Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Two Observations

First Observation

I have always found Deanna Patterson to be an interesting character. She is meant to be an imitation of Lynn Johnston, who realized she liked Rod Johnston’s parents more than she liked her own. However, instead of merely liking them better, the woman has indicated on more than one occasion that her admiration borders on crazy obsession.

I have made these observations before:
1. Deanna is the one who first wants to move into Mike’s old home (not Mike).
2. Deanna is the one who wants the kids to be brought up just like Mike was (not Mike).
3. Deanna is the one who wants Mike to quit his paying job so he can work full-time as a writer and take care of the kids.
4. Deanna is the one who went on-and-on praising Elly for buying her wedding dress, while chastising her mother who paid for everything else in her second fake wedding.

And now today, Deanna has found Grandma Marian’s wedding dress and is treating it as if it were a family heirloom. This is despite the fact that Elly did not treat it that way, and her husband is more concerned that his hockey equipment does not get stored back into the crawl space. In other words, Deanna cares more for Grandma Marian’s old things that anyone else in her family. Considering Grandma Marian died in 1999, so Deanna would barely know her, this interest is quite odd. Is Deanna really obsessed with all things Patterson, or is it simply that Deanna has encountered so few really nice things in the house she inherited from Elly and John, she is overwhelmed with emotion at the first really nice thing she has seen?

Second Observation

The artwork this week is starting to bother me. Michael and Deanna’s face and head shape have changed in every panel starting with Monday. It is inconsistent even by the normal Lynn Johnston standard of inconsistent drawing. I have theorized that Laura Piché or someone else could be getting prepared to take this strip over with a spin-off involving Deanna and Michael, and certainly the art would encourage that belief.

15 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, I can't sleep, so may as well comment on the strip. I find it interesting that Dee is supposed to be Lynn, because the description of Dee that I remember from Lives Behind the Lines sounded rather contemptuous of Dee, like Mike was marrying just a pretty face, but then maybe that's me reading between the lines.

Things are now to the point that I know I will not be able to be Liz at least through next Tuesday, and maybe longer than that, but I'm not sure. Someone else should take her over as discussed before.

We found out last night from the medical examiner that the autopsy revealed no cause of death. This is not the final ruling, however, there is not a lot of hope that lab results will reveal the answer either. One of my other sisters is a pathologist, and she says this occasionally happens--that sometimes people simply die. All we know is, she was alive watching television, seemingly fine, and her fiance went to take a shower. When he came back, she was dead. Not having an answer was my worst fear.

Right now, the idea of parodying a silly comic strip is just not possible for me, so I hope someone else will take Liz for the indefinite future. I will check in here, but I'm not sure when, if ever, I will feel like playing her again.

Thanks for all your kind thoughts. They do help.

Laura

2:45 AM  
Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

qnjones:

I'm sorry for your loss. It's tough when something like that happens out of the blue.

3:34 AM  
Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

howtheduck:

Deanna has gone on record as stating that she just plain does not respect her parents. Her mother was too pushy, too openly controlling for her tastes and she regarded her dad as a weakling who didn't stand up for himself. From what little I see of Mira, it seems obvious that she likes talking about her family heirlooms. Heirlooms that to Deanna are tainted by association with her mother. Since Elly seemed to her to be a better role model, her possessions and heirlooms are simply better than Mira's. We may look forward to the future wherein Elly wonders why Deanna doesn't get rid of some of the old furniture in her living room.

3:39 AM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

I have theorized that Laura Piché or someone else could be getting prepared to take this strip over with a spin-off involving Deanna and Michael, and certainly the art would encourage that belief.

Same here. And I keep looking at the art and thinking, "Who ARE these people?"

3:44 AM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

qnjones, please keep us posted. I know we'll all be thinking of you.

I will post as Liz and do my best to channel your "Liz" style.

3:46 AM  
Blogger howard said...

