McCleans Magazine article
Here is the link to the article. As usual, I will talk about the parts in which I am interested which, in this case, is most of the article.
Cartoonist Lynn Johnston talks to Anne Kingston about the new 'For Better or For Worse' and her own domestic drama
Q: Retelling the Patterson family story with new storylines is either supreme artistic catharsis or supreme regression.
A: [Laughs] Actually it's one of those neat experiments that you know is working as soon as you get started on it. At first I thought: "Maybe it should go back and forth in time." But the year that I tried that was a year that I had some personal chaos and found it awfully hard to concentrate. It didn't flow. Also I would have to keep developing the characters and I would have even less time than I have now to do it. So I ended the story. It comes to a full stop the last week of August. The whole month of August has been the wedding of Anthony and Elizabeth. Some people are thrilled with the wedding, some people aren't. I don't care. They're happy, they want to get married, and it's going to be good. And, really, the whole story is about marriage and how you deal with the for-better-or-for-worse, and that was what I wanted to point out
I take away from this:
a. One of the primary reasons Lynn likes doing the new-runs is that she will not be spending any time developing characters. This is odd, because normally when you add stories to existing stories, that is what you are doing.
b. The reason that Lynn stuck the Grandpa Jim heart attack in the middle of the wedding proceedings in August was to show For Better (wedding) or For Worse (heart attack). And the reason for all the wedding donations was…?
Q: Is that an allusion to your own marriage suddenly ending for "the worse" a year ago?
A: Oh, yeah, that was a shocker! I had no idea, you know? I knew that there were things not working, but I kept thinking, "When I'm retired, we'll work it out." But there was no conversation, no discussion, and suddenly I find that there's another woman in the picture. So I sat there when I found out, absolutely stunned, thinking, "Who's writing this story?!?"
This line is very similar to the line “Then who’s guiding mine?” she used in this strip where Liz found out Paul was cheating on her. This seems like a pretty direct connection to me.
Given Lynn’s statement, there are some obvious parallels. Liz is waiting until January, 2007 to see her boyfriend again, whom she had not seen since summer. Lynn is waiting until retirement to work on problems she knows exist in her marriage. Liz finds out that her boyfriend is cheating on her, and her friends knew, but told her nothing. If the rumours about Rod Johnston’s affair are true, then Lynn faced a similar situation with her friends.
A brief summary of the rumours, for those of you joining us late:
Rod Johnston had an affair with a married woman, who used to work for him, and at the time was working in Lynn Johnston's staff. Her relationship with Rod ended, and the current rumour is that Rod is in a relationship with someone with whom he works.
Q: Did you ever consider incorporating the breakup into your work?
A: No. It's far too personal, and it's far too stressful, and if I can enjoy a fantasy world along with everybody else then I should just keep doing that. You know, if I start to put what really happened in the strip it's unfair to my family.
What she means to say is that she is not going to have John and Elly divorce. That part is true. However, she is certainly not above using disguised versions of it and barely concealed slams against her ex-husband using John Patterson. She has already admitted in interviews to doing this at least 2 times.
Q: No, not divorce, which makes me wonder if one of the reasons the cartoon has been such a sanctuary of comfort is because the Pattersons have their ups and downs but remain solid at the core.
A: That's what I thought I had! I was divorced once before, so all of that memory is still there. I was thinking of using that, in that Anne — Elly's neighbour — her marriage is not working too well, but I never worked it into the strip.
If you wanted proof that Anne and Steve Nichols were going to be modeled after Lynn’s first marriage, there you have it.
Q: But recently you recycled an old strip in which Elly has a recurrent dream that [her husband] John leaves her for another woman.
A: Yes, it was so prophetic I thought, "You know what? I'm going to just throw that in there." I think it's funny; it's so déjà vu.
Here is where the interviewer is calling her on her statement about not including her divorce in the strip, only Lynn doesn't get it. The interviewer pursues this angle.
Q: So that was a dream that you had during your own marriage?
A: Well, [my former husband] worked with beautiful women ever since I met him. He's a dentist. He has hygienists and front-desk girls, and there are usually eight girls around him all the time, and he used to travel to the Native villages taking his staff with him, and people in the town would look at me as if to say, "Well, girl, join the club," because in a small northern mining town there's a lot of horsing around, and the joke was you can steal a man's wife, but you don't touch his woodpile, you know? It was rampant up here.
Although North Bay was once a mining town, that is no longer its main economy. Lynn Lake is a mining town and is probably the town about which Lynn is speaking. It was during this time that Rod was the flying dentist, and visited Native villages. I think Lynn is saying that she had the nightmare about Rod cheating on her because he had a staff of beautiful women. On the other hand, there is also the implication that fooling around was acceptable either in Lynn Lake or in the Native villages near Lynn Lake or both, and people encouraged Lynn to fool around. I don’t know Lynn Lake, but if I lived there, I think I might be just a little insulted. As for the interviewer, she has no idea Lynn is describing a place she hasn’t lived since the early 1980s.
Q: Adultery is a form of entertainment where you live?
