The Trouble with Knowing the Future
One of the things I liked most about the movie Pulp Fiction was that the film told different stories involving some of the same characters, but carried a story to its end, even if it wasn’t the end for that character. For example, in one sequence, we see a character get killed and he is only marginally important to that story. Then in another sequence, we would see that same character and his partner in a situation where they could both be killed. The tension was taken away from the character we saw killed in the other story, because we knew that was the way he was going to die. But for his partner, the issue still existed, and raised the question of why the character who was killed in the prior sequence was alone when he died. Was it because his partner was about to get killed in this story from his past? I thought the movie showed an excellent way to deal with situations where the viewer knows the future. You add in an element the viewer does not know about to get their interest.
In the case of the new-runs of For Better or For Worse, you have the same problem. We know the future. We know 29 solid years of the future. About Mike getting a dog named Farley, there is no doubt. However, there is some tension about the fate of Fred the fish, a completely unknown character. Not a lot of tension, but some. Oddly enough, Lynn Johnston adds some tension in, because she refuses to be faithful to the consistencies of her old storyline. How much will Lynn arbitrarily change for the purpose of her new-run, and will it make any kind of sense? So far, no.
When I saw today’s For Better or For Worse, continuing a storyline where Elly Patterson complains to single mom, Connie Poirier, of all people, about how hard her life is with her newspaper-reading, no laundry and no dishwashing husband; I was suddenly struck by the giant close-up of Connie Poirier in the last panel. I thought to myself, “It’s too bad I know the future; because if I didn’t, I would think this is the moment where Connie Poirier decides she is going to try to take John Patterson away from his ungrateful wife.” Not only that, but knowing how Lynn Johnston likes to insert her real life into the strip, I would start to wonder if Connie Poirier was going to stand in for the woman with whom Rod Johnston cheated. I would be anxious to see how much of her real life Lynn Johnston would put in the strip. Would she portray Connie as a seductress or would she simply be the sympathetic ear for John to talk to when Elly starts ranting over his poor dishwashing and clothes-washing? All these things popped into my head, and I found myself getting interesting in a For Better or For Worse storyline.
Then I remembered. I already know the future.
In the case of the new-runs of For Better or For Worse, you have the same problem. We know the future. We know 29 solid years of the future. About Mike getting a dog named Farley, there is no doubt. However, there is some tension about the fate of Fred the fish, a completely unknown character. Not a lot of tension, but some. Oddly enough, Lynn Johnston adds some tension in, because she refuses to be faithful to the consistencies of her old storyline. How much will Lynn arbitrarily change for the purpose of her new-run, and will it make any kind of sense? So far, no.
When I saw today’s For Better or For Worse, continuing a storyline where Elly Patterson complains to single mom, Connie Poirier, of all people, about how hard her life is with her newspaper-reading, no laundry and no dishwashing husband; I was suddenly struck by the giant close-up of Connie Poirier in the last panel. I thought to myself, “It’s too bad I know the future; because if I didn’t, I would think this is the moment where Connie Poirier decides she is going to try to take John Patterson away from his ungrateful wife.” Not only that, but knowing how Lynn Johnston likes to insert her real life into the strip, I would start to wonder if Connie Poirier was going to stand in for the woman with whom Rod Johnston cheated. I would be anxious to see how much of her real life Lynn Johnston would put in the strip. Would she portray Connie as a seductress or would she simply be the sympathetic ear for John to talk to when Elly starts ranting over his poor dishwashing and clothes-washing? All these things popped into my head, and I found myself getting interesting in a For Better or For Worse storyline.
Then I remembered. I already know the future.
posted by howard at 11:40 PM
5 Comments:
The unintentional comedy of the last two days: Connie is a single mother with a full-time job and one child. Supposedly, Elly's chores keep her busy all her waking hours. Figure that's 16 hours, with 8 hours of sleep. Shouldn't Connie have at least half the chores that Elly does?
So, how come Connie can come over and socialize? Why isn't she killing herself to get those 8 hours of chores in after her 8 hour workday? Simple. Elly makes her life as miserable as possible. She fills it with drudgery so she can be a martyr and have something to bitch about.
Now, I wish I could believe that was Lynn's message, and that she was being subversive here. But really, I think we are just not supposed to think about the strip that much. We're supposed to swallow this nonsensical crap, and furthermore, we're expected to think it's funny.
And that too is a crock of you-know-what. Because it isn't funny to watch Elly admit that she would rather nitpick her husband's attempts at housework than to accept his contribution, put her feet up for ten minutes, and be happy for once. That is just really, incredibly sad.
T-minus one month to total cancellation.
qnjones,
So, how come Connie can come over and socialize? Why isn't she killing herself to get those 8 hours of chores in after her 8 hour workday? Simple. Elly makes her life as miserable as possible. She fills it with drudgery so she can be a martyr and have something to bitch about.
Great minds think alike. I know from my own experience how depressing and infuriating it is dealing with people who don't want help, who'd rather stand around bitching about how everyone but them is incompetent and lazy so I share RetJohn's pain and your disgust.
howard,
Would she portray Connie as a seductress or would she simply be the sympathetic ear for John to talk to when Elly starts ranting over his poor dishwashing and clothes-washing? All these things popped into my head, and I found myself getting interesting in a For Better or For Worse storyline.
Then I remembered. I already know the future.
Both idea would make this exercise in futility really interesting. Too bad that Lynn doesn't have any ideas left or she might have given us a strip we could be engaged by: The Secret Lives of John and Connie. Even if their friendship was strictly platonic, it wasn't something that appeared in the strip the first time around so it would draw people in better than watching MikeClone act like a goof.
qnjones,
Because it isn't funny to watch Elly admit that she would rather nitpick her husband's attempts at housework than to accept his contribution, put her feet up for ten minutes, and be happy for once. That is just really, incredibly sad.
The first time through this business, the reader would see that John doesn’t appreciate what Elly does around the house with his comments like, “What do you do all day?” The second time, we have Elly flat-out telling Connie that her life is a complete misery she has put on herself. However, Lynn still wants the reader to blame John. In this case, “tell, not show” destroys it.
DreadedCandiru2,
I know from my own experience how depressing and infuriating it is dealing with people who don't want help, who'd rather stand around bitching about how everyone but them is incompetent and lazy so I share RetJohn's pain and your disgust.
And this from the author who says she admires people who don’t complain and suffer in silence.
Too bad that Lynn doesn't have any ideas left or she might have given us a strip we could be engaged by: The Secret Lives of John and Connie. Even if their friendship was strictly platonic,
This would mean making the strip about someone other than herself (Elly). Although I think it would be interesting, I think it would be nearly impossible for Lynn Johnston to do that. Every character is Lynn.
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