Not Who I Am, But Someone Is
It sometimes odd to me that people will complain about things which are not really related to the way things were with them, in order to have a commonality with other people. I remember one of my university roommates was an odd fellow who had a strange and bizarre desire to make people feel as though he had been saddled with the worst dormitory roommate ever, that being me. Of course, this is a story I did not learn first hand, but at an end-of-the-year banquet for my dormitory, where fake humourous awards were handed out, and my roommate did, in fact, get the “Most Likely to Have a Better Roommate Next Year” award. I was quite surprised at the time. But after a few conversations with folks, I discovered that during the course of the year, my roommate had been telling stories about me, like…I never washed my clothes, or I would make such noise in the dormitory room that he could not study there or sleep there, or I would intentionally destroy things of his. At the time, it hurt my feelings quite a bit, because I thought I had been going out of my way to get along with the guy. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that the guy wanted people to feel sorry for him, and that’s why he told these stories.
So, in today's For Better or For Worse we get Elly and Connie Poirier complaining about the usual thing: the lazy men in their lives. They didn’t carry the kids, or get the groceries, or do the laundry. The women had to have a job and do all the housework and it ruined their figures.
These things do not exactly match the history of the characters. Connie Poirier was only married to a guy for 2 years during Lawrence’s younger days. So, she really didn’t have a man whom she could expect to carry his share of the load for most of her life. Elly, on the other hand, was not only not expected to hold down a job, but John seriously discouraged it. As for Elly’s figure, anyone watching what she has been eating will not blame men for that. The characters are complaining, not because it was a situation that they had personally, but because they are trying to get sympathy from the readers, some of whom faced that situation when they were in their 30s. In order to enjoy the strip, you have to enjoy it on exactly that level, and not think too hard about it.
So, in today's For Better or For Worse we get Elly and Connie Poirier complaining about the usual thing: the lazy men in their lives. They didn’t carry the kids, or get the groceries, or do the laundry. The women had to have a job and do all the housework and it ruined their figures.
These things do not exactly match the history of the characters. Connie Poirier was only married to a guy for 2 years during Lawrence’s younger days. So, she really didn’t have a man whom she could expect to carry his share of the load for most of her life. Elly, on the other hand, was not only not expected to hold down a job, but John seriously discouraged it. As for Elly’s figure, anyone watching what she has been eating will not blame men for that. The characters are complaining, not because it was a situation that they had personally, but because they are trying to get sympathy from the readers, some of whom faced that situation when they were in their 30s. In order to enjoy the strip, you have to enjoy it on exactly that level, and not think too hard about it.
posted by howard at 11:04 PM
12 Comments:
Connie seems to be describing Dee's lot in life. So much for today's enlightened guys in Foobland. ;)
Howard said: The characters are complaining, not because it was a situation that they had personally, but because they are trying to get sympathy from the readers, some of whom faced that situation when they were in their 30s. In order to enjoy the strip, you have to enjoy it on exactly that level, and not think too hard about it.
These are two excellent points, and they are worth repeating.
Anon NYC
Strange how these two complain about fake stuff and expect sympathy for fictional woes but go out of their way to ignore and trivialize people with real problems. I should think that Connie referred to Greg's daughters as spoiled princesses because they objected to her hateful behavior.
aprilp_katje,
Connie seems to be describing Dee's lot in life. So much for today's enlightened guys in Foobland. ;)
True. She is also describing what is likely to be Elizabeth's lot in life, post-marriage, considering the complaints Anthony had about his first wife.
dreadedcandiru2,
I should think that Connie referred to Greg's daughters as spoiled princesses because they objected to her hateful behavior.
If the opinion Connie expressed today about men was really the opinion she had about new husband Greg, after he had been raising his daughters by himself, it would create an interesting dynamic in the Thomas/Poirier household.
howtheduck:
I should think that it would. Here we have Greg, thinking that he's doing something good for his children by having a female influence present to do the mothering he thought he wasn't doing only to have Connie click her heels, yell "Heil Hitler!" and act like a total bonehead to everyone. I'd say the only reason he didn't kick her out was an impulse to eat the Big One for the team.
We haven't seen much of Greg, but we do know he's the jerk who threw Lawrence out--and Connie knuckled under and let him. Perhaps Greg was looking for a wife for the same reason Anthony is: he had two daughters and wanted someone to take over making him a hooooooome so he would never again have to get groceries, etc. And knowing Connie, she would do that, just to be able to say she was married.
Speaking of their figures, the drawing today is a little odd. Connie has a huge ass in the first panel, but she's athletic and a fitness nut. That's not consistent with the way she's been drawn previously, either. Elly, of course, is fat, but what I find interesting is that in the last panel, she has the most massive "front butt" I've ever seen.
qnjones,
Perhaps Greg was looking for a wife for the same reason Anthony is: he had two daughters and wanted someone to take over making him a hooooooome so he would never again have to get groceries, etc. And knowing Connie, she would do that, just to be able to say she was married.
This could very well be the case. However, I don’t recollect ever seeing a Connie cooking or cleaning or complaining about cooking or cleaning strip with Greg. I don’t know when she would have time, since she is over at Elly’s almost every time we see her.
Connie has a huge ass in the first panel, but she's athletic and a fitness nut. Elly, of course, is fat, but what I find interesting is that in the last panel, she has the most massive "front butt" I've ever seen.
I could tell from the expanded bottoms and fronts, right away what kind of joke the artist is trying to put across. It’s the old “Make the characters look fatter than usual” for the fat joke.
howtheduck, the monthly newsletter from FBorFW.com provides a link to "studio picture of the month" each month. I thought you might be interested in this month's picture, which features Lynn penciling the strip at her drafting table.
The newsletter describes the picture this way:
Here's a shot of Lynn in action at her drawing table, pencilling the characters into a daily strip. You can see the handwritten script for that week's strips to her left, her "scratch" paper to the right, and reference material taped to the top of her drawing board.
aprilp_katje.
Thanks for the reference.
This is the strip that Lynn is drawing on that board. If you compare the work-in-progress to the final version, you can see that the first two panels drawn are extremely tight. All the backgrounds are there, including the word balloons and penciled-in words. Also, you can see Lynn is wearing her fingerless glove. You will also notice that the extra lines on the characters which other artists typically use to make sure their characters have the right proportions, are not here. If this strip is any example, then my suspicions about Lynn’s art have all been confirmed. Lynn Johnston draws her strip one time and one time only, and she does not use any extra lines to show proportion. If there is some error in the drawing, she does not correct it. There is no erasing.
These are the same hands we see in on this page of Making of the Comic Strip, however, the reference materials make a little more sense in that strip where she is drawing April on the farm and the reference is also from April on the farm.
The story for your referenced strip is April showing Eva Abuya her new room in her new house. I looked over old Eva Abuya strips and I don’t see a match with these strips being used as a reference. However, the 3 head shots on the bottom of the reference are Eva Abuya heads. What I would expect as a reference would be the blueprint of the new house and April’s room in it, since this strip was the first strip where these things are seen. However, I am not surprised they are not there.
This picture is an excellent insight into the artist at work, at least as she was back in July, 2007.
It seems like I'm the only student in history who actually got along really well with his dorm roommate. I hear the stories of discontent all the time.
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