Elizabeth and Anthony, Lovers or Wood?
In today's For Better or For Worse, Anthony and Elizabeth are sharing two cups of coffee (Pattersons are unable to speak without coffee) and they’ve had a bowl of something, all while looking together at Mike’s new book. I can think back to all the times I and my wife have sat on a chesterfield and read a book together. I think the number of times is zero. Magazine articles, yes. Books, no. What they are really doing is trying to see if they can come up with dialogue even more leaden and wooden than the other one. How well to they do? Let’s see:
Anthony: “Your brother writes well, Elizabeth.”
1 point for saying, “Your brother” instead of the more familiar “Mike.”
1 point for saying, “Elizabeth” instead of the more familiar “Liz.”
1 point for saying the least possible descriptive compliment “writes well”.
3 points total for Anthony on the wooden-meter.
Can Elizabeth do better? Let’s see:
Elizabeth: “Thanks. It’s something he’s always been good at.”
-1 point for saying “Thanks” instead of the more formal “Thank you.”
-1 point for saying, “he’s always been good at” instead of the more formal, “at which he’s always been good.”
+1 point for not elaborating on Anthony’s statement.
-1 points total. I am giving this wooden round to Anthony.
This is a majour problem in the relationship between Elizabeth and Anthony. We know that in the case of Eric Chamberlain, Constable Paul Wright, Warren Blackwood, and Mason the best man; Elizabeth’s interest in those guys was based on lust. These were considered to be good-looking men and Elizabeth would make a comment to that effect. Anthony, in contrast, is supposed to the solid, dependable, not-as-good-looking guy. In order for this to work, the dialogue between Elizabeth and Anthony needs to show that Elizabeth is more relaxed and at ease around Anthony than her dialogue with any of those other guys. Instead, we get yet another strip today where Elizabeth and Anthony speak as though they are on a blind date, meeting each other for the first time.
Lynn Johnston. If you are reading this, look at these two words: Pet Names. She’s Liz, or honey or sweetie, not Elizabeth. And the same goes for the way she talks to Anthony. Freckle face or honey or sweetie or numbers guy or something other than Anthony. That simple change will do wonders for these two stiff-necked, unromantic, boards of wood.
Anthony: “Your brother writes well, Elizabeth.”
1 point for saying, “Your brother” instead of the more familiar “Mike.”
1 point for saying, “Elizabeth” instead of the more familiar “Liz.”
1 point for saying the least possible descriptive compliment “writes well”.
3 points total for Anthony on the wooden-meter.
Can Elizabeth do better? Let’s see:
Elizabeth: “Thanks. It’s something he’s always been good at.”
-1 point for saying “Thanks” instead of the more formal “Thank you.”
-1 point for saying, “he’s always been good at” instead of the more formal, “at which he’s always been good.”
+1 point for not elaborating on Anthony’s statement.
-1 points total. I am giving this wooden round to Anthony.
This is a majour problem in the relationship between Elizabeth and Anthony. We know that in the case of Eric Chamberlain, Constable Paul Wright, Warren Blackwood, and Mason the best man; Elizabeth’s interest in those guys was based on lust. These were considered to be good-looking men and Elizabeth would make a comment to that effect. Anthony, in contrast, is supposed to the solid, dependable, not-as-good-looking guy. In order for this to work, the dialogue between Elizabeth and Anthony needs to show that Elizabeth is more relaxed and at ease around Anthony than her dialogue with any of those other guys. Instead, we get yet another strip today where Elizabeth and Anthony speak as though they are on a blind date, meeting each other for the first time.
Lynn Johnston. If you are reading this, look at these two words: Pet Names. She’s Liz, or honey or sweetie, not Elizabeth. And the same goes for the way she talks to Anthony. Freckle face or honey or sweetie or numbers guy or something other than Anthony. That simple change will do wonders for these two stiff-necked, unromantic, boards of wood.
posted by howard at 11:00 PM
10 Comments:
That's what makes their romance so ludicrous; their obvious discomfort with one another. One would think that the two of them are in an arranged marriage and have only now just met. Of course, no money or property have changed hands. What has happened, however, is they've been subjected to Elly ranting about how they're meant to be together for so long, they'l enter into a loveless sham of a marriage because they believe they have no choice.
One could also point out that even a pet name isn't necessary in this exchange. If I were talking to my wife (and if my brother-in-law were a writer), I'd say something like "Michael* has a great ear for dialogue" or "Michael's descriptions are really vivid" or "Michael sure knows how to construct a plot." Note the absence of my wife's name, or a pet name.
I can only conclude that Lynn used Elizabeth's name so the reader had some hope in hell of figuring out who these two bland people in a bland room might actually be.
Also, rescoring for Elizabeth: +1 for "Thanks" because it's a weird and awkward non-sequitur. The compliment was aimed at her brother, not her. Saying "thanks" in reply is just ... tone-deaf.
* Different Michael, and no, he doesn't go by Mike.
DreadedCandiru2
That's what makes their romance so ludicrous; their obvious discomfort with one another.
This is very true, especially when you consider the great lengths the two of them have gone through to be together. From all the little trysts they had during Anthony’s marriage, to Anthony’s constant thought balloons about kissing Elizabeth, to Elizabeth leaving Mtigwaki and Constable Paul Wright the instant she found Anthony was divorced; the elements are there for obsessive love. Given all that history, what they are doing today makes no sense.
dlauthor,
I would agree a pet name isn’t necessary, if the dialogue is better-written. That kind of suggestion is fruitless for Lynn Johnston, who would probably say she doesn’t have the space.
However I agree with your rescoring Elizabeth to +1 for “Thanks.”
Strange, isn't it? All that effort and all she has to show for it is an awkward life with an awkward man and only her immediate family is genuinely on her side. The Patterson's business associates may say they feel okay with this but they can't help but feel that Therese is more of a victim than a monster.
dreadedcandiru2,
The Patterson's business associates may say they feel okay with this but they can't help but feel that Therese is more of a victim than a monster.
I am not sure where you got this. At least as far as Gordon and Tracey Mayes are concerned, it appears to me they have been just as actively working to get Elizabeth and Anthony together as Elly and John, if not moreso. Gordon took Elizabeth on the drive to go visit Anthony at home after little Françoise Caine was born. Tracey was the one at the New Years’ Eve party pushing Elizabeth to talk to Anthony, when Thérèse was trying to keep them away from each other. As for Lawrence Poirier, he and his partner, set Elizabeth up with Dennis North, for no other purpose than to have Elizabeth and Dennis’s dancing show up Thérèse at her wedding. I can't think of anyone in the strip who would think of Thérèse as a victim.
Odd, how the Pattersons and their social circle celebrate diversity unless it threatens them somehow. Therese, like Becky Maguire, made the stupid mistake of challenging the assumptions of small-minded suburbanites who think change is happening way too fast. Oddly enough, Elly and John obviously weren't AS threatened by Anthony's wife nearly as much as his employer and his frumpy litle drab were. Gordo isn't that enlightened and Tracey resents feeling like she has to apologize for being more traditional-minded.
So apparently I'm the only one curious enough to ask what Howard's pet name is?? ::Blush and innocent::
; )
Adrianne
adrianne_p,
I call my wife "Honey bunch of oats".
I don't think it was Lawrence and Nick's intention to have Liz and Dennis's dancing show up Therese at the wedding. Certainly Dennis did not approve of the idea of trying to upstage her. (See the July 11, 12, 14, and August 18, 2003 strips for evidence.)
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