Saturday, June 14, 2008

Happy Father’s Day

It is Father’s Day 2008, and time to celebrate with a reprint of the very first For Better or For Worse Father’s Day strip. In it, we discover John alone on Father’s Day and rejoicing at his freedom. The joke at the end is that despite all this freedom, he misses his wife and kids. And really, when you look at what John is eating, wearing and watching on television; you can tell that John’s family does in fact make him a better man.

The part I find interesting about the strip is that there is a theme presented for Father’s Day from the very first strip which resonated throughout the series. That theme is that fathers would rather spend Father’s Day away from their kids. The whole idea of your kids pampering you and being nice to you is almost never presented by Lynn Johnston. There is also a secondary theme, which is that Robin and Meredith are brats of the highest order. Since this will be the last Father's Day of this strip, let’s go through the ones in the archive and compare them, shall we?

For the 2008 / 1980 strip – On a scale of 1-10, where 10 is the highest:
Kid brattiness = 0
Family togetherness = 0
Happy father = 8

In 2007, Mike was assaulted by his kids until he was rescued by Deanna.
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/002496.php
Kid brattiness = 2
Family togetherness = 5
Happy father = 2

In 2006, John spent the day working out at Pete’s Gym, thanks to a Father’s Day gift from April.
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/001864.php
Kid brattiness = 0
Family togetherness = 2
Happy father = 10

In 2005,
Mike was assaulted by his kids until he was rescued by Deanna.
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/001231.php
Kid brattiness = 7
Family togetherness = 2
Happy father = 8

In 2004, Mike was assaulted by Meredith with no rescue from Deanna of the morning sickness with Robin.
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/000166.php
Kid brattiness = 8
Family togetherness = 7
Happy father = 0

In 2003,
Mike, John and Jim gather and are celebrated by the ladies, as April points out that Edgar is not a father since he was neutered. This strip is so happy and cheerful and so normal. It is how I spent Father’s Day when I lived in the same town as my grandfather. I should mention that this is the only Father’s Day For Better or For Worse strip, I like.
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/000445.php
Kid brattiness = 0
Family togetherness = 10
Happy father = 10


However, just to make sure Lynn is not singling out the fathers, I checked the Mother’s Day strips too. The theme is a little different here. It is that mother is supposed to be treated by father, without any kids around. However, Robin and Meredith continue to be brats, in fact, they are even worse brats for Mother’s Day.

In 2008, Elly works and works all by herself, to pamper herself with a bath on Mother’s Day, with no kids or husband in sight. Trying to tell us something, Lynn?
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/003137.php
Kid brattiness = 0
Family togetherness = 0
Happy mother = 8

In 2007, Deanna takes her kids to see some puppies, and is tortured the whole way by her children.
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/002442.php
Kid brattiness = 10
Family togetherness = 0
Happy mother = 0

In 2006, Mike and Deanna drop their kids off at Elly’s who receives them gladly.
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/001808.php
Kid brattiness = 0
Family togetherness = 0
Happy mother = 8

In 2005, through a series of fortunate occurrences, John Patterson is able to give many Mother’s Day gifts to Elly. There are 2 panels of April, though not in the same scene as Elly.
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/001159.php
Kid brattiness = 0
Family togetherness = 0
Happy mother = 10

In 2004, Mike and Deanna drop Meredith off at Elly’s who receives her gladly, as Meredith screams her head off at her parents’ leaving, only be all smiles as soon as they are gone.
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/000047.php
Kid brattiness = 10
Family togetherness = 0
Happy mother = 8

In 2003,
Mike handles a screaming Meredith as Deanna opens her Mother’s Day presents. This is my favourite Mother’s Day strip of the bunch. Even though Meredith is screaming in most of it, the family is together throughout and Mike is handling Meredith and not handing her off to Elly. Mike and Deanna even kiss at the end, showing this marvelous thing called marital affection, almost nonexistent in the modern strip. It reminds me most of Mother’s Day in my house, when my kids were little.
http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/000516.php
Kid brattiness = 10
Family togetherness = 10
Happy mother = 2

To summarize, my favourite Mother’s Day and Father’s Day strips in the For Better or For Worse archive were both in 2003. Considering the strip has been going steadily downhill every year, I don’t expect this is a surprise to anyone.