A: It was recreation. It was like a high school, all these different personalities thrown into this one inescapable place where you had to be there together all the time, whether you wanted to or not, and someone you hated might turn out to be the guy in the bar that you're hitting the sack with next year, you know? I didn't have time for that, nor did I want it, but it was there in the town. But I thought there was safety in numbers if he was with a bunch of girls. And they were all really nice people. But I thought to myself, "If I'm going to be a jealous wife, I'll drive myself crazy."
The interviewer was confused by her last answer too. And the way she phrased her question tells us that maybe she is starting to get a hint of Lynn Johnston’s somewhat nonlinear way of thinking.
Q: This is your second divorce. The terrain must be so different at this stage; you were a young mother of one son the first time; now you have two grown children.
A: Well, thank goodness they're adult children. It was terribly hard on them anyway. My heart goes out to the younger moms who have children at home who are thrown between the two and have to spend time between two families. It's so difficult. But [my husband and I] had very individual lives. He had lots of hobbies, and I spent a lot of time on my own, and so being on my own is not something that I'm uncomfortable with. I think I've coped really, really well. When I was divorced the first time, I met another young woman who was also divorced. Actually, what happened with her was her husband took her to the hospital as she was having her second baby and she never saw him again.
Q: Wow. Really?
I love this question. I can see the interviewer thinking, “Is this a real story, or is this something she just made up?”
A: Yeah, and the two of us were looking at each other saying, "You know what? We're really fine people, we're worth keeping," and we supported each other through being brand-new moms with new babies and on our own. We were hoping to help other people through this once we'd survived. We had our survival mechanism, which we thought was superb. And the first thing was never go to bed ugly, because if you look in the mirror at three in the morning and you've been crying all night and you're saying, "Well, no wonder he left me. Look at you!"
The “worth keeping” line is very reminiscent of Liz’s line in this strip.
Q: That's such a female response, to blame yourselves.
Not even a question, the interviewer has strayed into commenting, just as I am doing.
A: Yeah. We had no money, so we went to the Salvation Army and we bought the best negligees. I mean, who wears a negligee? You wear it one night, it goes to the Salvation Army, so that's the best place to go to buy a fancy, swanky negligee. So we would go to bed and we would do our hair, our makeup. We'd call each other at 11 o'clock at night: "Hey, babe, you look good?" "Oh, I look great. Did you do your nails?" "Yeah, I did my nails." "Great." Then we'd go to bed looking great, feeling good, and we'd call each other in the morning.
I am amused just thinking about this one. Lynn Johnston, barely employed mother of a small child, goes into the Salvation Army looking for negligees, the fancy, swanky kind that I have seen so often in the Salvation Army stores. The interviewer can tell she is losing control of the interview, and then attempts to put it back into focus with an odd question.
Q: You were ramping down For Better or For Worse when the marriage dissolved. Do you see any connection?
A: I think catching someone [being unfaithful] is . . . it's the end.
My interpretation is that interviewer wants Lynn to realize that ending the strip set things into motion which helped to cause the marriage to dissolve. I have wondered whether or not the idea that Rod would be spending all his time with Lynn caused him to realize he would no longer be able to conceal his affair.
Q: Certainly adultery is a recurrent marital theme.
A: Do you know what it is? It's cowardice. If you're not happy, work it out. Some marriages are worth keeping if there's a really good basis for it, no matter what's gone on, because at this stage of our lives there's so much history, so much family, so much . . . not just possessions, but mental possessions, like the time we did this, and when we did that, and all the wonderful history there. When you're in your declining years, your memories are so important, and your family and friends. Do you really want to throw that away and start a brand-new life with brand-new people?
Here you have as clear an explanation as you can have as to why childhood sweethearts are best. The implication is that Lynn might have considered forgiving Rod, if he tried to work it out. A statement coming up as to how many times Lynn has seen Rod flies in the face of this statement.
Q: Do you ever cross paths?
A: I've never seen him. I mean, it's a small town so he probably knows what I'm doing and I probably know a little bit of what he's doing, but my life is rolling along and I have a very full life. I've had a lot of fun, actually. I've really enjoyed being single; after you pass through the shock, then it's like, "Well, I can do anything I want. I can go anywhere I want." One of the things I've been wanting to do for years and years is to go to South America and be a translator, and I went to Peru this year and I worked for two weeks as a translator with the Medical Missionaries, and I had a wonderful time.
I wondered if Lynn was actually going to do this after she talked about it for so long, and it looks like she did.
Q: Your work now gives you the flexibility to do that?
Here the interviewer betrays her lack of research. If she knew anything about the hybrid of the last year, she wouldn’t ask this question.
A: Oh, sure, absolutely, because I won't have to do six dailies and a Sunday every week. I might do three dailies, I might do five, I might do one, it all depends on how well the classic material works into what I'm doing now. The stories are already written, and the backgrounds are already drawn. I don't have to devise another character.
Q: You talk about reaching a new generation with the strip but it's a very different generation than existed in the '70s, pre-Internet, pre-YouTube. How are you adjusting to that?
A: Well, I've just gone past a couple of strips that were really funny — they were both about a typewriter, and those are both gone. Not because I didn't think they were good. I just didn't think it would go. So it's not as if I'll change things. I just won't include them if they don't have any relationship to today.
Ah-Ha!! My pet theory was that Lynn is trying to turn the strip into something more timeless, and she just said it. Anything Lynn views that is not modern in her strip is going. Rod’s sideburns are bye-bye. Good-bye plaid shirts and pants. Now the real question is whether or not, Lynn will alter reprint strips to remove sideburns and plaid.
