Hidden Motives and Responses
I think what Lynn Johnston is trying to do in this sequence in For Better or For Worse is work her way up to a one-on-one conversation between Elizabeth and Françoise, where Elizabeth tries to explain to her what their relationship will be after she and Anthony get married. However, in the meantime, Lynn has chosen to describe the necessity for this conversation in terms that are baffling.
1. Liz says she does not want to take the place of her mother.
At the outset, I don’t have a problem with this statement. This is a typical statement in divorce/remarriage for stepmothers to tell their stepdaughters. However, back in December, Liz had this whole big deal about how she was going to be patient and wait until Françoise came to her, as she was coming to Anthony (and as she went to Thérèse in the mall). This does not sound like the expectation of someone whose only ambition is to marry Anthony and be a “good friend” to Françoise. After all, Thérèse apologized to Elizabeth last December for even shopping in a mall, where Elizabeth might be there with Françoise. That sounds like direct replacement to me. Moreover, the whole theme of what constitutes a home in this series flies directly in the face of this idea. As we have stated before, when Anthony said he had no home, he meant he didn’t have a wife at home to take care of the children and run the household. Liz does not plan to take the place of Thérèse, and yet, she will be the one taking care of Françoise and running the household. Without any definite scheduled time with Thérèse other than “when she has time”, Elizabeth will effectively be the mother.
2. Anthony says Françoise knows that Liz is a good friend/ 3. Anthony says Françoise is afraid that she will lose one of us (Anthony or Elizabeth)
How would this happen? Usually when a young woman says she has lost someone to marriage, that means that the person, because they are married, now ignores or has no time for the young woman anymore. If this is the case with Françoise, I can believe that she might be afraid to lose Anthony, but to lose Elizabeth makes little-to-no sense at all. The only time we have been shown Françoise with Elizabeth one-on-one was 2 Sundays back with the sloppy sandwich-eating.
What we have in both statements is the elevation of the importance of Liz from a person who hangs around Anthony waiting for a proposal, to a person who has had enough interaction with Françoise for Françoise to actually care if Elizabeth is a part of her life or not. It has a lot of the same feel as the elevation of the status of Elizabeth when she was a teacher in Mtigwaki to the status of someone so important to the town they gave her a special spirit name and a huge farewell party. This was after we saw Elizabeth have a very limited interaction in the community; so the response seemed to be overly generous. Likewise, for Elizabeth to have this kind of relationship with Françoise also seems overly generous.
1. Liz says she does not want to take the place of her mother.
At the outset, I don’t have a problem with this statement. This is a typical statement in divorce/remarriage for stepmothers to tell their stepdaughters. However, back in December, Liz had this whole big deal about how she was going to be patient and wait until Françoise came to her, as she was coming to Anthony (and as she went to Thérèse in the mall). This does not sound like the expectation of someone whose only ambition is to marry Anthony and be a “good friend” to Françoise. After all, Thérèse apologized to Elizabeth last December for even shopping in a mall, where Elizabeth might be there with Françoise. That sounds like direct replacement to me. Moreover, the whole theme of what constitutes a home in this series flies directly in the face of this idea. As we have stated before, when Anthony said he had no home, he meant he didn’t have a wife at home to take care of the children and run the household. Liz does not plan to take the place of Thérèse, and yet, she will be the one taking care of Françoise and running the household. Without any definite scheduled time with Thérèse other than “when she has time”, Elizabeth will effectively be the mother.
2. Anthony says Françoise knows that Liz is a good friend/ 3. Anthony says Françoise is afraid that she will lose one of us (Anthony or Elizabeth)
How would this happen? Usually when a young woman says she has lost someone to marriage, that means that the person, because they are married, now ignores or has no time for the young woman anymore. If this is the case with Françoise, I can believe that she might be afraid to lose Anthony, but to lose Elizabeth makes little-to-no sense at all. The only time we have been shown Françoise with Elizabeth one-on-one was 2 Sundays back with the sloppy sandwich-eating.
