Forget Meredith
The premise of the For Better or For Worse hybrid is that Mike Patterson is supposed to be telling old stories in the life of the Pattersons using old strips to his daughter, of almost 5 years, Meredith. Today’s strip is not even trying to make that premise believable. It requires a certain suspension of belief to accept Merrie would be interested in the story of Elly and John’s courtship; but it requires even more to get around the idea that Michael Patterson starts telling Meredith about details of university applications, dental school, and following someone around a university campus because you believe she is special, due to her “nice teeth.”
What we have is pure narrative flow without respect to the presumed audience of Meredith. The dialogue could have been reworked to make it perfectly acceptable, and I am dumbfounded that the creator of the strip did not even try. Therefore, I will.
Panel 1: Your Grandma Elly went to university in Toronto. That’s the big town where we used to live in the apartment before it burned down. University is a school for grown-ups. Grandpa John went to the very same school as Grandma Elly. That’s where they met.
Panel 2: Do you want to know how they met? Well, you know how sometimes we go to a library to get books? Well, your Grandpa John saw your Grandma Elly in a library at school studying. He liked her right away. But, he didn’t know why he liked her. Can you guess why?
Panel 3: Grandpa John didn’t know either. So Grandpa John waited until Grandma Elly left the library to talk to her, because you are supposed to be quiet in a library. Remember how we tell you to whisper in a library because people are trying to read?
Panel 4: When Grandpa John caught up with Grandma Elly, you know what he decided he liked the best about her. It was her teeth. Now, isn’t that silly?
It could be done, but it would take very little time for that kind of narrative flow to get on your nerves. To do the sort of story-telling Lynn Johnston wants to do, the person doing the telling should be Elly, John or Mike, who know the story; and the person hearing the story should be Mike, Deanna, Liz or April, who might be interested in the story. That way, the language could be kept more adult, and the person hearing the story might be expected to understand it.
What we have is pure narrative flow without respect to the presumed audience of Meredith. The dialogue could have been reworked to make it perfectly acceptable, and I am dumbfounded that the creator of the strip did not even try. Therefore, I will.
Panel 1: Your Grandma Elly went to university in Toronto. That’s the big town where we used to live in the apartment before it burned down. University is a school for grown-ups. Grandpa John went to the very same school as Grandma Elly. That’s where they met.
Panel 2: Do you want to know how they met? Well, you know how sometimes we go to a library to get books? Well, your Grandpa John saw your Grandma Elly in a library at school studying. He liked her right away. But, he didn’t know why he liked her. Can you guess why?
Panel 3: Grandpa John didn’t know either. So Grandpa John waited until Grandma Elly left the library to talk to her, because you are supposed to be quiet in a library. Remember how we tell you to whisper in a library because people are trying to read?
Panel 4: When Grandpa John caught up with Grandma Elly, you know what he decided he liked the best about her. It was her teeth. Now, isn’t that silly?
It could be done, but it would take very little time for that kind of narrative flow to get on your nerves. To do the sort of story-telling Lynn Johnston wants to do, the person doing the telling should be Elly, John or Mike, who know the story; and the person hearing the story should be Mike, Deanna, Liz or April, who might be interested in the story. That way, the language could be kept more adult, and the person hearing the story might be expected to understand it.
posted by howard at 12:39 AM
8 Comments:
LOL--too true about the version that would make sense for telling Meredith. :)
Thanks. Since Lynn is a mom and there are other parents in her staff, it is pretty obvious Meredith is just the source of an occasional, cute, kid question and not supposed to be a real child.
So, even Meredith is nothing but a plot device? I'm starting to believe that the old Lynn who wrote FBoFW is the same person writing the strip the last few years.
The characters used to be really developed and nurtured; now they just drop in and out and potentially interesting characters are thrown away. It's very sad for people who have followed this for a long time, and this "hybrid" just looks embarrassing for all concerned.
DJ
This "hybrid" just looks embarrassing for all concerned.
So far it is less hybrid expanding on old stories, and more like the "Wonderful World of Inexplicable Retcons." After all, how hard would it have been just to draw Elly with her hair down, and John with sideburns? Or to stick with the story about their first meeting she has published before?
I’m posting late because classes have resumed and I’m busy teaching/preparing for my chemistry classes.
I’m generally not a fan of snarking, as you may have realized from my previous posts. But today I am in complete agreement with Howard. In fact, those were my thoughts even before I read any of the posts.
Anon NYC
Anon NYC,
I guess great minds think (snark) alike.
Not to mention, why does Mike have to narrate everything, including events that took place before he was born? Couldn't Lynn have the flashbacks told by various characters depending on who was involved?
That's what I would have thought too. Some old stories would make more sense to have an alternating narrator.
Post a Comment
<< Home