Q: What has readers' reaction to your own marital split been?
A: Well, people want to know a lot about it, and it's nobody's business but mine, you know? And they're sad because it was a fantasy. And I was sad for them because I wanted to give them a real family behind the family in the strip that was together and communicated and could see through... see each other though all the ups and downs.
It’s nobody’s business but yours, Lynn Johnston, or anybody who has read an interview with you in the last 18 months.
Cartoonist Lynn Johnston talks to Anne Kingston about the new 'For Better or For Worse' and her own domestic drama
Q: Retelling the Patterson family story with new storylines is either supreme artistic catharsis or supreme regression.
A: [Laughs] Actually it's one of those neat experiments that you know is working as soon as you get started on it. At first I thought: "Maybe it should go back and forth in time." But the year that I tried that was a year that I had some personal chaos and found it awfully hard to concentrate. It didn't flow. Also I would have to keep developing the characters and I would have even less time than I have now to do it. So I ended the story. It comes to a full stop the last week of August. The whole month of August has been the wedding of Anthony and Elizabeth. Some people are thrilled with the wedding, some people aren't. I don't care. They're happy, they want to get married, and it's going to be good. And, really, the whole story is about marriage and how you deal with the for-better-or-for-worse, and that was what I wanted to point out
I take away from this:
a. One of the primary reasons Lynn likes doing the new-runs is that she will not be spending any time developing characters. This is odd, because normally when you add stories to existing stories, that is what you are doing.
b. The reason that Lynn stuck the Grandpa Jim heart attack in the middle of the wedding proceedings in August was to show For Better (wedding) or For Worse (heart attack). And the reason for all the wedding donations was…?
Q: Is that an allusion to your own marriage suddenly ending for "the worse" a year ago?
A: Oh, yeah, that was a shocker! I had no idea, you know? I knew that there were things not working, but I kept thinking, "When I'm retired, we'll work it out." But there was no conversation, no discussion, and suddenly I find that there's another woman in the picture. So I sat there when I found out, absolutely stunned, thinking, "Who's writing this story?!?"
This line is very similar to the line “Then who’s guiding mine?” she used in this strip where Liz found out Paul was cheating on her. This seems like a pretty direct connection to me.
Given Lynn’s statement, there are some obvious parallels. Liz is waiting until January, 2007 to see her boyfriend again, whom she had not seen since summer. Lynn is waiting until retirement to work on problems she knows exist in her marriage. Liz finds out that her boyfriend is cheating on her, and her friends knew, but told her nothing. If the rumours about Rod Johnston’s affair are true, then Lynn faced a similar situation with her friends.
A brief summary of the rumours, for those of you joining us late:
Rod Johnston had an affair with a married woman, who used to work for him, and at the time was working in Lynn Johnston's staff. Her relationship with Rod ended, and the current rumour is that Rod is in a relationship with someone with whom he works.
Q: Did you ever consider incorporating the breakup into your work?
A: No. It's far too personal, and it's far too stressful, and if I can enjoy a fantasy world along with everybody else then I should just keep doing that. You know, if I start to put what really happened in the strip it's unfair to my family.
What she means to say is that she is not going to have John and Elly divorce. That part is true. However, she is certainly not above using disguised versions of it and barely concealed slams against her ex-husband using John Patterson. She has already admitted in interviews to doing this at least 2 times.
Q: No, not divorce, which makes me wonder if one of the reasons the cartoon has been such a sanctuary of comfort is because the Pattersons have their ups and downs but remain solid at the core.
A: That's what I thought I had! I was divorced once before, so all of that memory is still there. I was thinking of using that, in that Anne — Elly's neighbour — her marriage is not working too well, but I never worked it into the strip.
If you wanted proof that Anne and Steve Nichols were going to be modeled after Lynn’s first marriage, there you have it.
Q: But recently you recycled an old strip in which Elly has a recurrent dream that [her husband] John leaves her for another woman.
A: Yes, it was so prophetic I thought, "You know what? I'm going to just throw that in there." I think it's funny; it's so déjà vu.
Here is where the interviewer is calling her on her statement about not including her divorce in the strip, only Lynn doesn't get it. The interviewer pursues this angle.
Q: So that was a dream that you had during your own marriage?
A: Well, [my former husband] worked with beautiful women ever since I met him. He's a dentist. He has hygienists and front-desk girls, and there are usually eight girls around him all the time, and he used to travel to the Native villages taking his staff with him, and people in the town would look at me as if to say, "Well, girl, join the club," because in a small northern mining town there's a lot of horsing around, and the joke was you can steal a man's wife, but you don't touch his woodpile, you know? It was rampant up here.
Although North Bay was once a mining town, that is no longer its main economy. Lynn Lake is a mining town and is probably the town about which Lynn is speaking. It was during this time that Rod was the flying dentist, and visited Native villages. I think Lynn is saying that she had the nightmare about Rod cheating on her because he had a staff of beautiful women. On the other hand, there is also the implication that fooling around was acceptable either in Lynn Lake or in the Native villages near Lynn Lake or both, and people encouraged Lynn to fool around. I don’t know Lynn Lake, but if I lived there, I think I might be just a little insulted. As for the interviewer, she has no idea Lynn is describing a place she hasn’t lived since the early 1980s.