What we have in both statements is the elevation of the importance of Liz from a person who hangs around Anthony waiting for a proposal, to a person who has had enough interaction with Françoise for Françoise to actually care if Elizabeth is a part of her life or not. It has a lot of the same feel as the elevation of the status of Elizabeth when she was a teacher in Mtigwaki to the status of someone so important to the town they gave her a special spirit name and a huge farewell party. This was after we saw Elizabeth have a very limited interaction in the community; so the response seemed to be overly generous. Likewise, for Elizabeth to have this kind of relationship with Françoise also seems overly generous.
posted by howard at 12:22 AM
10 Comments:
The only way the statement about being afraid of "losing one of us" makes sense is if Francoise is worried about having to choose between Anthony and Therese, or Therese and Liz.
I agree that Anthony is definitely looking for Liz to replace Therese as a mother. However, it is unrealistic in this situation not to anticipate that would happen, regardless of intentions. Therese has taken herself out of the picture for the most part. When Liz moves in, she will effectively take over half of the child care burden. Francie is 3. For the next 15 years, she will grow up in the same house as Liz. She won't remember a time before Liz was in her life (or wouldn't, if she were drawn as a child who develops normally). Factor in that Anthony has expressed repeatedly the idea that it is a woman's job to take care of house and children, and we can see where this is going.
Besides--it is not ideal to bring a stepparent into a family with the idea that stepmom and kid will be "just friends." That gives the stepparent zero authority, and the kid license to treat the stepparent as a personal slave/whipping boy. Sure, she's "just a friend" who is making your meals, doing your laundry, etc...but she's "just a friend," so she can't tell you to go to bed on time, do your homework, treat her with respect, etc. All the successful blended families I've seen are based on the idea that the kid needs to respect the stepparent as a parent figure, not the vague hippy-dippy idea that stepparents and stepkids will get along great if everyone just promises to be bestest friends.
howtheduck:
Elizbeth will, like it or not, take Thérèse's place as Françoise's mother sooner rather than later. It is foolish of her to expect otherwise despite her best intentions. It may well be that in a few years time that the only person who does not realize that Francie thinks that Liz is her mom is Liz herself. Remember how Liz had to point out to Elly that, even though she didn't realize it, they were moving to the Tiny Train House? I could imagine April telling Liz that she was Francie's "real" mom, biology be damned.
qnjones,
She won't remember a time before Liz was in her life (or wouldn't, if she were drawn as a child who develops normally).
Very true. My parents divorced when I was 11, and my two sisters were 9 and 7. My youngest sister does not remember a time when my father lived in the house. Likewise, we moved from Texas to Arizona when my son was 4 and my daughter was 2. My daughter does not remember Texas at all.
Besides--it is not ideal to bring a stepparent into a family with the idea that stepmom and kid will be "just friends."
This is absolutely true. However, Lynn is placing a big emphasis on "Liz is not taking the place of your mom. She is just a friend. You don't have to call her mom. Etc." I think what she is going for is the big lead-in to the moment where little Françoise calls Liz "mom" in front of Thérèse, and by golly, neither Liz nor Anthony forced little Françoise to do that. Then Thérèse will be humbled because she realized she "threw away a great man and a great child" and she will pay homage to Liz as the better mother. I am definitely thinking another Becky McGuire kind of story is where we are going with Thérèse.
dreadedcandiru2,
I could imagine April telling Liz that she was Francie's "real" mom, biology be damned. Possibly. With Lynn's story-writing skills, I would imagine a moment more like the "Jesse Mukwa harmonica" sequence, where Liz gets told that she was a good teacher, but after a moment where she truly did not deserve to be called that. So, perhaps after a sequence where Liz shows she is an extraordinarily bad parent, she will be told she is Francie's "real" mom. That would be what I would expect from Lynn Johnston.
