Becky is Nice to You Again
In today's For Better or For Worse, Shannon Lake types, “I’m glad Becky is nice to you again.” This is the first official declaration that the Becky / April feud is over. To me, this was the most astounding part of today’s strip. Lynn Johnston has been writing the Becky / April feud starting from their Grade 8 entrance into the home economics class together in October, 2004. This is a storyline spanning almost 3 years and how does it end? We get one strip in which we get to observe Becky eating a little humble pie. Then we get to see April summarizing the rest of her conversation with Becky to her father with jam-packed word balloons. And if April’s summarization is to be believed exactly as it is printed in the August 1 strip, April declares Becky to be nice because Becky told April she prefers April’s life to hers.
To me, this rapid conclusion to a long storyline was even more shocking than Anthony and Elizabeth running off together madly in love at the Verano wedding after he shaved his moustache and asked her to dance. At least there was some build up to that moment, with Julia goading Anthony on, and Elizabeth trying to ask Anthony to be her date.
With Becky and April, we have seen nothing at all to motivate Becky to have this sudden change of heart. Becky has mentioned fighting parents for years and she mentioned the stresses of her career just last September. However, in September, she said she totally loved what she did, even though she was complaining about it. To my knowledge she has never before said she would rather be April. That’s a big change in Becky. Surely, Lynn Johnston is not suggesting that Becky listened to Eva and April’s song and it made her heart grow 10 times larger, like the Grinch hearing the Who’s in Whoville singing in Dr. Seuss' The Grinch That Stole Christmas. And yet, that is the only bone we have been thrown. Becky's hears the song, declares it to be truly good, and then goes to be nice to April. In other words, Becky has recognized the quality of Eva and April's singing and composing, realizes it is possible to be a quality music performer without fame and messed up parents, and goes to tell April what she has discovered, all in 2 strips. I feel as though I have been robbed.
We are in the end days, and plot development is being thrown out the window. I am starting to believe that Sunday colour strip with Anthony and Liz in the park with Francie, is going to be the only dating strip we are going to have with those two. Maybe we can have John’s retirement, the release of Mike’s book to best-selling status and Anthony proposing to Elizabeth all in the same week. I can’t believe the award-winning Lynn Johnston has budgeted her time so poorly for ending her strip's storylines. I am reminded of the lines from this poem:
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
—T.S. Eliot, "The Hollow Men" (1925)
To me, this rapid conclusion to a long storyline was even more shocking than Anthony and Elizabeth running off together madly in love at the Verano wedding after he shaved his moustache and asked her to dance. At least there was some build up to that moment, with Julia goading Anthony on, and Elizabeth trying to ask Anthony to be her date.
With Becky and April, we have seen nothing at all to motivate Becky to have this sudden change of heart. Becky has mentioned fighting parents for years and she mentioned the stresses of her career just last September. However, in September, she said she totally loved what she did, even though she was complaining about it. To my knowledge she has never before said she would rather be April. That’s a big change in Becky. Surely, Lynn Johnston is not suggesting that Becky listened to Eva and April’s song and it made her heart grow 10 times larger, like the Grinch hearing the Who’s in Whoville singing in Dr. Seuss' The Grinch That Stole Christmas. And yet, that is the only bone we have been thrown. Becky's hears the song, declares it to be truly good, and then goes to be nice to April. In other words, Becky has recognized the quality of Eva and April's singing and composing, realizes it is possible to be a quality music performer without fame and messed up parents, and goes to tell April what she has discovered, all in 2 strips. I feel as though I have been robbed.
We are in the end days, and plot development is being thrown out the window. I am starting to believe that Sunday colour strip with Anthony and Liz in the park with Francie, is going to be the only dating strip we are going to have with those two. Maybe we can have John’s retirement, the release of Mike’s book to best-selling status and Anthony proposing to Elizabeth all in the same week. I can’t believe the award-winning Lynn Johnston has budgeted her time so poorly for ending her strip's storylines. I am reminded of the lines from this poem:
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
—T.S. Eliot, "The Hollow Men" (1925)
posted by howard at 11:36 PM
6 Comments:
And from The Wasteland: "These fragments I have shored against my ruins." ;)
Howtheduck, in case you hadn't heard, tomorrow's strip features the "Pattersons Redux." There are even some wildly varying proportions for you to have fun with (Dee shrinks to about the size of an eight-year-old in one panel).
I hadn't heard, but I look forward to seeing it.
I think this is an appropriate ending for the feud. Hasn't Becky's been eating humble pie since Halloween? Besides, it's not unusual for girls to suddenly make up. LJ had us wondering about Gerald and Becky so the ending was a nice surprise.
This month I expect to see many heartwarming strips devoted to Anthony and Elizabeth. By the end of the month we will all be convinced that this match was made in heaven!
BTW
Sunday's New York Times Magazine has an article you might find interesting ("What Autistic Girls Are Made Of")
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/magazine/05autism-t.html
it's not unusual for girls to suddenly make up.
Yes, but I want to see them make up. I cannot get involved in the emotion of the situation, if it is April filling dull speech balloons talking to her dad. There is no drama to go with that text. However, if I see Becky say these things, and she drawn well so I can see the emotion going along with the change in her understanding, then I am a much more satisfied reader.
I am not so sure what we will see with Anthony and Elizabeth, except a very rapid romance. However, I hope that you are right. It will be much more fun that way.
Thanks for pointing me to the article. It was very interesting. My son participates in an Asperger’s social group, which is made up of all boys. Last year, he participated in an autism summer camp, which had 1 girl in it briefly. She dropped out quickly, possibly for reasons listed in the article.
Anonymous,
My wife has corrected me. My boy's social group is matched by 2 other social groups for boys and 1 social group for girls. There are about 5 girls in the group, as opposed to 8 boys in their group. Not exactly the 1 to 10 ratio in the article, but not nonexistent either.
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