Monday, October 06, 2008

Life Insurance Plus Three

aprilp_katje correctly identified the sequence of reprints we are going to get this week based on the theme of life insurance and has nicely scanned them for us. I looked through them and the first thing that struck me about them was that they were funny. Lynn could have a good thing going here. One of the standard comic strip-writing practices is to find a theme for the week, and then do 6 strips about that theme. With these new-run / old-run combinations, all she has to do is find a few old-run jokes on a theme, and then provide new-run strips along the same theme. Plus, if the old-run strips are funny, then they can provide balance to the humourless new-runs.

Strip #1 - the one that appears in today’s For Better or For Worse, is the weakest of the bunch, because it relies on the Cathy method of humour, which is that the woman reacts very strongly to news that does not require that strong a reaction. Originally we would have laughed that Elly's reaction is too strong and that surprises us. Cathy has been using that one for years, so it’s not that funny to me anymore to see Cathy say, “AACK!” Artwise, the things I found interesting were the first panel picture of Elly playing with her hair. Almost every woman I know with long hair plays with it. After years of Elly in a bun, it was nice to see Elly play with her hair for a change. Also, the other interesting thing is the background pattern changed in each panel. The strip does establish a theme for the rest of them, which is, no matter how much John tries to talk about the subject with Elly, she steadfastly refuses to engage him in a discussion about how to deal with potential future disasters. Curiously enough, when the subject comes up again in a later strip a few years ago, Elly is the driving force behind getting things done.

Strip #2 – This strip has Elly and John in bed, with John fretting over the possibility of what would happen to Elly if he died or had an accident, etc. The joke in the final panel works pretty well in this one. Elly tells John to change the subject, and John changes the subject to something just as morbid as life insurance. The best part of the strip is Elly’s head on the pillow as John talks, staring at the readers for empathy. Sorry, Elly, but one of the biggest mistake young parents make is not working out the insurance details or the will, especially with young children involved. There comes a point when you will have to discuss the subject with your husband. However, I have this feeling that Elly never did talk about it, and John Patterson will do what he needs to do.

Because Strip #2 has a change in location, I can easily see a new-run with John and Elly talking (or rather not talking) insurance as they prepare for bed. All you have to do is fill in some pun involving life insurance and preparation for going to bed, and you probably have tomorrow’s strip. The only thing iffy is whether Lynn Johnston will have John talking to Elly, which she has done very rarely in the new-runs.

Strip #3 has the best lead-in because you see it is late enough for John to have stubble and he appears to wake Elly out of sleep (which would be the kiss of death in my house, if I woke up my wife in the middle of the night at 2 a.m.) I can easily see this situation happening to Lynn Johnston in real life, except without Elly’s clever comeback, which is a little too clever for a sleepy brain. Rod Johnston was notoriously obsessed over model trains, so it is not too far a stretch to see him get worked up over the “what if’s” of a life insurance policy that he can’t fall asleep.

I can see a new-run after this, developing off the idea of “What kind of man would Elly want to replace John?” This is a subject near and dear to Lynn Johnston, and I doubt she will be able to resist using the subject matter to take a shot at her ex-husband.

18 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I loathe it when women are portrayed as being too weak and emotional to deal with the hard realities of life. Not only is it misogynistic, but it does not correspond with my real-life experience. I especially loathe it when a woman is the one perpetuating this stupid prejudice.

Besides, we all know that Elly would not miss John, except for 1) his income, and 2) his doing the yardwork. Rerunning strips that purport that Elly actually cares about John is jarring in the face of all the John-hate strips.

11:33 PM  
Blogger howard said...

qnjones,

Rerunning strips that purport that Elly actually cares about John is jarring in the face of all the John-hate strips.

I saw the subject more along the lines of "Elly doesn't want to plan for a disaster" more than "Elly would miss John". I didn't see any evidence she would actually miss him in the reprinted strip.

I think you had it right when you said, "...women are portrayed as being too weak and emotional to deal with the hard realities of life."

11:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I didn't see any evidence she would actually miss him in the reprinted strip.

If John were to disappear, the strip could be about a young, still attractive, single mother juggling family and getting back into the dating scene. And Elly would be able to avoid years of trains, dishwashers loaded incorrectly, and having a third child.

11:54 PM  
Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

howard,

The best part of the strip is Elly’s head on the pillow as John talks, staring at the readers for empathy. Sorry, Elly, but one of the biggest mistake young parents make is not working out the insurance details or the will, especially with young children involved. There comes a point when you will have to discuss the subject with your husband. However, I have this feeling that Elly never did talk about it, and John Patterson will do what he needs to do.

This is a bad habit that Elly passed down to her children. We never, for instance, really saw Mike and Dee really discuss this sort of thing between themselves. The only plan they really have is "keep Mira out of the loop so the children don't grow up religious." Lynn's self-loathing refusal to deal with the harsh realities of this life until she had no choice leaked through into her strip and made her characters as nuts as Elly.

