to do with wanting his mother all to himself. There is an aspect to my boy's condition, particularly when he was little, where he would get mad over something and wouldn't be able to stop himself. He still has the problem today, but he has much more control over it. Most kid's temper tantrums last minutes, but my son's could last hours. He would also bang his head on things, which turned out to be his sensory integration disorder, where the child needs and seeks sensory input to help him stop. Anger over time spent with Rod might start that tantrum, but something else kept it going.
That's a lot to take on when you marry someone, even though Rod could have phrased it more delicately. Unfortunately for Aaron, a lot of the knowledge about how to deal with these kinds of problems probably did not exist or was recognized when he was little. I know my wife and I struggled for years to find a diagnosis for our boy.
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