Q: Adultery is a form of entertainment where you live?
A: It was recreation. It was like a high school, all these different personalities thrown into this one inescapable place where you had to be there together all the time, whether you wanted to or not, and someone you hated might turn out to be the guy in the bar that you're hitting the sack with next year, you know? I didn't have time for that, nor did I want it, but it was there in the town. But I thought there was safety in numbers if he was with a bunch of girls. And they were all really nice people. But I thought to myself, "If I'm going to be a jealous wife, I'll drive myself crazy."
The interviewer was confused by her last answer too. And the way she phrased her question tells us that maybe she is starting to get a hint of Lynn Johnston’s somewhat nonlinear way of thinking.
Q: This is your second divorce. The terrain must be so different at this stage; you were a young mother of one son the first time; now you have two grown children.
A: Well, thank goodness they're adult children. It was terribly hard on them anyway. My heart goes out to the younger moms who have children at home who are thrown between the two and have to spend time between two families. It's so difficult. But [my husband and I] had very individual lives. He had lots of hobbies, and I spent a lot of time on my own, and so being on my own is not something that I'm uncomfortable with. I think I've coped really, really well. When I was divorced the first time, I met another young woman who was also divorced. Actually, what happened with her was her husband took her to the hospital as she was having her second baby and she never saw him again.
Q: Wow. Really?
I love this question. I can see the interviewer thinking, “Is this a real story, or is this something she just made up?”
A: Yeah, and the two of us were looking at each other saying, "You know what? We're really fine people, we're worth keeping," and we supported each other through being brand-new moms with new babies and on our own. We were hoping to help other people through this once we'd survived. We had our survival mechanism, which we thought was superb. And the first thing was never go to bed ugly, because if you look in the mirror at three in the morning and you've been crying all night and you're saying, "Well, no wonder he left me. Look at you!"
The “worth keeping” line is very reminiscent of Liz’s line in this strip.
Q: That's such a female response, to blame yourselves.
Not even a question, the interviewer has strayed into commenting, just as I am doing.
A: Yeah. We had no money, so we went to the Salvation Army and we bought the best negligees. I mean, who wears a negligee? You wear it one night, it goes to the Salvation Army, so that's the best place to go to buy a fancy, swanky negligee. So we would go to bed and we would do our hair, our makeup. We'd call each other at 11 o'clock at night: "Hey, babe, you look good?" "Oh, I look great. Did you do your nails?" "Yeah, I did my nails." "Great." Then we'd go to bed looking great, feeling good, and we'd call each other in the morning.
I am amused just thinking about this one. Lynn Johnston, barely employed mother of a small child, goes into the Salvation Army looking for negligees, the fancy, swanky kind that I have seen so often in the Salvation Army stores. The interviewer can tell she is losing control of the interview, and then attempts to put it back into focus with an odd question.
Q: You were ramping down For Better or For Worse when the marriage dissolved. Do you see any connection?
A: I think catching someone [being unfaithful] is . . . it's the end.
My interpretation is that interviewer wants Lynn to realize that ending the strip set things into motion which helped to cause the marriage to dissolve. I have wondered whether or not the idea that Rod would be spending all his time with Lynn caused him to realize he would no longer be able to conceal his affair.
Q: Certainly adultery is a recurrent marital theme.
A: Do you know what it is? It's cowardice. If you're not happy, work it out. Some marriages are worth keeping if there's a really good basis for it, no matter what's gone on, because at this stage of our lives there's so much history, so much family, so much . . . not just possessions, but mental possessions, like the time we did this, and when we did that, and all the wonderful history there. When you're in your declining years, your memories are so important, and your family and friends. Do you really want to throw that away and start a brand-new life with brand-new people?
Here you have as clear an explanation as you can have as to why childhood sweethearts are best. The implication is that Lynn might have considered forgiving Rod, if he tried to work it out. A statement coming up as to how many times Lynn has seen Rod flies in the face of this statement.
Q: Do you ever cross paths?
A: I've never seen him. I mean, it's a small town so he probably knows what I'm doing and I probably know a little bit of what he's doing, but my life is rolling along and I have a very full life. I've had a lot of fun, actually. I've really enjoyed being single; after you pass through the shock, then it's like, "Well, I can do anything I want. I can go anywhere I want." One of the things I've been wanting to do for years and years is to go to South America and be a translator, and I went to Peru this year and I worked for two weeks as a translator with the Medical Missionaries, and I had a wonderful time.
I wondered if Lynn was actually going to do this after she talked about it for so long, and it looks like she did.
Q: Your work now gives you the flexibility to do that?
Here the interviewer betrays her lack of research. If she knew anything about the hybrid of the last year, she wouldn’t ask this question.
A: Oh, sure, absolutely, because I won't have to do six dailies and a Sunday every week. I might do three dailies, I might do five, I might do one, it all depends on how well the classic material works into what I'm doing now. The stories are already written, and the backgrounds are already drawn. I don't have to devise another character.
Q: You talk about reaching a new generation with the strip but it's a very different generation than existed in the '70s, pre-Internet, pre-YouTube. How are you adjusting to that?
