Elf Girls
When I was young, going to visit with Santa was the opportunity to tell him which toy I wanted. It was not until I was much older did I realize that some parents have a tradition of getting a picture of Santa Claus with their kids each Christmas. There were a few Christmases where the Santa picture with my own kids was used as the Family Christmas card picture. Reading today’s For Better or For Worse, I get the impression that either this is not Lynn Johnston’s tradition, or she simply does not know what the Santa visit is for. At the time the strip was written, Lynn was living in Lynn Lake, Manitoba, which could very well be so small and remote a town that this tradition did not exist. Consequently, the idea that Uncle Phil would take Michael by himself to visit Santa does not make much sense to me. Why isn’t Lizzie going? Why would Uncle Phil go instead of Elly? Why would Phil be interested in girls in elf suits, which are typically temporary-employed teenaged help? It seems a little creepy for a guy who should be close to 30.
Little Michael, with his observation about his uncle and the girls in elf suits reveals that either Michael has the same desire and recognizes it in his uncle, or Phil and Michael have made this trip before. Michael's desire could be the same as Phil's. Judging from his extreme and excessive fascination with young Deanna Sobinski, Michael is a 6-year-old going on 16 years old. And not a healthy one, at that.
Little Michael, with his observation about his uncle and the girls in elf suits reveals that either Michael has the same desire and recognizes it in his uncle, or Phil and Michael have made this trip before. Michael's desire could be the same as Phil's. Judging from his extreme and excessive fascination with young Deanna Sobinski, Michael is a 6-year-old going on 16 years old. And not a healthy one, at that.
posted by howard at 11:27 PM
10 Comments:
howard,
There were a few Christmases where the Santa picture with my own kids was used as the Family Christmas card picture. Reading today’s For Better or For Worse, I get the impression that either this is not Lynn Johnston’s tradition, or she simply does not know what the Santa visit is for.
Of course she doesn't. Just as she doesn't know that you can't play a blue, I'm fairly sure that she only knows what she's been told about visits to mall Santas by people who've actually done it. She wouldn't go there herself, of course. It's too crowded and she gets treated like a normal person; not something that appeals to someone with her issues with arrogance.
Dreadedcandiru2,
It's too crowded and she gets treated like a normal person; not something that appeals to someone with her issues with arrogance.
This is Lynn from 1980 we are talking about. From what I have seen of Lynn Lake, the closest mall is probably a long drive away. Lynn may be vaguely aware of the tradition, but didn't do it as a child, and may not be able to practice the tradition with her own kids. The issue is that Lynn would try to include things that a lot of people are doing (or know about in the case of jazz) without taking the time to find out what it is really about.
29 years later, Lynn should know better, and could fix it. That's where the arrogance would come in.
howard,
Lynn may be vaguely aware of the tradition, but didn't do it as a child, and may not be able to practice the tradition with her own kids. The issue is that Lynn would try to include things that a lot of people are doing (or know about in the case of jazz) without taking the time to find out what it is really about.
That's a problem she's always seemed to have. She's great at recording behavior she's seeing right in front of her, mediocre at reproducing things that have been described to her and poor at figuring out why things happen. The arrogance, as you said, comes into play when she haughtily (and with pointlessly-wounded pride) a rejects advice and facts that contradict the image of the world she has in her head.
Dreadedcandiru2,
She's great at recording behavior she's seeing right in front of her, mediocre at reproducing things that have been described to her and poor at figuring out why things happen.
This is an excellent description of the best of and the worst of For Better or For Worse. Obviously, if Lynn Johnston were to play to her strengths, then we would have Rod leave Elly for another woman, and have strips with Elly and the kids dealing with that situation. It is plain to me and everyone else looking at the strip that this is the story she wants to tell, from her choice of reprints to the way John Patterson comes off in the new-runs, to the way Elly is spending more time with Connie than she ever did before.
I personally don't understand why Lynn should have to try to draw her strip to make the Pattersons like the "majority" who go to see Santa. (I am not convinced it actually is a majority.)