9 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

howard:

No, it isn't a surprise. Even though we can't exactly pinpoint quite when things took a turn for the worse, turn they did. Fortunately, Lynn explained why they did Wednesday evening when she said she wasn't living in the real world any longer. I'm pretty sure that in the fantasy bubble she lives in, the strip is still readable but here in our plane, it is not.

2:25 AM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

Today's strip originally ran on June 22, 1980. According to this site (you really CAN find out just about anything by Googling!), Father's Day that year was observed a week before, June 15.

The June 15, 1980 strip featured Elly alone on the airplane to Vancouver. Liz and Mike carry on a lot during dinner service, and the random, ugly guy next to Elly yells "Miss! Stewardess... Will you take this tray!" After the tray is gone, the guy glares at Elly, who shrinks in her seat. But it's all just a cover, as he offers to hold Lizzie for a while to allow Elly to eat in peace. I guess Lynn simply had not started doing Father's Day strips yet that year. Probably too hard for her to count out on her calendar. ;)

The strip that ran on Father's Day the following year can't count, either--it features John taking the kids out of the house at Elly's request, to allow her to clean. The final two panels have her sighing over the injustice of needing half a day to clean the house when it only takes 60 seconds for her brood to re-mess it.

The More Than a Month of Sundays collection ends with the 2/21/1982 strip, so I don't know what she did in June of 1982. :)

5:58 AM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

Oh, and Happy Father's Day, howtheduck! I still need to take my boy to the dollar store--our tradition (for Mother's Day, Father's Day, and our birthdays) is to allow him to pick something out from the dollar store for the parent in question. He puts a lot of thought into picking out our gifts, and one of the best parts is always sharing the story behind picking out the gift. :)

6:01 AM  
Blogger howard said...

dreadedcandiru2,

I'm pretty sure that in the fantasy bubble she lives in, the strip is still readable but here in our plane, it is not.

Fantasy bubble is one way to describe it. The clear difference is when Lynn moved from stories taken from her real life or other peoples’ real lives, and moved to made-up stories taken from her own imagination. Her best stories recently are still those taken from real life. For example, the sequence in Mtigwaki (excluding Elizabeth’s departure from it), were taken from people she knew in the Nipissing First Nation, and so they work, for the most part. These Father’s Day stories seem to be based on a hatred of noisy, young children. Just as Christmas was about how long prayers can ruin a Christmas dinner, there is an undercurrent of unpleasantness to the fantasy bubble strips.

7:28 AM  
Blogger howard said...

aprilp_katje,

I guess Lynn simply had not started doing Father's Day strips yet that year. Probably too hard for her to count out on her calendar. ;)

I seem to remember that she had to complete a certain number of strips in advance before the Syndicate would agree to publish any of them. That could certainly play havoc with trying to synchronize your strips with an annual calendar, if you don’t know when the strips will actually be published.

Oh, and Happy Father's Day, howtheduck!

Happy Father’s Day to your husband and you and your son. Usually for Father’s Day, we go to church and then to a restaurant, and my kids make hand-made cards for me. Their cards can be quite clever, and it’s fun to look at all the details of them.

7:29 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

howard:

Her best stories recently are still those taken from real life.

Which makes her focus on the younger generation, which she said herself she has trouble imaging, all the more ludicrous. As you know, I've gone on record as saying that the strip should be about John and Elly's daily lives. Mike and Liz, in my way of thinking, should get the same amount of attention that Jim does.

11:55 AM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

howtheduck, my husband is now the proud owner of a Kung-Fu DVD, Rage of the Masters. :)

2:16 PM  
Blogger howard said...

dreadedcandiru2 said...

As you know, I've gone on record as saying that the strip should be about John and Elly's daily lives. Mike and Liz, in my way of thinking, should get the same amount of attention that Jim does.

Given the nature of these Father’s and Mother’s Day strips, I think you are spot on. The grandchildren get along with Elly. John treats Elly pretty well on Mother’s Day. The strips with Mike and Deanna on Father’s and Mother’s Day are the worst of the bunch.

5:43 PM  
Blogger howard said...

aprilp_katje

Congratulations to your husband. I am now the proud owner of VeggieTales: Tales from the Sock Drawer and a snuggle moose. Also, I have one Father's Day card written from the perspective of a vampire bunny (daughter), and another which says, "I {heart} you" where the {heart} is a snail with a heart-shaped shell (son).

5:45 PM  

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