Babies and Bananas
I love the noises of babies. Not the shrieking, crying, screaming noises; but the noises where they are experimenting with their ability to make sound. The coos and the warbles and things like that. My daughter used to make a squeaking sound that I adored, and to this day, I call her “Squeakie” in homage to that time in her life. She hates that nickname, by the way.
With my son, he had unique ways of saying things, that my wife and I just loved and we still do imitations of him in our conversations, even though he is well past the point of saying those things. For example, when he had eaten as much food as he wanted, he would say, “My belly is all full of food.”
Today’s For Better or For Worse brought back pleasant memories for me. And as For Better or For Worse often does, it also draws me to compare what Lynn Johnston remembers vs. what I remember about young childhood.
I can go along with much of what Lynn has little Lizzie doing. Admittedly, she isn’t playing with her toys in the crib, which is what my daughter would have done; but she seems to be having a good time making noises.
In comes young Michael. He arrives, stares at Lizzie making the noises, and then hands her a half-peeled banana. The joke is that young Michael thinks Lizzie sounds like a monkey and he is giving her the peeled banana to let her know that’s what he thinks of her noises. The peeled banana is the problem part.
For one, bananas are hard for young children to peel. I still have a hard time peeling a banana as an adult.
The second part is the audience, which are just Michael and Lizzie. Michael may think he is being funny, but for whom is he being funny? Lizzie is not going to get the joke, so that leaves young Michael. However, Lynn does not show Michael laughing at his own joke, or doing anything with his joke except handing a banana to Lizzie. This means that the joke is for us, the reader. Michael is doing this schtick with the banana just for us. Isn’t that nice of him.
The third part is the premeditation. This isn’t Michael coming into the room with a banana, then hearing Lizzie, deciding she needs the banana more than he does. Michael shows up with a pre-peeled and prepared banana. He has intentionally gone to his kitchen and brought the banana to Lizzie’s room specifically with the purpose of using the banana to mock the sounds he knows she is making.
The fourth part is the danger. Bananas are a fairly dense fruit, and little Lizzie is not used to such things. If she takes a bite and it gets caught in her throat, that’s the end for Lizzie.
These four things distract me from whatever limited humour there was in the strip.
With my son, he had unique ways of saying things, that my wife and I just loved and we still do imitations of him in our conversations, even though he is well past the point of saying those things. For example, when he had eaten as much food as he wanted, he would say, “My belly is all full of food.”
Today’s For Better or For Worse brought back pleasant memories for me. And as For Better or For Worse often does, it also draws me to compare what Lynn Johnston remembers vs. what I remember about young childhood.
I can go along with much of what Lynn has little Lizzie doing. Admittedly, she isn’t playing with her toys in the crib, which is what my daughter would have done; but she seems to be having a good time making noises.
In comes young Michael. He arrives, stares at Lizzie making the noises, and then hands her a half-peeled banana. The joke is that young Michael thinks Lizzie sounds like a monkey and he is giving her the peeled banana to let her know that’s what he thinks of her noises. The peeled banana is the problem part.
For one, bananas are hard for young children to peel. I still have a hard time peeling a banana as an adult.
The second part is the audience, which are just Michael and Lizzie. Michael may think he is being funny, but for whom is he being funny? Lizzie is not going to get the joke, so that leaves young Michael. However, Lynn does not show Michael laughing at his own joke, or doing anything with his joke except handing a banana to Lizzie. This means that the joke is for us, the reader. Michael is doing this schtick with the banana just for us. Isn’t that nice of him.
The third part is the premeditation. This isn’t Michael coming into the room with a banana, then hearing Lizzie, deciding she needs the banana more than he does. Michael shows up with a pre-peeled and prepared banana. He has intentionally gone to his kitchen and brought the banana to Lizzie’s room specifically with the purpose of using the banana to mock the sounds he knows she is making.
The fourth part is the danger. Bananas are a fairly dense fruit, and little Lizzie is not used to such things. If she takes a bite and it gets caught in her throat, that’s the end for Lizzie.
These four things distract me from whatever limited humour there was in the strip.
posted by howard at 10:16 PM
17 Comments:
The thing that disturbed me was that Lizzie is awake, but trapped in her crib and left to entertain herself. WTF? Why is she not at least out in the part of the house where Elly is (and where Mike is supposed to be)? Is she regularly left awake in the "primate cage" for convenient storage in the middle of the day? Gah!
Mike's hate (or at least ambivalence) for Lizzie is clear. When my baby sister was one, I was six--the same approximate age spread. And I can remember going into her room to wake her up from her nap before Mom could get to her. I would haul her out of her crib so we could play. Sure, I kind of resented her sometimes, but we also had fun together. But Mike just stares at Lizzie, and thinks of her as some lesser being.
Yes, siblings torment each other and so forth, but that's all there is in this strip. Nice moments rarely happen. And what makes a sibling relationship real is a tight camaraderie but also envy, resentment, etc. Lynn seems to think the ugly stuff is still funny even if it's not alongside the good, and really, it's not.
I know that in the first run, there were strips where Mike and Lizzie were comrades. I remember one strip vividly, where Elly catches them sitting on the kitchen floor, making sugar sandwiches. The horror is the mess they made together. I know she's still a baby and all, but like I said, I interacted with my baby sister. Less nastiness, please.
qnjones,
Why is she not at least out in the part of the house where Elly is (and where Mike is supposed to be)? Is she regularly left awake in the "primate cage" for convenient storage in the middle of the day?
This one didn’t bother me as much. There were many times when my daughter would wake up from naps in her crib, and I would walk into her room to check on her, to find her awake and playing with her toys in the crib.
