Is Michael Really This Stupid?
That is the question I had to ask myself as I saw today’s For Better or For Worse. The idea is that Michael is tired of his kids’ fighting and has proposed moving them each in to their own room in order to stop it. Then they end up sleeping in the same bed and ruining Mike’s theory.
But the question that came to me was: After spending most of your childhood fighting with your sister, how could you ever come up with an idea as ridiculous as “Getting your own room means you will stop fighting”, Michael?
By the way, my kids at those ages would never, ever have been able to sleep in the same bed together. They are little whirling dervishes as they sleep with arms and legs going in all kinds of directions and with covers knocked off them and off the bed. My kids are a lot better about sleeping a bed with someone else there now than they were back when they were Meredith and Robin’s age; but even today, when we take trips, and I have to share a bed with my son, I fear the kicks and slaps I will be receiving throughout the evening.
But the question that came to me was: After spending most of your childhood fighting with your sister, how could you ever come up with an idea as ridiculous as “Getting your own room means you will stop fighting”, Michael?
By the way, my kids at those ages would never, ever have been able to sleep in the same bed together. They are little whirling dervishes as they sleep with arms and legs going in all kinds of directions and with covers knocked off them and off the bed. My kids are a lot better about sleeping a bed with someone else there now than they were back when they were Meredith and Robin’s age; but even today, when we take trips, and I have to share a bed with my son, I fear the kicks and slaps I will be receiving throughout the evening.
posted by howard at 12:56 AM
15 Comments:
I was always under the impression that he fought with his sister because he was a stubborn idiot. No matter how much more sense getting along made, he witlessly refused to do so because that would mean that everyone else was right and he was wrong. Most of the rest of the trouble he got into came about because he was too dumb not to see what would happen.
Michael Patterson is an idiot. As you note, he ought to realize that sibs fight even when they each have their own room. With all the reminiscing he's been doing, he should have that fresh in his mind.
And I can't stand how he makes the fighting issue all about himself. The bickering DISTURBS him. Nowhere does he give the slightest bit of evidence that he's considering what's best for his children. Gashole!
april patterson:
And I can't stand how he makes the fighting issue all about himself. The bickering DISTURBS him. Nowhere does he give the slightest bit of evidence that he's considering what's best for his children.
In the twenty-eight and one half years of the strip's history, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times that Mike didn't put his needs above those of everyone else. I can't believe that Lynn doesn't realize that her hero is such a vain dipshite.
aprilp_katje
As you note, he ought to realize that sibs fight even when they each have their own room.
Even odder is the idea that because he does not know this and goes through the trouble of putting his kids in separate rooms, his failure to realize this is played for laughs. Is Lynn really expecting someone in the Coffee Talk to say, "You must have a camera in my house. I remember when I thought separating my kids would stop them from fighting, and I found out differently just the way Michael did."? What parent would ever say that?
And I can't stand how he makes the fighting issue all about himself. The bickering DISTURBS him.
Moreover, Lynn makes it clear this is the reason. Michael explicitly states this is the reason for his putting the kids in different rooms both at the beginning and at the end of the sequence. However...look at Deanna's opinion in the sequence. "Yes. It was definitely time." She is not saying the kids' bickering is the reason to give them their own space.
DreadedCandiru2
In the twenty-eight and one half years of the strip's history, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times that Mike didn't put his needs above those of everyone else.
In the very early days, you can tell she is going for a Dennis the Menace kind of Mike, and seeing Mike and Liz fight in our reprints, I can see why it is that Dennis was made an only child. When he picks on stuck-up Margaret, she is smarter and bigger than he is, and more capable of defending herself. When Mike picks on little Lizzie, he comes off as a cruel, bullying, older brother. Lynn didn't seem to pick up on that difference, and she has projected that same relationship with Mike and others over the years.
One of the interesting things about seeing the reprints is that you can see why the characters are set up the way they are. In 1979, Lynn wanted Mike to be Dennis the Menace. Then the staple of comic strip writing is to make the characters the same each time they appear so the audience has a consistent view point. So they read it, see Mike and say, "Oh, here's Dennis the Menace." However, if you take that characteristic and stretch it from 1979 to 2008 and age the character over time, you get "Oh, here's Dennis the Menace as if he were in his 30s, and he never learned any better."
However...look at Deanna's opinion in the sequence. "Yes. It was definitely time." She is not saying the kids' bickering is the reason to give them their own space.