Maybe Francie realizes that the Spruce Goose (or whatever her Mtig name is) is going to eventually leave and return to the arms of her Mountie, thus fulfilling her destiny. . . . I know, wishful thinking.
By the way, I took "good friend" to mean that Liz was Tony's "good friend," since love has no place in their relationship.
And Howard, I hope you're wrong about the Becky McGuire-type arc, but I fear you are correct.
One more instance of a Patteson doing absolutely nothing (or even doing something terrible) and receiving accolades. Even when they do something despicable they are never called on it--Therese apologizes, Paul never calls Liz on her treatment of him, Warren never points out how she never clarifies her intentions. This is ludicrous.
Honestly, the only ones who seem to dislike the Pattersons are the readers!
howtheduck:
Sadly, you're right about that. It may well be Therese saying it, too.
James,
And Howard, I hope you're wrong about the Becky McGuire-type arc, but I fear you are correct.
Lynn Johnston traditionally does not leave villains unpunished, particularly after she has gone to great lengths to have her characters describe why they are villains as she did in the conversation between Liz and Candace about Thérèse last year. However, there is always the possibility that the limited time between now and September to close out storylines may prevent her from taking the time to head down this road. On the other hand, we are getting ready to possibly devote an entire week to the subject of "I'm not replacing your mom. No! Really, I'm not." and I can't imagine Lynn taking the time to beat into our heads Elizabeth's innocence, without getting ready to do something with it.
debjyn
Even when they do something despicable they are never called on it--Therese apologizes, Paul never calls Liz on her treatment of him, Warren never points out how she never clarifies her intentions.
It would have been nice to see Paul call Liz on her actions. However Lynn Johnston may be unaware of this, but by writing the men in Liz's life as cads and cheaters, she is in effect, having them call her on her actions.
When Liz was with Eric Chamberlain, she nagged him and nagged him. As to whether her nagging preceded his cheating or the other way around, we don't know. However, one of the best strips was when Eric was kissing Liz, but thought-bubbling about Tina, the other girl. You can think of him as a cheater (as he was), but it takes a really special girl to get a guy to think of someone else while you are in the act of kissing them.
When Liz was with Warren Blackwood, those unclarified intentions means she has to deal with him showing up again and again. And even better, his intention in showing up the last 2 times has been malicious. He has been trying to destroy Liz's relationship with another man on purpose. He was successful with Paul Wright, and with Anthony Caine, he has been successful only in getting Anthony to get off his butt and propose. I suppose there could be some satisfaction in knowing that he would not have proposed to Liz of his own volition.
With Constable Paul Wright, Liz leaves him for Mtigwaki in July, and by December he has left her for Susan Dokis. AND no one in the whole town of Mtigwaki (with whom she has been supposedly corresponding and who knows she is coming back for a visit) bothers to tell her about it. The town and Susan Dokis have effectively sided with Paul.
There is a whole lot of Liz being smacked down with all those actions, even if no one is saying, "Here is why we are doing this."
"It has a lot of the same feel as the elevation of the status of Elizabeth when she was a teacher in Mtigwaki to the status of someone so important to the town they gave her a special spirit name and a huge farewell party."
You know how I like to interpret that entire sequence? When Paul showed up at Liz's place, he realized she was about to blow off the farewell party. Even though the Ojibway have parties for everything and are polite and wanted to make a nice gesture, Paul (knowing that Liz had learned very little about the language or the culture in the two years she had been there--in addition to just LOVING native culture since she was in high school)told her it was really important so she wouldn't insult everyone. That's when she decided to actually look for something nice to wear.
Then, the adults, knowing how distraught Jesse was at the teacher leaving, told him he could "name her"--although everyone knows only the elder/wise person in a village has that honor. Since he was a little kid, he loved that idea of "being important" to his teacher. Unfortunately, the villagers thought that Liz would realize that; they forgot that she knew almost nothing about their customs. So, not to her feelings, they all pitched in and pretended it was a real ceremony.
See? That makes it all work!
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