A: Well, I've just gone past a couple of strips that were really funny — they were both about a typewriter, and those are both gone. Not because I didn't think they were good. I just didn't think it would go. So it's not as if I'll change things. I just won't include them if they don't have any relationship to today.
Ah-Ha!! My pet theory was that Lynn is trying to turn the strip into something more timeless, and she just said it. Anything Lynn views that is not modern in her strip is going. Rod’s sideburns are bye-bye. Good-bye plaid shirts and pants. Now the real question is whether or not, Lynn will alter reprint strips to remove sideburns and plaid.
Q: What has readers' reaction to your own marital split been?
A: Well, people want to know a lot about it, and it's nobody's business but mine, you know? And they're sad because it was a fantasy. And I was sad for them because I wanted to give them a real family behind the family in the strip that was together and communicated and could see through... see each other though all the ups and downs.
It’s nobody’s business but yours, Lynn Johnston, or anybody who has read an interview with you in the last 18 months.
posted by howard at 10:45 PM
34 Comments:
It’s “Macleans,” BTW.
Yes, for the last several years, Lynn hasn’t wanted to bother developing characters, and didn’t care when readers complained about the lack in her storylines. The fact that she doesn’t care what readers say is no surprise. However, this lack of caring, coupled with her enormous ego, has led her to make terrible decisions about the direction of the strip. Most notably, the creation of the (unpopular, now defunct) hybrid, and now (I suspect) the retread.
Guess what, Lynn? You have to create something that readers want to, ya know, read. Or you’re out of business. I really think she believes readers are so enamored of her “talent” that they’ll follow her down any road.
I rolled my eyes involuntarily at the admission that she knew her marriage wasn’t working, but she scheduled “fix marriage” for after her strip ended. This is the first thing that has made me feel some understanding for Rod’s point of view (and I hate adultery). It is also telling that she believes denial is a good way to deal with problems in a marriage (and presumably other problems as well—like problems with one’s comic strip).
To add to Lynn’s hypocrisy, she has always used personal events from her family in the strip. This goes back long before her divorce.
As for Anne and Steve Nichols being based on Lynn’s first marriage: when I read Anne’s extended bio, I was horrified that Anne was tacitly praised for bringing baby after baby into a marriage that was clearly an utter failure by the time the first kid was born.
It’s interesting that Lynn seems to be very anti-divorce. Anne and Steve don’t divorce, nor do John and Elly, though those marriages are based on Lynn’s marriages. Yet, IRL, Lynn divorced twice. I have to wonder why she feels she can’t make an honest portrayal of divorce in her strip.
The stuff about how all people in Native villages are sluts and cheaters was a huge WTF, and very offensive. Lynn’s rambling about Rod and his bevy of attractive women seems to have no point. Is she suggesting he was screwing around through the whole marriage? Really seems like it.
The story about Lynn’s “friend” sounds totally made up to me too. And the part about doing her makeup at 11 at night and then going to bed made me laugh my ass off. No woman in her right mind sleeps in her makeup, especially not deliberately or on a daily basis. It is really bad for your skin and leads to breakouts. Same thing with having hairspray in your hair—it gets on your face and causes problems. This supports my feeling that this whole story is made up.
I actually suspect that Lynn is telling us (without saying it outright) that Rod cheated throughout the marriage. And I think Lynn always suspected, based on what she wrote in her strip and has said in her interviews. I think what really happened was that Rod realized he was going to have to spend more time with Lynn, and didn’t want to actually have to do that. This happens very commonly in empty nest marriages when people retire. Many spouses don’t spend much time together until retirement—as Lynn says they did not. Frequently, spouses in such situations find retirement and the togetherness hellish. I think Rod just didn’t want to go there, so he revealed the affair so Lynn would divorce him.
I can understand how he must have felt. Lynn always sounds so insufferable in interviews, even when she is obviously trying to put her best foot forward (as in this interview). I can’t imagine being trapped on a cruise ship with that woman.
howard,
Where do I start? First off, she spends all that time basically saying that the readers can basically fry in hell because what she says, goes. Next she casually maligns the people of two cities because she's an Artiste and they ain't and she concludes by refusing to accept any blame for the collapse of her marriage. It's a marvel that someone that arrogant and selfish has got so many suckers hoodwinked; she's like Lonesome Rhodes with mammaries.
ENOUGH already about the marriage to Rod. He must be happier now, she should just get OVER herself. It's not like she's the only woman on the planet who's ever caught her husband cheating. Find a mirror; it takes TWO. Even Shania Twain is descreet.
I am amused just thinking about this one. Lynn Johnston, barely employed mother of a small child, goes into the Salvation Army looking for negligees, the fancy, swanky kind that I have seen so often in the Salvation Army stores. The interviewer can tell she is losing control of the interview, and then attempts to put it back into focus with an odd question.
Am I the only one who sees this story as completely fabricated? I think she's mentally creating "new runs" in her own history.
The story about Lynn’s “friend” sounds totally made up to me too.
Oops, that's what I get for posting before I read the other comments. That story was ridiculous! I'm really wondering if LJ is a pathological liar. As I understand it, pathological liars lie about really stupid things.