Yes, Deanna appears to be thinking of the children's best interest, suggesting they are overdue for having their own rooms. And we can almost hear the "whoosh" sound of this observation flying right over Michael's head.
howtheduck:
However, if you take that characteristic and stretch it from 1979 to 2008 and age the character over time, you get "Oh, here's Dennis the Menace as if he were in his 30s, and he never learned any better."
Yeah. The same applies to however Liz was supposed to be when she was originally conceived. Lynn never did seem to pick up on the notion that people actually change the way they act and think over time. It would have occured to a real-life Mike that picking on his sister was counter-productive by his tenth birthday at the latest.
aprilp_katje,
Yes, Deanna appears to be thinking of the children's best interest, suggesting they are overdue for having their own rooms.
This is one of those things that Lynn Johnston actually does pretty well. It is so easy to think of Deanna as the completely supportive wife and doormat for Mike, but she doesn’t ever say, “Yes, Mike. You are right. The reason the kids should have their own rooms is to keep them from fighting and driving you crazy.” She goes along with Mike’s suggestion because it is time, and from her use of the word “definitely”, she probably considered it to be an overdue move.
DreadedCandiru2,
Lynn never did seem to pick up on the notion that people actually change the way they act and think over time.
Yes, the characteristic would work for her mentor, Charles Schulz, because his characters never aged. Instead, for Lynn, the sign of character growth is that 30-year-old Michael is willing to pick his parents up from the airport or rake their leaves. However, I will give this to Lynn, she is consistent. 28 years of the characters reacting to new situations the same way as when they were little. I know I couldn't have done that.
28 years of the characters reacting to new situations the same way as when they were little. I know I couldn't have done that.
I know that I couldn't even conceive of doing it in the first place. Most people spend the odd moment or two wondering why they believed some of the things they did when they were kids. To see that Michael does not, to see his mind has been fixed in place since he was five staggers the mind. Firmness of character is one thing; ossification thereof is what they call 'nightmare fuel'. What makes him all the more horrifying is that Lynn thinks of this as a good thing, that freezing oneself in an immutable pattern is noble and good, that trying to change a prerson in the slightest is something bad that 'trouble-makers' like Therese do.
When I was seven, and my little sister was two, we shared a twin bed together. We had our own separate beds, but I liked sleeping with her. She was my little buddy. She liked having me there because there was no such thing as a "toddler bed" then and she was afraid of falling out. So I slept on the outside, and she slept between me and the wall.
It didn't matter to her that I was a restless sleeper. And it didn't matter to me that she had developed two very strange sleeping habits. One, she would stick her hand inside my nightgown top for "comfort" as she fell asleep. This was developed when she was nursing on my mom. Two, in the middle of the night, she would flop over so her head was down at the foot of the bed, taking all the covers with her. I don't think thrashing co-sleepers bugs little kids as much as it bugs adults.
We just liked the company. I don't think this is so strange or unusual. I have babysat a lot of little kids who shared a bed with a sibling by choice. Although I never wanted to sleep with my other sisters, whom I fought with. So perhaps this is strange after all.
Was there ever any real doubt about Mike's idiocy?
And the reason Lynn doesn't realize Mike is a "gashole": Mike = Lynn.
dreadedcandiru2.
What makes him all the more horrifying is that Lynn thinks of this as a good thing, that freezing oneself in an immutable pattern is noble and good, that trying to change a person in the slightest is something bad that 'trouble-makers' like Therese do.
I enjoyed Liz’s tirade on Thérèse wanting Anthony to change, particularly since it led into a discussion about how Liz had changed and that is why she was now ready for Anthony. You are right though, that this theme of not changing is one that that is common for not only For Better or For Worse but for a lot of the old comic strips.
qnjones,
I don't think thrashing co-sleepers bugs little kids as much as it bugs adults.
My kids would disagree with you on this point. I am far more tolerant of my son and daughter’s thrashing than either my son or daughter is, on the few occasions when they have shared a bed.
Well, YMMV, as with everything. Also consider their current ages. Your kids are pre-teens, an age group not known for their toleration or easygoing nature.
I found it really funny that such emphasis would be put on Liz "changing". Liz changes to according to which man she is trying to attract. Eric? Good time girl, who can also be tidy and cook. Warren? Foot-loose, adventurous, no-ties. Paul? Adventurous, loves the North, caring teacher and helper. Anthony? Mature, boring, devoted to him and ready to be a little housewife and mommy.
Too bad she never crushed on a farm boy--I would have loved to see her in overalls, chewing on hay, and milking a cow.
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