Yes, siblings torment each other and so forth, but that's all there is in this strip. Nice moments rarely happen.
This was a trend which started some years back. I notice it every time I read through the old strips. The family love and camaraderie slowly disappeared. The characters stopped caring for each other and the whole tenor of the strip changed.
Case in point: Elizabeth almost gets raped and from whom does she get comfort in her family? Her cat.
Even when Lynn picked out the reprints for the hybrid, she didn’t pick the ones that showed the characters in their best light. Less nastiness would be nice, but I doubt Lynn Johnston can do that. The reprint choices from the hybrid year showed me that she is intentionally picking the other direction.
howard,
Less nastiness would be nice, but I doubt Lynn Johnston can do that. The reprint choices from the hybrid year showed me that she is intentionally picking the other direction.
It seems to me that there are two things going on in Lynn's life that explain her love of awful behavior. The first, of course, is the divorce. It's hard to be nostalgic when you're trying to figure out how much of your life is a lie. The second is the odd belief that sweetness and light is somehow unrealistic, that she has to be negative to be authentic. Remember her excuse for making Liz and Anthony's proposal look like a business arrangement? She honestly thought that the sentiment we wanted to see would sicken us.
howtheduck, I'm glad I had you to explain what the joke was supposed to be, because this strip was a major WTF for me. I didn't get "monkey" at all. 0_olcjl
DreadedCandiru2,
Remember her excuse for making Liz and Anthony's proposal look like a business arrangement? She honestly thought that the sentiment we wanted to see would sicken us.
She thought we would complain about the treacle, when, in fact, her audience was clamoring for the treacle. What I noticed was that even after she recognized that, she still couldn’t do it. Elizabeth’s halfhearted confession of love was never matched by anything from Anthony.
On the other hand, if I compare that relationship to Elizabeth and Eric Chamberlain, it was the exact opposite. Before Elizabeth turned into the “I want this and that” woman; they were physically affectionate, they joked together, and had a definite chemistry.
aprilp_katje,
I'm glad I had you to explain what the joke was supposed to be, because this strip was a major WTF for me. I didn't get "monkey" at all.
What’s worse is that even after I got “monkey”, I didn’t get why anyone would ever find that to be funny. Lynn Johnston is reaching the end of creativity in the new-runs in just the first month.
In reponse to DC2,
I think Lynn may be clinically depressed.
What’s worse is that even after I got “monkey”, I didn’t get why anyone would ever find that to be funny. Lynn Johnston is reaching the end of creativity in the new-runs in just the first month.
Yes! This. Knowing she was going for "monkey" still doesn't help with the humor. Still a WTF!
LJ actually did the "monkey" better with John feeding April: April is experimenting with OOOooo-aaaa-gah sounds, Liz asks why bananas are one of the first baby foods, and John thinks because Darwin was right.
Maybe not a fabulous strip, but the joke was being made by someone old enough to appreciate it, and the banana connection was obvious.
When I can't play spot-the-retcon, I guess I'll be playing connect-to-the-better-strip. So nice of the new-runs to give us entertaining games to play :-)
When I can't play spot-the-retcon, I guess I'll be playing connect-to-the-better-strip.
True, canunckdownsouth--we need some strategy for keeping ourselves awake. It's a shame that not only is Lynn mining her old premises, but she's also executing them so much more poorly.
The reason "Liz in crib" bugs me is that it doesn't look like she just woke up. It looks like this strip covers a span of time in which Liz is just left in there, ignored. No doubt Elly is off somewhere, cleaning something and fuming.
The reason "Liz in crib" bugs me is that it doesn't look like she just woke up. It looks like this strip covers a span of time in which Liz is just left in there, ignored. No doubt Elly is off somewhere, cleaning something and fuming.
Poor Liz. We already know she will later lock Shiimsa in the carrier when she gets annoyed by the cat acting like a cat. And she won't be appalled by Anthony's Baby Pen.* Wonder where she learned that?
We also know Liz will end up with a husband so dreadful that Her Creator will stop time rather than depict a day of the actual marriage.
Poor baby.
And we also know that the insufferable Mike will grow up to have the Pattermanse handed to him at a bargain rate. He won't have to split the inheritance--so why is he trying to choke his competition now?
Poor us.
* I grew up in the days of Playpens. Are they still around? But at least playpens could be moved to sunny & convenient spots. They weren't installed in dank basements.
Jen,
I think Lynn may be clinically depressed.
Very likely, considering the face she is constantly showing in her strip and in her interviews.
CanuckDownSouth,
LJ actually did the "monkey" better with John feeding April: April is experimenting with OOOooo-aaaa-gah sounds, Liz asks why bananas are one of the first baby foods, and John thinks because Darwin was right.
Funny. I forgot that strip. It’s funnier and the setup makes more sense.
qnjones,
The reason "Liz in crib" bugs me is that it doesn't look like she just woke up. It looks like this strip covers a span of time in which Liz is just left in there, ignored. No doubt Elly is off somewhere, cleaning something and fuming.
New-run Elly is likely to be having a long conversation with Connie or Anne about men.
maggie-texas,
He won't have to split the inheritance--so why is he trying to choke his competition now?
With new-run, all the old timelines are thrown out the window. New-run Mike doesn't know if he is going to inherit.
I grew up in the days of Playpens. Are they still around?
I can’t speak for today. When my kids were little, we used to use them as portable cribs and play areas until the kids figured how to topple them over and get out.
aprilp_katje,
It's a shame that not only is Lynn mining her old premises, but she's also executing them so much more poorly.
If she executed them better, it just wouldn’t be Lynn Johnston work.
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