Boys Will be Boys, Even Mike and Weed
Today’s For Better or For Worse tapped into an uncomfortable memory for me. There is a tendency, when you are male and single, and you are into the arts, for people to assume that you are a homosexual. It is same sort of thing as assuming male hairdressers are homosexual I suppose. When I was just out of university, I took a job in Dallas, Texas, where I had no friends whatsoever, because I received a good job offer. I went to the local church to meet people and visited the singles group and got on very well with another guy, who was even more into the arts than I was, which is to say, it was his living. Because of this, he had access to free tickets to all kinds of things.
So, one day he offered me free tickets to something and I met him at his apartment and we went to the event. Then we came back to his apartment and we were chatting about the event and this guy’s enormous collection of classical music and a lot of the things we had in common, when the guy said he wanted to wrestle. It took me completely by surprise. When I was in high school, wrestling was strictly a venue for sports. When I was younger than in high school, wrestling was what you did to keep from getting beaten up in a boys’ restroom. Also, please bear in mind that I was young and very stupid when it came to such things. The upshot was this:
I had made the presumption that because he was in a church singles group, he was heterosexual.
He had made the presumption that because I was a single man heavily into the arts, I was homosexual.
Unfortunately for me, I discovered this after a little wrestling had occurred. You can fill in the blanks. Needless to say, it was an embarrassing moment for both of us. Despite this start, we remained good friends up to the point where he moved away. After all, we did have a lot of common interests. And we never again wrestled.
Now, when I see Josef Weeder and Michael Patterson engaging in a little friendly wrestling, this is the story of my past which pops into my head. I know Lynn Johnston is trying to have the characters do a little manly rough-housing; but Weed and Mike are artsy, pinky out, champagne-drinkers and not rough bruisers drinking Molsons. Not only that, but I cannot think of any strips where Michael and Josef Weeder wrestled each other before, even in university. Plus there is that camera Lynn Johnston had in my friend's apartment in Dallas, all those years ago. However, as I know first hand, you cannot presume that just because a guy is an artist...
So, one day he offered me free tickets to something and I met him at his apartment and we went to the event. Then we came back to his apartment and we were chatting about the event and this guy’s enormous collection of classical music and a lot of the things we had in common, when the guy said he wanted to wrestle. It took me completely by surprise. When I was in high school, wrestling was strictly a venue for sports. When I was younger than in high school, wrestling was what you did to keep from getting beaten up in a boys’ restroom. Also, please bear in mind that I was young and very stupid when it came to such things. The upshot was this:
I had made the presumption that because he was in a church singles group, he was heterosexual.
He had made the presumption that because I was a single man heavily into the arts, I was homosexual.
Unfortunately for me, I discovered this after a little wrestling had occurred. You can fill in the blanks. Needless to say, it was an embarrassing moment for both of us. Despite this start, we remained good friends up to the point where he moved away. After all, we did have a lot of common interests. And we never again wrestled.
Now, when I see Josef Weeder and Michael Patterson engaging in a little friendly wrestling, this is the story of my past which pops into my head. I know Lynn Johnston is trying to have the characters do a little manly rough-housing; but Weed and Mike are artsy, pinky out, champagne-drinkers and not rough bruisers drinking Molsons. Not only that, but I cannot think of any strips where Michael and Josef Weeder wrestled each other before, even in university. Plus there is that camera Lynn Johnston had in my friend's apartment in Dallas, all those years ago. However, as I know first hand, you cannot presume that just because a guy is an artist...
posted by howard at 10:34 PM
11 Comments:
Once again, we see how Lynn's inability to write for men sends a message she does not intend. She'd planned to have the lads have a friendly tussle for old times sake but, since she can't put herself inside the male mind, made it look like something it wasn't supposed to be.
dreadedcandiru2
She'd planned to have the lads have a friendly tussle for old times sake but, since she can't put herself inside the male mind, made it look like something it wasn't supposed to be.
At least for the long time reader, this is not a new problem for Lynn Johnston writing for Josef Weeder and Michael Patterson. Almost every time she puts these two together for more than a few strips, they do something to make you think they are more than just friends.
On the other hand, just last week she had Elizabeth looking deep into Warren Blackwood’s eyes and hanging on him in a more than “friend”-ly manner, which astute readers identified as being more affectionate than she had been shown recently with her fiancé, Anthony, with whom she used to regularly give more than “friend”-ly hugs during his married days. And the last encounter between “friends” April and Gerald ended up in a more than “friend”-ly kiss. Unless Lynn Johnston is being a completely boob about the effect body language has in conveying a story, then she is using body language to tell the reader something is going on between characters more than what they are saying. That’s the way it seems to me, anyway.