2:52 AM  
Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

qnjones,

I loathe it when women are portrayed as being too weak and emotional to deal with the hard realities of life. Not only is it misogynistic, but it does not correspond with my real-life experience. I especially loathe it when a woman is the one perpetuating this stupid prejudice.

Sadly, you still see women like that even now. Some of them let their husbands pay them an allowance so can can feel more butch despite making more than he ever will.

2:54 AM  
Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

qnjones,

That's 'he can', not 'can can';) Anyway, some people in Corbeil need to be kicked in the can

2:56 AM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

I can see a new-run after this, developing off the idea of “What kind of man would Elly want to replace John?”

There's an old-run strip like this, right after the three strips I scanned. Elly lists all the attributes of the type of guy she'd choose if she remarried, ending with John wondering how she ended up with him. (I think this one either ran during the "hybrid" phase or was included in the now-defunct "time travel" section of the website.)

4:15 AM  
Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

april_patterson,

Elly lists all the attributes of the type of guy she'd choose if she remarried, ending with John wondering how she ended up with him. (I think this one either ran during the "hybrid" phase or was included in the now-defunct "time travel" section of the website.)

I remember that strip. It used to be included in the "time travel" pages. Knowing that Lynn decided on the new-runs seems to explain why that part of the site was closed down. As for why she chose him, I still think he was the only man she ever dated more than once. Since she thought he was her only hope of getting a husband, it becomes a lot easier to explain "BAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!" It took her what seemed like an eternity to find him. She 'knows' she won't get a second chance.

6:58 AM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

dreadedcandiru2, Elly really did sell herself short, didn't she. John was never a prize.

8:01 AM  
Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

april_patterson,

What makes her not giving herself a chance all the worse is that she passed on this sad tendency to her oldest daughter. Her 'reasoning' was that since marrying John 'worked so well', Liz needed a 'friend' (she was only off by an 'r') like that.

9:01 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Interesting thing about Elly's choice of the man she would prefer over John--reminds me a lot of a Paul/Warren.

To bad Elly didn't keep that in mind as she got old and bitter and encouraged her daughter to marry someone based on being safe and a good business partner.

10:03 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Strip #1 - the one that appears in today’s For Better or For Worse, is the weakest of the bunch, because it relies on the Cathy method of humour, which is that the woman reacts very strongly to news that does not require that strong a reaction.

For me, the humour in today's strip was John trying to decide how much insurance to get for his "equipment." Most men I know don't insure that, but Lynn did say that Rod was quite proud of his, er, physique. :-D

12:26 PM  
Blogger howard said...

forworse,

If John were to disappear, the strip could be about a young, still attractive, single mother juggling family and getting back into the dating scene.

I’ll bet Lynn Johnston could add new-runs and carefully choose reprints to make this exact thing happen. Of course, she would have to cut out all those strips where she is whining about her lot in life. There might not be enough left to make a single mother strip.

5:07 PM  
Blogger howard said...

DreadedCandiru2,


Lynn's self-loathing refusal to deal with the harsh realities of this life until she had no choice leaked through into her strip and made her characters as nuts as Elly.

As she says, she plays the part of every character OR every character is her.

I remember that strip. It used to be included in the "time travel" pages.

I can’t find it in the hybrid; but I remember seeing it recently, too. Time Travel is likely.

What makes her not giving herself a chance all the worse is that she passed on this sad tendency to her oldest daughter. Her 'reasoning' was that since marrying John 'worked so well', Liz needed a 'friend' (she was only off by an 'r') like that.

As far as Elly is concerned, John did work out pretty well. He defers to her on almost every issue, cowers in fear at her temper, and provides enough so that she can own a bookstore, if she wants to, but never turn a profit on it.

5:08 PM  
Blogger howard said...

aprilp_katje,

There's an old-run strip like this, right after the three strips I scanned. Elly lists all the attributes of the type of guy she'd choose if she remarried, ending with John wondering how she ended up with him.

I can’t see Lynn Johnston missing an opportunity to show that strip. Maybe there will be only 1 new-run this week. Of course if she is going into an “I should have chosen a guy better than my husband” topic, then she may devote a whole week to that.

5:08 PM  
Blogger howard said...

debjyn,

To bad Elly didn't keep that in mind as she got old and bitter and encouraged her daughter to marry someone based on being safe and a good business partner.

When I think about how Elly pushed Elizabeth into marrying Anthony, I wonder why it was that Michael was exempt from such things. We make jokes about the childhood sweetheart business, but Deanna was pretty and had a job where she could make more money than most every woman in the cast and she didn’t get the job thanks to a Patterson.

5:09 PM  
Blogger howard said...

Kristina,

For me, the humour in today's strip was John trying to decide how much insurance to get for his "equipment." Most men I know don't insure that, but Lynn did say that Rod was quite proud of his, er, physique. :-D

I knew someone was going to go there. At least it wasn’t me this time. I think it’s something about the name Rod Johnston. It’s one ‘t’ away from a pornstar name.

5:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I think it’s something about the name Rod Johnston. It’s one ‘t’ away from a pornstar name.

I hadn't thought of that. :-D

6:28 AM  

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