Elizabeth the Snuggler
It seems in today’s For Better or For Worse, that being engaged does not prevent Elizabeth from snuggling on ex-boyfriends. Back in the days when Anthony Caine was engaged or married to Thérèse, Elizabeth was regularly snuggling him, and they were supposedly just friends; so it shouldn’t be any surprise to find Elizabeth is snuggling Warren Blackwood today. However, I wonder what Anthony Caine would do, if he were a witness to the events of today’s strip with the snuggling and yesterday’s strip with Elizabeth gazing deep into Warren’s eyes. Would he recognize that this is the same behaviour that she did with him, back in the days when he was engaged or married, and she was committed to another guy.
I would think he would have two responses:
a. Anthony would recognize that this snuggling is the way Elizabeth is, i.e. she just likes to hug on men. However, it also means that Anthony must realize any interpretation of his that she was interested in him when she was doing this to him, was completely wrong. Elizabeth’s snuggles show no emotional intent.
b. Anthony would recognize that Elizabeth has feelings for Warren Blackwood. She may not be willing to travel with him overseas, but she also is not saying to Warren, “Anthony Caine will never be the wrong one. Give me up. Make your own life without me, Warren.” The door is still open for Warren’s return and Liz is not shutting it.
I have been making jokes that the reason Elizabeth can’t tell Anthony she loves him, is because she is only marrying him because he works and lives in Milborough, Today’s strip actually seems to indicate that this interpretation is correct.
I would think he would have two responses:
a. Anthony would recognize that this snuggling is the way Elizabeth is, i.e. she just likes to hug on men. However, it also means that Anthony must realize any interpretation of his that she was interested in him when she was doing this to him, was completely wrong. Elizabeth’s snuggles show no emotional intent.
b. Anthony would recognize that Elizabeth has feelings for Warren Blackwood. She may not be willing to travel with him overseas, but she also is not saying to Warren, “Anthony Caine will never be the wrong one. Give me up. Make your own life without me, Warren.” The door is still open for Warren’s return and Liz is not shutting it.
I have been making jokes that the reason Elizabeth can’t tell Anthony she loves him, is because she is only marrying him because he works and lives in Milborough, Today’s strip actually seems to indicate that this interpretation is correct.
posted by howard at 11:46 PM
14 Comments:
howard:
I have been making jokes that the reason Elizabeth can’t tell Anthony she loves him, is because she is only marrying him because he works and lives in Milborough, Today’s strip actually seems to indicate that this interpretation is correct.
That's right. She can't be expected to give up her familiar surroundings any more than she can be made not to get all touchy-feely near men. She may not like Anthony but at least he won't take her away from what she thinks is the only place for her. She reminds me of one of Lucy Maud Montgomery's minor heroines, Pat of Silver Bush. She too had an onsessive connection to a place that was ruining her life. The difference is that Pat was forced out of her comfortable prison by its destruction. If Milboring was destroyed, Liz wouldn't leave for greener pastures and fulfillment. She'd kill herself to join her beloved city.
I have been making jokes that the reason Elizabeth can’t tell Anthony she loves him, is because she is only marrying him because he works and lives in Milborough, Today’s strip actually seems to indicate that this interpretation is correct.
I might actually feel sorry for Anthony were it not for the fact that he did to Thérèse what Liz is now doing to Anthony. Getting engaged and then keeping another love interest in reserve.
dreadedcandiru2
If Milboring was destroyed, Liz wouldn't leave for greener pastures and fulfillment. She'd kill herself to join her beloved city.
She would and from all appearances, the rest of her family would also. With this history, we can now see a few things more clearly:
a. Why brother Phil is practically estranged from his father, by moving to Montreal.
b. Why, when Mike and Deanna were living in Toronto, Elly rarely visited them there, and usually only when someone was ill.
c. Why the family gatherings are always in Milborough and never at the Sobinskis.
aprilp_katje,
I might actually feel sorry for Anthony were it not for the fact that he did to Thérèse what Liz is now doing to Anthony. Getting engaged and then keeping another love interest in reserve.
Now that you mention it, since it is his habit, who is the love interest that Anthony Caine is keeping in reserve? His date Julia, or perhaps there is a reason that Thérèse ran off in the mall back in December as soon as she saw Anthony approaching. At the mall, she was noticeably without her other man.
I guess the readers are supposed to think Liz is "sweet" or "kind" by not being firm and clear about relationships with people, but it comes across as wishy-washy at the least and manipulative at the worst.
You know sometimes people who "don't show their feelings" do so for a very good reason. They don't have any real emotional attachment or feelings for anyone. That seems like the summary of Elizabeth's character. She treats all men the same, and primarily considers their availability as the reason to select them. She had no problem leaving a place she had been in two years without ever really caring about any of the people she left behind, she has minimal contact with her old friends and family (isolating herself even when physically close). She wants to be left alone but she can't stand being alone.
We can snark on Granthony's "I have no hooooooome!" but Lizzie has no soul.
debjyn,
She treats all men the same, and primarily considers their availability as the reason to select them.
