Silhouettes and Poiriers
Earlier in the year, Lynn Johnston did a podcast interview (sorry I don’t have the link) where, among many topics covered, she discussed criticisms leveled against her handling of For Better or For Worse. One of these was the decision to have April Patterson perform a song she composed at the Hearts Together Telethon, and yet have no other Pattersons in the crowd watching her perform. Lynn’s response to the complaint was that she didn’t have space to draw the other people in.
As we have completed the story arch this week with Michael Patterson and his Lilliput’s book-signing, I have tried to avoid complaining about persons who did or did not attend until I could have a full view of the whole affair. The persons who were conspicuous in their absence were Elizabeth Patterson and the Poirier family. Lawrence Poirier has missed all 3 of the “celebrate Mike the author” parties, and has been mentioned only when Mike called him up to offer him a free book. Likewise one next-door-neighbour Anne Nichols shows up, but the other one, Connie Poirier does not. Even more amusing was the appearance of Lilliput’s employee, Beatrice Alfarero, who was shown two times in the strip only in silhouette, even when Michael was speaking directly to her.
The question is: Was there space for these people? I believe that there was. Gordon Mayes made an appearance only in a single panel in the Tuesday strip. However, in all of the Lilliput’s strips running from Monday to Thursday, there were silhouettes. 14 panels of silhouetted people all together. That’s a lot of space.
It looks like Lynn Johnston is simply picking some of these old characters for situations and then dropping them in when it suits her purpose. Anne Nichols and Jean Baker showed up, but without mentioning their last names or their relationship to Mike, like Anne’s kids. That has them covered.
As for the prominently missing people, Connie Poirier, for example, went with Elly to visit Grandpa Jim in the hospital, for no other reason than to introduce a few reprint strips with Connie Poirier in them. That’s her appearance. Mike mentions Lawrence Poirier in the strip where he calls him to tell him about the free book. That’s his appearance. And Elizabeth Patterson can’t make any appearance anywhere without having to dive into her romantic life, just like when she went to Mike’s party back in March, and it was all about her romance with Warren. You can’t put in Elizabeth, because it will distract from Mike. As for Beatrice Alfarero, well, it would be too much trouble to look at an old strip and figure out what she looks like.
Lynn Johnston. I disagree with your decision. Less silhouettes and more characters makes for a strip that makes more sense.
As we have completed the story arch this week with Michael Patterson and his Lilliput’s book-signing, I have tried to avoid complaining about persons who did or did not attend until I could have a full view of the whole affair. The persons who were conspicuous in their absence were Elizabeth Patterson and the Poirier family. Lawrence Poirier has missed all 3 of the “celebrate Mike the author” parties, and has been mentioned only when Mike called him up to offer him a free book. Likewise one next-door-neighbour Anne Nichols shows up, but the other one, Connie Poirier does not. Even more amusing was the appearance of Lilliput’s employee, Beatrice Alfarero, who was shown two times in the strip only in silhouette, even when Michael was speaking directly to her.
The question is: Was there space for these people? I believe that there was. Gordon Mayes made an appearance only in a single panel in the Tuesday strip. However, in all of the Lilliput’s strips running from Monday to Thursday, there were silhouettes. 14 panels of silhouetted people all together. That’s a lot of space.
It looks like Lynn Johnston is simply picking some of these old characters for situations and then dropping them in when it suits her purpose. Anne Nichols and Jean Baker showed up, but without mentioning their last names or their relationship to Mike, like Anne’s kids. That has them covered.
As for the prominently missing people, Connie Poirier, for example, went with Elly to visit Grandpa Jim in the hospital, for no other reason than to introduce a few reprint strips with Connie Poirier in them. That’s her appearance. Mike mentions Lawrence Poirier in the strip where he calls him to tell him about the free book. That’s his appearance. And Elizabeth Patterson can’t make any appearance anywhere without having to dive into her romantic life, just like when she went to Mike’s party back in March, and it was all about her romance with Warren. You can’t put in Elizabeth, because it will distract from Mike. As for Beatrice Alfarero, well, it would be too much trouble to look at an old strip and figure out what she looks like.
Lynn Johnston. I disagree with your decision. Less silhouettes and more characters makes for a strip that makes more sense.
posted by howard at 6:38 AM
8 Comments:
Thanks to LJ seek, I found the podcast. It's also on www.thestrippodcast.com, scroll down to Sep. 10.
Not only does it make more sense to have more characters in the strip, fewer strips could be used in service of the idea she wants to convey. Mike's struggle with self-doubt, for instance, could have been wrapped up in two or three days.
Lynn's claim that she couldn't fit John and/or Elly into the telethon strips was ridiculous. She could have easily showed one or both parents in place of [an] anonymous background character[s]. And even barring that, the driving-home sequence could have started with John and/or Elly walking with April from the mall to the car, showing that s/he or they had been there during the show. Neither option would require more strip/panel space.
April Patterson:
Not only was not including one of the parents in the strips ridiculous, it made them ridiculous. Not being there for something that was important to their daughter when the presence of Shannon's mom was a clear indication all the other parents were added even more credilibity to the argument that they don't care about her at all. So what if they weren'tplaying Bobby Curtola's greatest hits? We don't want Mira or someone asking April where John and Elly are when she needs them.
Sonneta,
Thanks for finding the link.
aprilp_katje,
I completely agree with you about the fact she could have included John or Elly. Lynn's claim is that she gets into the mind of each character, but apparently when she does that she doesn't go about the process of saying, "I am performing a song I wrote myself for television and I would really like my mom and dad to see me do it."
DreadedCandiru2,
Yes, including Shannon's mom in that sequence, not only made them ridiculous but also missed out on the opportunity to have Shannon's mom praise April in the presence of Elly. Of course, now that I think about that, I understand why Elly wasn't there.
What was I thinking? Elly? Being glad she had a thrid child? The third child that kept her from living the life she wanted? Not likely. Just as it's not liely she wouldn't have found some other way to eat up the time, something else to blame for her life of whining inertia.
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