Santa vs. God: Patterson Style
Sometimes my son will start conversations out of nowhere. You might think he would be thinking about what is going on around him, and then he will break into an observation on something unrelated. When I saw today’s reprint of For Better or For Worse, I got the same impression. There is little Michael looking through the toy store window with a big smile on his face, and you might his thoughts would be about what toy he would like to get for Christmas. You would be wrong. Young 6-year-old Michael is concerned with theological matters. Why do more people talk about Santa than God? Elly quips that God does less advertising.
Those who observe Christmas as the celebration of the birth of Christ have had issues with the secular side of Christmas for as long as I have been alive. “Jesus is the reason for the season” and things of that nature. Lynn Johnston has traditionally portrayed the Patterson family as the type of family who goes to church once a year at Easter, and in recent times has actually taken a more anti-religious stance by associating religious practice with Mira Sobinski. Last year’s Christmas strip with the Patterson family united in thought balloon complaint about Mira’s long prayer keeping them from eating, was a shocking, if accurate portrayal of a family for whom food appears to be its god.
It is interesting to see the strip reprinted from 1980 and Elly’s response to Mike’s question. Elly does not take the usual stance. She does not condemn the persons who prefer Santa. She does not say that people should talk more about God than Santa. Instead, she points out that God does less advertising. This is true. Advertising is expensive, and I know very few churches that spend large amounts on advertising. Who would advertise Jesus? I know of few businesses brave enough to use baby Jesus as an icon to sell toys or other products, for fear of religios retribution. Santa is a different story because he is not as well-protected. Santa provides advertisers the icon they need for the season to sell products that Jesus doesn’t. In a rare moment, I believe Elly Patterson is absolutely correct.
Those who observe Christmas as the celebration of the birth of Christ have had issues with the secular side of Christmas for as long as I have been alive. “Jesus is the reason for the season” and things of that nature. Lynn Johnston has traditionally portrayed the Patterson family as the type of family who goes to church once a year at Easter, and in recent times has actually taken a more anti-religious stance by associating religious practice with Mira Sobinski. Last year’s Christmas strip with the Patterson family united in thought balloon complaint about Mira’s long prayer keeping them from eating, was a shocking, if accurate portrayal of a family for whom food appears to be its god.
It is interesting to see the strip reprinted from 1980 and Elly’s response to Mike’s question. Elly does not take the usual stance. She does not condemn the persons who prefer Santa. She does not say that people should talk more about God than Santa. Instead, she points out that God does less advertising. This is true. Advertising is expensive, and I know very few churches that spend large amounts on advertising. Who would advertise Jesus? I know of few businesses brave enough to use baby Jesus as an icon to sell toys or other products, for fear of religios retribution. Santa is a different story because he is not as well-protected. Santa provides advertisers the icon they need for the season to sell products that Jesus doesn’t. In a rare moment, I believe Elly Patterson is absolutely correct.
posted by howard at 10:21 PM
12 Comments:
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howard,
In a rare moment, I believe Elly Patterson is absolutely correct.
True enough; it's difficult to get the message across given the need to not offend. Too bad that along the way to the Settlepocalypse the Pattersons became the appalling people who were so busy worshiping food, they begrudged someone three minutes to say grace and wound up with a daughter who thought the Easter Bunny was going to save Jesus from Pontius Pilate. If that hadn't happened, Elly's complaint might have made more of an impact. It should also be noted that Elly disapproved of a similar message from April
because it was too blunt for her tastes.
Dreaded Candiru2: It occurs to me that you could remove the words "of a similar message from" in your last statement, and you'd pretty much have Elly and April's relationship in a nutshell. Observe: "Elly disapproved of April because she was too blunt for her tastes." (Also, I think this is why most Foob-snarkers rally around April; she was often represented as way more of a "smart-ass" than the rest of the Pattersons.)
Mana_G,
That's a good point; April suffers from an excess of honesty; when ass-kissing is called for, that's a liability.
DreadedCandiru2,
the Pattersons became the appalling people who were so busy worshiping food, they begrudged someone three minutes to say grace and wound up with a daughter who thought the Easter Bunny was going to save Jesus from Pontius Pilate. If that hadn't happened, Elly's complaint might have made more of an impact.
Very true. One of the things that make The Simpsons’ religious commentary more effective is that the Simpson family, oddly enough, goes to church regularly. With the Pattersons, these kinds of messages just drop in from nowhere.
Mana G,
(Also, I think this is why most Foob-snarkers rally around April; she was often represented as way more of a "smart-ass" than the rest of the Pattersons.)
This was the aspect of April’s personality that Lynn liked to play up from time-to-time. April is the one to ask Liz directly about the nature of her relationship with whatever guy she was dating. April is the one who could care less about Mike’s book until it is on the best-seller list. April is the one who doesn’t want to get into a conversation with her parents about burial plots. April is the one who challenges her father by pointing out he has looked at improper web sites. April is the one who points out to Elly that their curtains are old and ratty. There’s a lot to like about April.
howard,
One of the things that make The Simpsons’ religious commentary more effective is that the Simpson family, oddly enough, goes to church regularly. With the Pattersons, these kinds of messages just drop in from nowhere.
They also lead nowhere. I've noticed that despite being a far broader set of caricatures, the Simpsons have a spiritual side that the Pattersons lack. Sure, Homer might say that Christianity is the religion with well-meaning rules that don't work out in the real world but he does have a definite belief in what God is like.
Who would advertise Jesus? I know of few businesses brave enough to use baby Jesus as an icon to sell toys or other products, for fear of religios retribution.
Fair point. Most of these feature only grown-up Jesus.
Jesus shaves...lol...
DreadedCandiru2,
I've noticed that despite being a far broader set of caricatures, the Simpsons have a spiritual side that the Pattersons lack.
True enough. A majour plot point of The Simpsons Movie is a prophecy Grandpa Simpson gets while in church. And one of my favourite episodes is when Homer Simpson decides to invent his own religion after having a conversation with God. Those are certainly storylines that would never happen in For Better or For Worse, primarily because the strip is almost always from the perspective of Elly Patterson. With For Better or For Worse, Lynn usually goes for the “clip out and put on the refrigerator” variety of religious message. It's what I refer to as the Hallmark Card kind of God.
forworse,
Jesus shaves...lol...
That works on several different levels.
Actually, I think that Christians should "put the Christ back in Christmas" and concentrate rather more on what the holiday is really supposed to mean for them, and express it more by emulating the compassion and teachings of Christ instead of focusing on the retail industry.
However, Jesus is NOT the "reason for the season", the season is "Winter", at least for the northern hemisphere of our planet. Other religious traditions have Winter-season holidays too, which are just as important to them.
Christmas itself wasn't celebrated on what used to be the old-calendar date of the Winter Solstice (December 25th) until the mid-300's, and for a long time was considered a much less important Christian holiday than Epiphany (The visit of the Magi).
Many of the trappings associated with Christmas (wreaths, trees, gifts, etc.) were adopted from other Solstice-time festival traditions and given a "Christian spin" for explanation of their use at Christmas.
Anonymous: I would note that many aspects of the celebration/observance of Christmas in Australia are comparable to those in the USA and the UK, with certain adjustments for the fact that the holiday takes place in the start of summer in the southern hemisphere. If Christmas were purely a winter solstice festival, one might expect the Australians to hold a major festival in late June instead.
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