I think the Thérèse/Anthony divorce was cribbed from Lynn's first divorce, as we've noted here previously. I'm just surprised there wasn't a strip where Liz promised to "take on" Françoise.
qnjones,
It’s “Macleans,” BTW.
Oops.
Guess what, Lynn? You have to create something that readers want to, ya know, read. Or you’re out of business. I really think she believes readers are so enamored of her “talent” that they’ll follow her down any road.
I particularly got that impression when she said she immediately knew she was headed the right direction when she started doing the new-runs.
I rolled my eyes involuntarily at the admission that she knew her marriage wasn’t working, but she scheduled “fix marriage” for after her strip ended.
Especially when you think about the fact, she rescheduled the ending time for her strip a few times over the last 5 years. But, to your point, if you know there are problems in your marriage, waiting years to address them is disastrous.
As for Anne and Steve Nichols being based on Lynn’s first marriage: when I read Anne’s extended bio, I was horrified that Anne was tacitly praised for bringing baby after baby into a marriage that was clearly an utter failure by the time the first kid was born.
That comparison meant, in my mind, Lynn wanted more kids, but someone stopped her at two.
I have to wonder why she feels she can’t make an honest portrayal of divorce in her strip.
She did do divorce with Anthony and Thérèse, but Lynn seemed to be much fonder of stories about cheating.
Is she suggesting he was screwing around through the whole marriage? Really seems like it.
When someone says they don’t want to be the jealous wife, that usually means they are. Whether he cheated the whole marriage or not, she suspected he did, starting from back when they were living in Lynn Lake.
I think Rod just didn’t want to go there, so he revealed the affair so Lynn would divorce him.
I suspect the same thing, and it seemed to me the interviewer did too, from the way she phrased some of her questions.
I can understand how he must have felt. Lynn always sounds so insufferable in interviews, even when she is obviously trying to put her best foot forward (as in this interview).
It does make me wonder how she is when she is not trying to put her best foot forward. And I expect there would be some difficulty talking to her, when her mind races from one thing to the next without context, and she seems to just make things which happened in her life.
DreadedCandiru2,
First off, she spends all that time basically saying that the readers can basically fry in hell because what she says, goes.
I have seen this attitude before in artists, and it is true. If you are truly trying to create art which pleases you and only you, then what others say does not matter. Many great artists have had this attitude, and with it, you get art which does not come out of cookie-cutter, audience-pleasing shape. I like art like that. However, not-so-great artists can also say the same thing, and they will have to face the fact, that they have produced junk no one wants to buy.
Next she casually maligns the people of two cities because she's an Artiste and they ain't and she concludes by refusing to accept any blame for the collapse of her marriage.
There were a few interviews a little while back where it seemed like Lynn was conceding to a partial blame, but my guess is Lynn has stopped seeing that doctor who gave her those ideas.
sooze,
He must be happier now, she should just get OVER herself.
I understand why Lynn Johnston is still upset. It takes awhile to get over a divorce with someone with whom you have spent such a long time.
Even Shania Twain is descreet.
I am tired of her airing her dirty laundry too. There is nothing wrong with still being upset, but to bring it up in interview after interview is not so good.
aprilp_katje,
Am I the only one who sees this story as completely fabricated? I think she's mentally creating "new runs" in her own history.
I agree with you and so does qnjones in her comments above. This story is just like the one with her son photographing the hanging that replaced the automobile accident in that interview last year. Also, it calls into question, any story she has told over the years. Every time she does, I really wonder if her mother was really the monster she described her as after she died.
howard,
Also, it calls into question, any story she has told over the years. Every time she does, I really wonder if her mother was really the monster she described her as after she died.
This is a problem that a lot of creative types seem to have: the need to distort the facts in the name of their version of the truth. Remeber the huge controversy over all the stuff Rosanne made up?
It's too bad someone doesn't interview her staff... I mean former staff... to get the real story.
Absolutely guys, even before I read Howard's comments, my first reaction to the whole "divorced friend" story was that it was made up. I think Lynn did a blend of real life and fiction for so long that she doesn't realize anymore that it isn't okay to add fiction when you tell your real life story in an interview!
Interestingly (or maybe not), I have read about similar problems with other authors. Apparently, it's not terribly uncommon. (Have been trying to pull a name from the ol' databanks, but have thus far failed. But I know I have read of the phenomenon before.)
BTW, I don't consider Therese/Anthony an "honest" portrayal of divorce because it was so exaggerated and one-sided. It also pretty much happened out of the strip, with us only seeing Anthony telling what happened.
Rod left in April 2007. It's September 2008, how is this still NEWsworthy? Maybe Canada needs an election or something for news.
DreadedCandiru2,
This is a problem that a lot of creative types seem to have: the need to distort the facts in the name of their version of the truth. Remeber the huge controversy over all the stuff Rosanne made up?
Are you talking about the final episode of the Roseanne TV show?
Anonymous
It's too bad someone doesn't interview her staff... I mean former staff... to get the real story.
That would nice, but probably not the best thing to do when the appeal of the interview is talking to a Canadian icon like Lynn Johnston. Besides, if we are sick of hearing about it in interviews, imagine how sick of it her former staff must have been, having to live with it every day, and if the rumour is correct, the affair being with a member of her staff.
qnjones,
Interestingly (or maybe not), I have read about similar problems with other authors. Apparently, it's not terribly uncommon. (Have been trying to pull a name from the ol' databanks, but have thus far failed. But I know I have read of the phenomenon before.)
