The Glory Days of Cottage Cheese
Today’s reprint in For Better or For Worse brought back memories for me. I love cottage cheese. The days when cottage cheese was considered to be a recommended diet food were great for me. Then later someone actually took a look at cottage cheese and pointed out it was loaded with saturated fat and sodium. It was a very sad day for me. I’ve tried diet cottage cheese, and it just isn’t the same.
As for the strip itself, the most interesting aspect is the way that Elly, not only forces the family to go on a diet with her, but she has her nose pointed in the air and waves her index finger, and looks down on the family, as if she were punishing her wayward charges. In 1980, this is played for laughs; but 29 years later, this would become the way Elly acted as a matter-of-course and it was not played for laughs. At least that’s the way it seemed to me. It makes me wonder if, when the modern day Elly would stick her nose in the air over some matter, Lynn Johnston intended it to be played for laughs like it is here in the 1980 strips and she just forgot how to do it. It would certainly change my impression of the strip, if every time I thought modern Elly was stuck-up, she was actually trying to make me laugh at her own pretentiousness.
The second most interesting aspect of the reprint is the second panel, where Lizzie actually tries gumming on that big hunk of lettuce while Mike and John protest their dietary treatment. There is an age in there where a toddler will try new foods, especially if they are being served to an adult. I remember when my boy was in a Mexican food restaurant in Dallas and decided he wanted to try chips and salsa. He immediately went for the spiciest, hottest salsa there. My wife and I were convinced he would react to the strong taste, and never want chips and hot salsa again. Much to our surprise, he loved it, and dipped his chip in the hot salsa over and over again. We later learned that young children do not have well-developed taste buds. Some months later, my son developed a taste for mild salsa, which he maintains to this day. Looking at Lizzie fearlessly gumming on that lettuce reminded me of my son during that particular age.
Overall, today's strip is not a bad strip. Happy family. Funny joke. It's just dated with its use of cottage cheese. Lynn Johnston could have updated it with a modern, trendy diet food that people don't like to eat, and it would have worked pretty well. Maybe those pseudo-chocolate-flavoured, diet shakes or those grainy, healthy cereals that taste like you are eating gravel.
As for the strip itself, the most interesting aspect is the way that Elly, not only forces the family to go on a diet with her, but she has her nose pointed in the air and waves her index finger, and looks down on the family, as if she were punishing her wayward charges. In 1980, this is played for laughs; but 29 years later, this would become the way Elly acted as a matter-of-course and it was not played for laughs. At least that’s the way it seemed to me. It makes me wonder if, when the modern day Elly would stick her nose in the air over some matter, Lynn Johnston intended it to be played for laughs like it is here in the 1980 strips and she just forgot how to do it. It would certainly change my impression of the strip, if every time I thought modern Elly was stuck-up, she was actually trying to make me laugh at her own pretentiousness.
The second most interesting aspect of the reprint is the second panel, where Lizzie actually tries gumming on that big hunk of lettuce while Mike and John protest their dietary treatment. There is an age in there where a toddler will try new foods, especially if they are being served to an adult. I remember when my boy was in a Mexican food restaurant in Dallas and decided he wanted to try chips and salsa. He immediately went for the spiciest, hottest salsa there. My wife and I were convinced he would react to the strong taste, and never want chips and hot salsa again. Much to our surprise, he loved it, and dipped his chip in the hot salsa over and over again. We later learned that young children do not have well-developed taste buds. Some months later, my son developed a taste for mild salsa, which he maintains to this day. Looking at Lizzie fearlessly gumming on that lettuce reminded me of my son during that particular age.
Overall, today's strip is not a bad strip. Happy family. Funny joke. It's just dated with its use of cottage cheese. Lynn Johnston could have updated it with a modern, trendy diet food that people don't like to eat, and it would have worked pretty well. Maybe those pseudo-chocolate-flavoured, diet shakes or those grainy, healthy cereals that taste like you are eating gravel.
posted by howard at 9:58 PM
7 Comments:
howard,
It's just dated with its use of cottage cheese. Lynn Johnston could have updated it with a modern, trendy diet food that people don't like to eat, and it would have worked pretty well. Maybe those pseudo-chocolate-flavoured, diet shakes or those grainy, healthy cereals that taste like you are eating gravel.
I'd like to think she'd think those were as timeless as Shania but then I remember that her fans have probably never heard of those things so she's not going to change the wording.
dreadedcandiru2,
After she got burned with the criticism following her Shania change, we probably won't see anymore dialogue changes. In many respects that's a good idea. After all, Lynn is very much like her fans.
Is it considered good parenting to take a growing kid who isn't in any way overweight, like Michael, and lower his caloric intake for no good reason? Much less a toddler like Lizzie?
Also, I like John's backhanded intimation in Panel 1 that Elly isn't "fine."
I really do have to comment on Elly's enforced "dieting" also. Now that eating disorders are so prevalent, that is a really bad attitude/message for parents to give young children. So that really dates the strip also--again, funny in its day; not so much with new research and studies.
debjyn
dlauthor,
Is it considered good parenting to take a growing kid who isn't in any way overweight, like Michael, and lower his caloric intake for no good reason?
Unaltered cottage cheese packs plenty of calories. Certainly if Michael or Lizzie has any problems with dairy, Elly will find out quickly with the cottage cheese.
However, to your point, neither Michael nor Lizzie needs that many calories a day. Probably they have been getting a lot more than that, with Elly’s eating habits. This could be a positive change for them, except for the high fat and sodium content of cottage cheese.
Also, I like John's backhanded intimation in Panel 1 that Elly isn't "fine."
That was funny. I liked it too.
debjyn,
Now that eating disorders are so prevalent, that is a really bad attitude/message for parents to give young children.
I think the part you are objecting to mainly is the enforcement. The simple fact of the matter is that the person who makes the food controls what people eat. When my wife (who makes the bulk of the food in my house) goes on a diet, then the whole family goes on a diet. The difference is that she doesn’t announce it as a torture. She says, “Dinner’s ready.”
Or, as another example, at my kids’ school, they are not allowed to bring for lunch or snack anything with meat or sugar in it, because that is the dietary habit of the woman who runs the school.
If Elly were to say, “I am going to establish a lifestyle of healthy eating for my family that will never change,” then more power to her. What is really happening is that she is forcing food on herself and her family that no one likes and a style of eating we are guaranteed will not last. In my mind, the bad message being sent is that healthy eating has to be an unpleasant torture. Unfortunately, that is also the humour of the strip.
Howard, yes that was exactly what is wrong. This "diet" mentality and announcing it as such simply puts food into a "good food/bad food" mindset. And, as you said, Elly's attitude is "bad food-tastes good, good food tastes awful."
Debjyn
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