That is certainly the way she comes off. If either Paul Wright or Warren Black were willing to live in Milborough, then she would be with them now. Even going back last year, when Warren was supposedly living in Timmins and was somewhat close to Milborough, Liz chose him to invite to Mike's party at Josef Weeder's place and not Anthony. After Warren went to Yellowknife, only after Liz spit at the phone for him moving away again, did she consider going out with Anthony. And then at the wedding, she was just as willing to jump into it with Mason the best man, whom she had just met. Anthony is definitely the last choice for Liz and seems to chosen only because he lives in Milborough and shows no sign of moving. The snuggling of Warren Blackwood and the "love"-less engagement with Anthony look like confirmation of this.
Since Warren Blackwood is modeled off of Rod Johnston and his flying dentist routine in Lynn Lake, I am beginning to wonder if this business with Anthony Caine models Lynn Johnston's current philosophy on marriage. Is she saying it is better to marry a guy who lives where you want to live, even if you have no romantic feelings about him, than to marry a guy with whom you are in love, but who wants you to move?
She had no problem leaving a place she had been in two years without ever really caring about any of the people she left behind, she has minimal contact with her old friends and family (isolating herself even when physically close).
Your case here is also well-made. Even when Liz finds out that little Jesse Mukwa stole things from her, she doesn't seem to care that he is a thief. She seems to be more interested in getting a compliment from Jesse. And then you have Liz's friend Shawna-Marie, who lives and works in Milborough, but we never see them together during any of Liz's school breaks, except for that one New Years' Eve party where they spent time gossiping about Anthony and Thérèse.
debjyn:
You know sometimes people who "don't show their feelings" do so for a very good reason. They don't have any real emotional attachment or feelings for anyone. That seems like the summary of Elizabeth's character.
Yep. That's who Liz is, She's always drifted through life avoiding making scary emotional commections with people along with whining about how she's always alone.
This whole strip is about Liz lining up a "backup husband" in the event that Anthony doesn't work out, or she is widowed at an early age. Warren shouldn't feel too special, though. Liz's standards are extremely low.
qnjones,
This whole strip is about Liz lining up a "backup husband" in the event that Anthony doesn't work out, or she is widowed at an early age.
If this is the case, at least this week would have a purpose, instead of being the 4th time that Liz has said, “Good-bye” to Warren Blackwood.
Howard, I'm starting to think that Lynn has no intention of ever ending the strip. I think we might actually see April go to vet school and marry Gerald. We will see Mike become a grandfather. Anthony will die young and Liz will remarry Warren, who by then will be 40-ish and finally ready to accept Milborough as the World's Only Acceptable Place to Live. But Jim, Iris, Elly, and John will live on in perpetuity, because the strip has already done the death of an old person once, so it would be a waste to do it again.
This week's strips remind me of what I think about the bleak, emotionaly-stunted tone of Coleman Francis' films: if I had any reason to believe he knew what he was doing, I'd think it was sophisticated. As it is, it's an unwitting window into the soul of someone who thinks this is normal.
Let's review the week so far:
W: Hi, I'm back!
E: I'm engaged.
W: Well, so much for our getting together.
E: That was never going to happen.
W: I guess you're right. I find the suburban ideal stultifying. I'm going overseas. I wanted to ask you to come with me.
E: Oh, come on, you would still have gone without me.
W: Well, yeah. You're not the most important thing in my life. But, hey, just in case you change your mind, I'll be watching over your marriage like a hungry vulture.
E: You'd do that? For me? Oh, Warren, you're the best!
It's as though Lynn the conscious writer keeps wanting to close the door on Warren, but something inside her keeps sticking a foot in. As a result, she gives us, probably without realizing it, an Elizabeth who wants to keep as many options as possible open, even as she settles for Anthony for real esate broker's reasons (location, location, location).
Like I say, this could be very sophisticated, and go in interesting directions, if only Lynne knew what she was doing.
qnjones writes:
I'm starting to think that Lynn has no intention of ever ending the strip.
I'd say the strip ended when Liz returned home. Since then it's been on auto rewind.
Anon NYC
qnjones
Howard, I'm starting to think that Lynn has no intention of ever ending the strip.
Certainly she no longer has the motivation she once had of retiring so she can travel with Rod. Plus her mentor, Charles Schulz, set an example of cartooning until just before his death at age 77. I think she likes having the time off that the reprints give her; although I am not sure why she just didn’t go for taking vacations like Gary Trudeau and Greg Evans do.
As for whether she will continue the modern story, I don’t think so. I can see evidence that (and Laura Piché confirmed) she is trying to create a retro style of art, most likely for her stated purpose of occasionally writing stories set in the time of the reprint strips. There would a strong motivation for doing this, because the older the characters get, the less Lynn can relate to them. She may think that by going back, she can get more in touch with the time period when the strip was better and she knew more what the characters were about.
Diamond Joe
It's as though Lynn the conscious writer keeps wanting to close the door on Warren, but something inside her keeps sticking a foot in.
I noticed this tendency back when she was doing the “April hates Becky” strips, where Becky would offend April and they would make up, and then the next time we saw Becky, it was if the reconciliation never occurred between her and April. Every time I see Warren Blackwood, I think Liz has told him off for not being around, and then he leaves, having learned his lesson. But then he comes back again, having learned nothing.
As Anon NYC so aptly describes it “auto rewind”.
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