Monday, December 10, 2007

Positive Vision Problems

In yesterday’s comments, Anon NYC provided the following challenge:

In the spirit of the season, I challenge the snarkers of FBORFW to make one positive comment about tomorrow’s strip.

I accepted, of course. Let me start off with the easiest one. Today’s strip in For Better or For Worse was positively not the worst For Better or For Worse strip I have ever seen. The construction of the strip is fairly straight forward, i.e. each character asks another one what they are thinking. The final character asked, has an answer to question which is the punch line. In this strip, the final character is little Françoise and her punch line has to do with the idea she can only “smell” legs. The strip is therefore funny because not only can Françoise only encounter legs at her height, but she goes for the word “smell” instead of the one most adults would do of “see”. We then have humour based on her childlike choice of words, in the “Kids Say the Funniest Things” kind of style. This is a pretty standard source of humour for Lynn Johnston, but it is the first time she has used Françoise instead of Robin or Merrie. Welcome to the family, Françoise!

However, I was struck by this choice of joke for a different reason. Last week, I snarked a strip where it showed little Françoise going to her room to go to bed and she had her hand in front of her, as if she were trying to find her way by touch. I made a note then, jokingly, that perhaps Françoise had vision problems. Then this strip pops up and she says “smell” and not “see”, and my thought is “Well, that’s mighty coincidental. I wonder if Lynn Johnston is leading up to something.”

Now, there are those of you people out there that may think I am leaping to conclusions, but I will point out that this strip predicted an apartment fire, how the Pattersons would escape, and the source of the fire and this strip predicted Deanna and Mike would move into John and Elly’s house. Lynn Johnston has had her moments of subtle hinting before. However, I will admit it seems a little late in the game to introduce a whole new medical problem for a For Better or For Worse regular character. Anyway, just to find out for sure, this is the letter I submitted to the Coffee Talk:

Dear Lynn,

On Wednesday, December 5, you had a picture in the first panel of Françoise trying to feel her way to her room. On Tuesday, December 11, you had Françoise talk about smelling legs, instead of the more obvious joke about seeing only legs. It’s subtle, but I think you are trying to clue us readers in that Françoise has vision problems. Although I feel sorry for a character having vision problems at such a young age as Françoise, I am also looking forward to the first rate way I know Lynn Johnston will handle this important medical issue.

I positively expect it will not be selected for the Coffee Talk.

11 Comments:

Blogger Ellie said...

Positive comment: Francie is a normal-sized toddler in this one, at least.

12:38 AM  
Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

Positive comment 1: Nobody is wallowing in self-pity.

Positive comment 2: The dialogue is believable.

3:19 AM  
Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

As for the foreshadowing, we could very well see Françoise depicted as having vision problems that she got from her father. This could also scratch another of Lynn's itches: bringing Anthony's past out of the shadows so we can see what made him the (I hesitate to say) man he is.

3:22 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Positive comment: Anthony, Liz, and Francie look terrific in panel 2 and panel 3!

Anon NYC

4:34 AM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

Positive comment: no pun. I hate puns.

5:12 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

positive comments: 1. Anthony asks his daughter's opinion, bringing her into the conversation rather than excluding her. 2. In the last panel it looks as if Liz has taken her right hand out of her pocket and might even be starting to think about considering to reach out to hold Francie's hand.

7:36 AM  
Blogger howard said...

Positive comment 1: Going to the mall to see Santa is an excellent venue for plot progression and for Lynn Johnston commentary. (1) I expect Lynn will have an opportunity to lavish her praise or criticism or repeat an old joke about store Santas. (2) Anthony is in a position very close to jewelry stores, in case he should happen to want to buy a little something engagement-like for Liz. (3) There could be a chance meeting with Thérèse and her new boyfriend (my personal hope).

Positive comment 2: Lynn Johnston has managed to plug Follis Shoes, a local North Bay business, although it does not appear to be one that is in a mall, judging from the address. As a point of reference, John Follis got an honorary doctorate from Nipissing University, just like Lynn Johnston did.

Follis Shoes
163 Main Street West, North Bay, ON P1B 2T6
Telephone : 705-472-4330

2002 - Dr. John C. Follis, Doctor of Education, Owner, Follis Shoes, former Chair, Board of Governors at the time of Nipissing's charter
2000 - Dr. Lynn Johnston, Doctor of Letters, Syndicated cartoonist, For Better or For Worse

Positive comment 3: The return of professional model, big-lipped Anthony in panel 2. It’s a rare panel when I can say Anthony is prettier than Liz is, but this is one of them. Go Anthony! Rock those lips!

9:07 AM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

I hate honorary doctorates! I had to suffer for my real one, dammeet! ;)

10:31 AM  
Blogger howard said...

aprilp_katje,

Does this mean you won't be buying any Follis shoes in protest?

Speaking of honorary doctorates, a little digression. I remember years ago when my dad was working at a university where they did give out honorary doctorates. One particular year, two of persons getting the honorary were Les Brown (of Les Brown and his Band of Renown), and Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. My father recollected that the good Senator expressed a view (with which you are probably familiar coming from certain comics creator we know and love) that honorary doctorates are ways universities can get graduation speakers without paying the speaker’s fees. He also recollected that was generally the way the Senator treated the whole situation, as if he preferred to have the money and not the degree. This is to say, the good Senator rambled incoherently during his speech, and had a particularly offensive body odor and poor dental hygiene.

On the other hand, Les Brown was thrilled to be recognized with the honour. My father was of the opinion he was the type of person who deserved an honorary doctorate for his years of promoting and perfecting his craft. It was also Les Brown’s first honorary doctorate, compared to the many the Senator had received.

Thanks to this story, whenever I read Lynn Johnston's comments about getting an honorary doctorate, I think of Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

12:58 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Howard,

the good Senator rambled incoherently during his speech
I had the honor of meeting Senator Pat Moynihan several times through our friend, an advisor to the senator. It’s an accurate description of his speech, although I didn’t notice the poor hygiene. He had a slight speech impediment, which made him sound like he was a bit smashed. It’s remarkable that he was such a popular politician. Now we have Hillary.

Anon NYC

6:10 PM  
Blogger howard said...

Anon NYC,

I expect the good Senator's hygiene was not a constant, but was more of an indication how he considered receiving an honorary doctorate. My father is very scrupulous in his hygiene (he constantly offers me breath mints and the like), and is much more likely than most people to notice if someone smells bad.

As for you NY guys and Hillary, well you must be having a lot of fun these days. In Arizona, we look forward to John McCain’s run every 4 years, and I did live in Dallas, Texas during the years of George Bush, governor and the Ross Perot run; so I know very well what kind of fun you must be having.

9:00 PM  

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