In recent history there was the Hillary Clinton made up story about sniper fire in Bosnia. Is that what you are thinking of?
UTAH,
Rod left in April 2007. It's September 2008, how is this still NEWsworthy?
Newsworthy because this is reason Lynn Johnston is citing for changing her strip again.
This comment has been removed by the author.
howard,
Are you talking about the final episode of the Roseanne TV show?
Yep. If she wanted to kill off Dan at the wedding, she should have just done so. That way, the last season wouldn't have reeked as bad as it did because we'd see an honest look at her life as a widow instead of what we did get.
No, Howard, I was thinking of authors. Politicians are known to be liars as well, but hey, that's expected!
I would also be very surprised if Lynn had not forced her staff to sign non-disclosure agreements with respect to talking about her or her private life.
qnjones,
I would also be very surprised if Lynn had not forced her staff to sign non-disclosure agreements with respect to talking about her or her private life.
That's probably true. That's why I rely on anonymous posters who live in Corbeil for all my facts on such matters.
It seems to me that Lynn did sort of develop John's character through the showing of certain selected reruns. Not sure whether or not she was conscious of it, but part of the interview suggests she was.
if you only knew....
Dreadedcandiru: I thought you were originally referring to Roseanne Barr's claims that both her parents abused her -- claims that were denied by both her parents as well as by her sister. That would go to the idea of someone presenting dubious stories of personal trauma.
Muzition,
It seems to me that Lynn did sort of develop John's character through the showing of certain selected reruns. Not sure whether or not she was conscious of it, but part of the interview suggests she was.
There were some rerun sequences where, if you compared them to the original set of strips, the ones with a positive viewpoint about John Patterson were not used, when the ones showing the opposite viewpoint were. For example the reprinted sequence of “Elly helps John in the dentist office” was one of those.
Anonymous
if you only knew....
Information you care to share, anonymous?
howtheduck, I was having similar doubts about some of the stories Lynn has shared in other interviews. Today, it occurred to me that the story about the divorced friend and their pact not to "go to bed ugly" reminded me of something she said in the same interview where she told the story of throwing Aaron onto a snowbank:
Lynn Johnston: [ . . .] I would look in the mirror then and say to myself, “If only I were pretty. If only I were thin.” So I decided to get thin, and boy, did I get thin—I went down to 110 pounds. I was anorexic. I would go to bed and my stomach would be cramped.
Tom Heintjes: What cured you of the anorexia?
Lynn Johnston: I think it was because a friend of mine did the same thing. We would call each other late at night and say, “I’m starving, are you starving? OK, don’t eat anything and I won’t, either.”
Tom Heintjes: You were each other’s codependent.
Lynn Johnston: That’s right. She was from Germany. Her name was Brunhilda. She ran away from home to come to Canada, and we became best friends. We went on this incredible diet where we both became skeletons. I remember looking at her at one point and saying, “You look terrible!” Here we were, trying to become the models we saw in magazines. We wanted the pointed hips and the angular elbows—we looked like Biafrans.
When I first met Bernie, she was wonderful, sexy, beautiful . . . every man’s dream. She wasn’t fat, but she was rounded, just a delicious-looking woman. Beautiful blue eyes, just perfect. And here she was after this diet, her back covered with bumps from her spine.
Tom Heintjes: I don’t imagine that you were much better off.
Lynn Johnston: No, I wasn’t. But I looked at my friend Bernie and said, “This is it, we’re killing ourselves.” I quit dieting, and she didn’t. Her period stopped, and she just got worse.
Tom Heintjes: What ultimately happened to her?
Lynn Johnston: She married a doctor, and that was a crazy relationship. They moved back to Germany, where they split up, and I lost touch with her. I know her father owned a pub in Germany, and I have a crazy idea that she’s working at that pub. I’d love to go there and see her again; she was a wonderful person.
There is something overly facile about all this. She suddenly realized she was too thin and stopped being anorexic? Have you ever heard of anyone who spontaneously recovered from anorexia that way?
And then she imagines her working at a bar in Germany? Yeah, honey, I think you imagined this whole thing. The question becomes--how much else was imagined?
qnjones, could you have been thinking of "abuse of fantasy"?
I forget who it was, but I remember seeing an interview with a writer, who described having been called for jury duty. During the voir dire, when she said she was a writer, she was asked, "Do you know the difference between fantasy and reality?" ;)
I'm sure it's been mentioned elsewhere and I hope not to come off like some rube but after reading the excpert from the article from Slate posted by april patterson it seems fairly obvious Lynn is a pathological liar or has tendency's towards it. April Patterson is also spot on when it comes to Lynn's self-recovery from anorexia. It is fairly common knowledge that therapy is practically a must to recover from such a disorder. In reality the cure for whatever Lynn was going through at that time probably came in the form of a "maaay-un" named Rod Johnston. It shouldn't suprise tho that Lynn failed once agian when it came to "research" on this topic. Also the name Brunhilda just comes across as the stereotypical German name Lynn could think of at the time. In re-reading over that entire interview her life seems like it was written by Beth Cruikshank. I'd be curious to hear her sibilings version of their parents. Lynn's stories of her childhood are too varied to know what is fact and what is exaggeration.