I grew up in a really wealthy area near plenty of malls and shopping centers, yet we did not do The Santa Trip. Nor did most of the kids I grew up with. This was contemporaneous with Lynn's original strips (early 80s).
So, in this strip, we understand that Elly and John would not normally make The Santa Trip, but Uncle Phil wants to do it with Mike. So? This seems like a perfectly acceptable slice of family life to me, and quite realistic at that. It is also realistic that the bachelor uncle would want to leave the baby at home, so he wouldn't have to deal with diapers and bottles.
Damn you all for making me defend Lynn, but it is not evil not to want to go see Mall Santa. Frankly, it has always seemed perplexing to me. This year I had Thanksgiving dinner with a family with small kids. One is 5, the other 2. They had just gone to see Mall Santa, and both knew he wasn't real. Why would you want to go talk to a fake Santa? It's fine to do if you want to, but it's not weird or stupid or bad parenting to think it is a dispensable part of the holiday madness.
You don't have to be arrogant not to be into Mall Santa. You don't have to be a jerk to conclude it is better to leave a baby home sometimes. Period.
So--The Pattersons obviously live in a "really wealthy" area & we peasants shouldn't judge our betters? Oddly, the Pattersons keep crying poverty...
When I was a kid, malls hadn't been invented. Occasionally we'd go all the way downtown to see Santa at Foleys. Or maybe go to the Sears in Pasadena.
So I'm not upset that the Pattersons aren't following a specific routine. What bothers me in this strip is the perverse expression we glimpse on Mike's profile in the first panel. It matches the scary smile with which he greeted the news that Liz would be sharing his bedroom.
And it sits oddly with his accusation that Phil wants to ogle the sexy elf girls. Wholesome slice-of-life? Not to me. But then, I didn't grow up on the right sort of neighborhod...
maggie-texas,
So--The Pattersons obviously live in a "really wealthy" area & we peasants shouldn't judge our betters?
Oh please. I have been around this blog a very long time, and I think people who have bothered to read my posts know that I am not some elitist snob who would ever say or imply such a thing.
My point was that I lived in a place similar to where the Pattersons live, and visiting Santa wasn't common. It is not a tradition for everyone, which seemed to be implied by Howard's post. And it's not such a horrible thing if it's not someone's tradition. We grew up without it and didn't consider it a deprivation. That was all.
qnjones,
Damn you all for making me defend Lynn, but it is not evil not to want to go see Mall Santa.
I love this line of yours, qnjones. I say “does not make much sense to me” and that becomes “it is evil”. My perspective on the Santa visit is informed my own desire to be there when my kids did the Santa visit. I guess it’s OK that Elly and John don’t want to be there. It’s not in the good parenting handbook. It’s something I would not want to miss. The babies are so cute when they throw up on Santa, at least mine was. I am glad I did not miss it.
On the other hand, missing things their kids do is a theme for the strip as a whole. I remember seeing the strip last year where April and Eva played their original song for the mall telethon and thinking, “Shannon Lake’s mom is there, but Elly and John are nowhere to be seen.” It is not evil they missed seeing April; but if I were April’s dad and I could be there, then I would have been.
maggie-texas,
What bothers me in this strip is the perverse expression we glimpse on Mike's profile in the first panel. It matches the scary smile with which he greeted the news that Liz would be sharing his bedroom. And it sits oddly with his accusation that Phil wants to ogle the sexy elf girls. Wholesome slice-of-life? Not to me.
The strip does seem to spell out that Phil’s motivation to take Mike to see Santa has nothing to do with being a good uncle and wanting to spend time with his nephew and sharing this fun activity. Phil wants to ogle teenaged girls in elf outfits. Moreover, he has been obvious enough about that in times past so that little 6-year-old Michael is aware of it. It is kind of creepy. However, there is a running theme with the men in For Better or For Worse with respect to ogling women. There was at least one strip a year featuring Mike or John or Grandpa Jim ogling women in the latter years of the strip.
I love this line of yours, qnjones. I say “does not make much sense to me” and that becomes “it is evil”.
Exaggeration for comedic effect. And of course I was responding to the general tone of all the posts condemning Elly/Lynn, not just yours.
Sorry if that didn't come across.
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