Laura,

I find it interesting that Dee is supposed to be Lynn, because the description of Dee that I remember from Lives Behind the Lines sounded rather contemptuous of Dee, like Mike was marrying just a pretty face, but then maybe that's me reading between the lines.

Really, it is just this one aspect of Deanna, the preference of in-laws to her own parents, which was similar to Lynn Johnston. Certainly the part of Deanna which is supposed to be pretty and a clothes horse (2 characteristics that haven’t been mentioned in the strip probably since the honeymoon story sequence in 2002), would not match Lynn’s own opinion of herself.

One of my other sisters is a pathologist, and she says this occasionally happens--that sometimes people simply die.
Yes, but isn’t that like an incredibly rare thing to happen? I presume there is no family history of such a thing happening before. I can’t imagine how you must feel with the ambiguity of it. I have definitely been thinking of you, and hope there are some more definite answers for you.

6:08 AM  
Blogger howard said...

DreadedCandiru2

Since Elly seemed to her to be a better role model, her possessions and heirlooms are simply better than Mira's. We may look forward to the future wherein Elly wonders why Deanna doesn't get rid of some of the old furniture in her living room.

An excellent point. Deanna may dislike the way her mother is and yet still turn into her mother. If this is the direction Lynn Johnston is headed, then it is an excellent character portrayal. Somehow, I suspect that once we get to the part where Elly and Elizabeth get wind of the dress discovery, they will not have the opinion like Mike, that the dress should be back in the crawl space, and they will share Deanna’s enthusiasm and mess up the uniqueness of Deanna’s perspective.

6:09 AM  
Blogger howard said...

aprilp_katje,

Same here. And I keep looking at the art and thinking, "Who ARE these people?"

I am glad to see someone else has made the same observation.

6:09 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

See, today's strip is funny because Michael's grandma can't use the wedding dress any more ... because she's dead!

*rimshot*

Jeesh, Lynn.

6:55 AM  
Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

howtheduck:

Deanna may dislike the way her mother is and yet still turn into her mother. If this is the direction Lynn Johnston is headed, then it is an excellent character portrayal.

She does show signs of behaving like Mira does even now. Both women share the tendency to ride roughshod over people while thinking they're doing them a favor. An example of that was when she decided that April should be the one watching over the kiddy table. Hell, I bet she even got the idea from using a kiddy table from Mira but won't admit it.

7:31 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hey, my hockey equipment is more important than an old wedding dress. Then again, I actually play hockey. I don't recall Mikey boy ever depicted as playing hockey. (I'm sure someone will come up with an archived strip proving me wrong).

8:26 AM  
Blogger howard said...

dlauthor,

Today's strip is funny because Michael's grandma can't use the wedding dress any
more ... because when she got married, she got a new name and a dress.

*rimshot*

8:37 AM  
Blogger howard said...

DreadedCandiru2,

An example of that was when she decided that April should be the one watching over the kiddy table.

And there was that odd strip where Mike came home from quitting his job to be greeted by Deanna, while April was shown taking care of the kids. And also the where Deanna caught April feeding Robin dog food, like it was her job to feed Robin. Deanna’s treatment of April really is Mira-like.

8:45 AM  
Blogger howard said...

James,

I don't recall Mikey boy ever depicted as playing hockey. (I'm sure someone will come up with an archived strip proving me wrong).

I don’t have an archived strip, but I remember there were some strips where Mike did play hockey in his pre-university days.

8:45 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Last post for awhile.

The answer to, "Isn't that incredibly rare?" appears to be a resounding NO. It's not as common as mud, but both my sister (pathologist) and an ER nurse who is a friend say that, now and then, you will see a healthy person who simply has a very abnormal heart rhythm and does not recover. We all have abnormal rhythms from time to time; usually our hearts recover just fine. There is no underlying observable pathology for this because it is, in essence, normal for people to have heartbeats that aren't 100% perfect.

This is not a very satisfying explanation, but it is apparently not considered a medical "zebra", either.

Gotta go.

11:58 AM  

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