It is fairly common knowledge that therapy is practically a must to recover from such a disorder.
That's been my understanding, based on just about everything I've read/heard about anorexia. You don't just snap out of it and start eating more.
Also the name Brunhilda just comes across as the stereotypical German name Lynn could think of at the time.
Seriously.
In re-reading over that entire interview her life seems like it was written by Beth Cruikshank.
I was thinking that Brunhilda's story read very much like a Beth Cruikshank biography. As a teen, she "ran away" from Germany to Canada. She eventually married a doctor. Then, when Lynn had no more use for her as a story, she and her husband "moved back" to Germany. Does that mean that he'd also "run away" at the same time Brunhilda did, or did she just happen to find a German National to marry and move back with? Then they split up and, although Lynn doesn't know for sure, she suspects "Bernie" is working at her Daddy's bar. Though ostensibly her home life had been so bad when she was a teenager she'd felt the need not only to run away, but also to leave the continent.
Another thing that reminded me of a Beth C. bio was this bit about Lynn's mother's upbringing:
She was brought up with a "spare the rod and spoil the child" philosophy, and she was raised by a father who brutalized her. He didn't want daughters. He wanted sons. He had no time for daughters. He refused to educate his daughters. It was a waste of his money. And they all left home as soon as they possibly could. Some of them ran away from home, some left to join the armed forces. That's what my mother did.
Oh, another thing I meant to say--Brunhilda moving back to Germany also reminded me of Anthony's mother, Hanneke, conveniently moving herself back to the Netherlands, never to be heard from again.
aprilp_katje,
Poor Tom Heintjes. The Hogan’s Alley interview was certainly a landmark in learning about Lynn Johnston, but I have to admit the stories about Brunhilda and the negligee-wearing lady from Maclean’s are very similar in theme, i.e. wanting to appear beautiful just before bedtime. The Tom Heintjes I remember from college practically worshipped old-time cartoonists and comic book writers, and he must have been completely taken in by Lynn Johnston. The interviewer for Macleans was not so smitten, as you can tell from some of her unbelieving responses.
There is something overly facile about all this. She suddenly realized she was too thin and stopped being anorexic? Have you ever heard of anyone who spontaneously recovered from anorexia that way?
No. I can see it if the person recovering was not truly anorexic, but just a little too thin.
And then she imagines her working at a bar in Germany? Yeah, honey, I think you imagined this whole thing. The question becomes--how much else was imagined?
Exactly. When I went back through the Hogan’s Alley interview, I was struck by the fact that not only was Lynn’s mother abusive, but also her mother’s father and her father’s father. It seemed like she was piling it on.
ruth said...
I'm sure it's been mentioned elsewhere and I hope not to come off like some rube but after reading the excpert from the article from Slate posted by april patterson it seems fairly obvious Lynn is a pathological liar or has tendency's towards it.
She does not shy away from telling those kinds of stories in interviews. There was a very telling interview last year where she said that she was not in love with Rod Johnston, but she was in love with John Patterson, or her perception of him. It was the kind of comment which sounded like she had been talking to a therapist.
Also the name Brunhilda just comes across as the stereotypical German name Lynn could think of at the time.
In the Wagner Ring Cycle of operas, Brunhilda is prominent character.
I'd be curious to hear her sibilings version of their parents. Lynn's stories of her childhood are too varied to know what is fact and what is exaggeration.
We don’t hear her ex-husband or brother’s version of the stories, and it could be because the interviewer is not interested enough to ask, or it could be because they have the tact not to air their dirty laundry. If they disagree with her viewpoint, then they are calling her a liar in public, which they may not want to do. Besides, if we are sharp enough to pick up on the idea she is just making things up, then there is no need to say anything public. Just wait for her to expose herself with another whacko story.
Anonymous
if you only knew....
Information you care to share, anonymous?
I guess, if there's one thing I'd like people to know is that there are always two sides to every story. It is very frustrating for those who are close to the situation to sit back and know everyone is simply hearing one version. However, airing any story of one's personal life would put 'one' at the same level as Lynn during her recent Maclean's interview. I fell off my chair after reading that so called 'interview'. Unbelievable. I'm still shaking my head in disbelief.
Two thumbs up to Rod Johnston for keeping his personal life out of the spot light. He's a great guy. Yes, we all make mistakes, but it takes two to ensure a successful relationship. As for 'the ex-staff', they must be strong women for having to continously listen and read all of this knowing full well things are not being told the way they really are. From what I know, there was no non-disclosure agreement signed, just respect, values and high morals keeping them quiet. Good job girls.
anonymous,
I agree with you wholeheartedly about Rod Johnston and the ladies in Lynn's staff, who do not want to air any dirty laundry. My hat's off to them, with what has had to be a very trying year, with virtually all of them having to deal with this and the change to their employment.
As you can tell from the comments running about the Howard Bunt's Blog, there are number of readers, who are not intimately familiar with the situation and can still tell something is not right about the stories being told. As for what the other side of the story is, we can only guess.
I am curious about the current status of Rod Johnston and especially members of Lynn's staff with whom I have communicated occasionally, and any information you can give would be appreciated.
Post a Comment
<< Home