Now that I think about it, when is the last time we saw Mike and Deanna in a romantic clinch, or Josef and Carleen? It’s not like Lynn Johnston doesn’t have a background in this. Her niece Stephanie, on whom Shannon Lake is based, has a dad who was married until he revealed he was gay and went to be with Rod Johnston’s brother.
howard:
Unless Lynn Johnston is being a completely boob about the effect body language has in conveying a story, then she is using body language to tell the reader something is going on between characters more than what they are saying. That’s the way it seems to me, anyway.
To what end, however? Did the Lawrence controversy leave her with the impression that she had to try to please everyone? If so, she risks becoming all things to no people by diluting her own vision.
You're right--there is so much disonance between the body language and what Lynn is supposedly trying to convey.
Males/Females act stiff and cold when supposedly "in love" or as though the female is five years old (re: Liz and Granthony's romp in the roses) the one's that are "friends" look as though they are appropriately touchy-feely for lovers, and the males---well, Lynn just can't write for males.
However, has she never OBSERVED guys? I mean, I'm not a male but I know when something just doesn't seem "right". These guys are really way past the age of rough-housing.
But I really love the "We've been friends" line. Sounds like the way Granthony "proposed" to Liz. Maybe this is implying that Weed and Mike are engaged now? Ha!
dreadedcandiru2
To what end, however? Did the Lawrence controversy leave her with the impression that she had to try to please everyone?
The Lawrence controversy may have taught Lynn to be more subtle about things. For example, the sex life of Elizabeth Patterson or Becky McGuire. Lynn has spelled out in interviews that Elizabeth had sex with Eric in university and Becky had sex with Jeffo Bray when she was in grade 8. She also set up a situation with Elizabeth going to Anthony’s home after the Christmas dinner that she was sleeping over at his place. But nothing was stated directly, in order to appease those persons who want to believe those things didn’t happen.
How would Lynn’s readership feel if she out-and-out said, Michael and Weed were former lovers? Michael is a main character, and not a side character like Lawrence. It would raise a controversy well beyond that of Lawrence. It’s better for her if she plants the seed and lets us guess.
debjyn
But I really love the "We've been friends" line. Sounds like the way Granthony "proposed" to Liz. Maybe this is implying that Weed and Mike are engaged now? Ha!
You’re right. Anthony’s line was “We’ve been friends for so long, I think we’d be good partners.” That is very close to the line Mike uses with Josef Weeder.
At first, I hated this strip, but then I kind of came to love it. Wrestling is very homoerotic. We used to tease the wrestlers in high school that they would turn gay by the end of the season. So I enjoy the subtext of the wrestling.
I think it's a strong possibility that Lynn intends Weed to be deeply closeted. I mean, he's only in a relationship with a woman because Dee forced it upon him. And one closeted gay man I know (now out) would claim to only be attracted to model-type women, perhaps to give himself an excuse as to why he was always single.
I doubt Lynn would intentionally write Mike that way, but the way it comes across anyway is hilarious. The cherry on top is how clueless the women are. If they suddenly started to kiss, Dee would say, "Oh, isn't it great what good friends they are? They're like brothers!"
qnjones,
At first, I hated this strip, but then I kind of came to love it.
It certainly gave me a good laugh the first time I saw it.
I think it's a strong possibility that Lynn intends Weed to be deeply closeted. I mean, he's only in a relationship with a woman because Dee forced it upon him.
My personal theory from the strips has been that Carleen and Deanna worked things out between them. Deanna wanted a way to get Mike from spending so much time alone with Weed in his attic (as he was doing before Carleen moved in), and Carleen has been shown to have financial interest in Weed. In that strip sequence, Deanna talked about how she noticed all these things about the way Carleen acted around Weed in the studio, so she could tell Carleen was in love with Weed. However, we never saw Deanna in the studio and 4 years later, Carleen and Weed appear to be even less in love than Anthony and Elizabeth. You are right that Weed seemed to accept Carleen for no other reason than Deanna told him to.
As for Lynn, it’s hard to say what she thinks about it. Weed represents her son the way he is, and Michael represents her son the way she wished he would be.
The cherry on top is how clueless the women are. If they suddenly started to kiss, Dee would say, "Oh, isn't it great what good friends they are? They're like brothers!"
Clueless, but giving the clue to the Coffee-Talkers, so they don’t interpret the events based on the way they look.
News item:
http://dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2008/05/21/lynn-johnston-to-publish-childrens-book/
Money quote:
"In summer ’09, we also have a book by cartoonist Lynn Johnston, who is the author and artist of the long running comic strip For Better, for Worse. It is a full-color picture book for children from four to seven years old. It is about a dog who loves to eat and doesn’t care about what he is eating, and he gets lost following one delicious scent after another, and then after a day of being lost he comes home. You will see that the family in For Better, for Worse is in the pictures. Although they won’t be identified as that, but it will be appealing to the readers of the strip."
Uch, Howard, that book sounds horrible.
aprilp_katje,
And is it any surprise the book is about losing yourself due to eating and gluttony?
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