Thursday, February 12, 2009

Complexion all day / Sleep Mask all night

How can you tell it’s a reprint of For Better or For Worse? Answer: John doesn’t wear a shirt to bed in the reprints. Art-wise, I enjoy the way Elly’s sleep mask seeps into her eyes and mouth by panel 2, so it looks like she dipped her face in plaster of Paris with her eyes open. Both these things, and the point of the strip I guess, is the subtext that John and Elly are still physically active in the bedroom. Otherwise, why would John care what Elly wears on her face at night? After all, she could be covered from head to toe in a sleep mask, and John could sleep next to that without being disturbed unless…he wanted to do things with her that involved touching. It’s easy to misinterpret this as the usual “sleep mask makes me hideous” kind of joke, until you realize that most people sleep with their eyes closed.

John doesn’t care what Elly looks like during the day, as long as she is physically accessible during the night. I can understand his concern. I can’t imagine kissing someone wearing a sleep mask is all that pleasant. As in yesterday’s For Better or For Worse, we have a clever comic strip which indirectly addresses a typical gender issue. Elly, wants to look good during the day, and believes that John wants her too also. John, on other hand, is more interested in physical bedroom activity with Elly than her appearance.

As a male, I get the male perspective of this pretty well. The drive for this kind of physical activity is powerful in men. Oftentimes a wife does not understand just how powerful and relentless it is, because they don’t experience the same drive. For the man, regular physical activity of this sort is directly tied into their self-esteem, their ability to relax, and is one of the most important parts of their relationship to their wife.

From the female perspective, Elly’s desire to have a better complexion is a pretty typical desire for a lot of women. I remember a Mary Kay salesperson explaining to me that one of reasons makeup continued to sell well, even after the advent of indoor plumbing and regular bathing, is that it was directly tied to a woman’s self-esteem. There is definitely a power there. I have a seen a very beautiful woman get her way repeatedly with fairly powerful men, for no other reason than her looks. I would think that women get this and know why it is important to have a “healthy, youthful complexion all day”. It is part of her arsenal for dealing with the world.

Today’s reprint in For Better or For Worse, hits its points quickly. It touches on timeless areas of the male / female relationship. It makes a little joke about it. It’s not a bad strip and certainly more timeless than yesterday's "Equal Rights for Women, unless they are busy with the children" strip.

11 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Of course, Elly's choice of her face over sex is ludicrous. Why do women like her worry about beauty? Answer: to catch a rich husband. If you want to keep the husband, you need to put out. Or he runs off with the 20-something hygienist. Or your 50-something best friend who likes sex. Just for example.

Not to mention, there are about a zillion beauty products that do not turn one into a greasy swamp monster.

12:34 AM  
Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

howard.

John doesn’t care what Elly looks like during the day, as long as she is physically accessible during the night.

It's too bad for him that she makes it a point to not understand this. If she were to admit to herself that his sex drive is powerful enough that it makes him not care what she looks like as long as he can express his love physically, then he chalks up another 'victory'. She'll twist a sort of left-handed compliment into an insult because that's her thing. Knowing the future of these people makes her look uglier than she thinks John is telling her she is, though. It's clear that she's denying him sex as punishment for his sins.

3:00 AM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

Or your 50-something best friend who likes sex.

Too late. ;)

Today's strip, I can't even imagine sleeping with such goop on my face--it looks as though it would have a "my face is melting off" feel to it. And Elly using that drippy goop is a recurring thing in the strip--LJ's even had Elly get up in the morning and wander down to breakfast with the stuff still hanging stalactite-style off of her face. You'd think it would all rub off on her pillow.

3:45 AM  
Blogger April Patterson said...

How can you tell it’s a reprint of For Better or For Worse? Answer: John doesn’t wear a shirt to bed in the reprints.

Plus, there are the giant, puffy sideburns. Although Lynn tries to replicate his old-style hair in the new-runs, she can't seem to bring herself to repeat those sideburns.

3:50 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I hate the way makeup looks and feels. I think most of the time it makes women look like clowns, and I hate clowns. I'll sometimes wear lipstick if I'm going somewhere really fancy, but that's it.

I grew up in Michigan, where makeup was used sparingly, but was used (though not by me). When I moved to New York City, it was great, because no one wore it, so I actually kinda fit in. Then I moved to Florida and I felt like I'd been time-warped to 1985. Poofy bleach blond hair, makeup applied with a trowel, the works.

I use the kind of beauty masques you wash off once a week, because I like the way they make my skin feel and I'm no more fond of zits than the next person, but I still can't identify with this. It's nice to look good, but if your beauty regimen is preventing you from having sex with your husband, something is wrong. Why marry him if you don't want to sleep with him?

8:31 AM  
Blogger howard said...

qnjones,

Why do women like her worry about beauty? Answer: to catch a rich husband.

Here is the difference between Lynn and Elly coming into play. Elly has her rich husband, but Lynn is wealthy in her own right. If you make more money than your husband, then why do you worry about beauty?

If you want to keep the husband, you need to put out. Or he runs off with the 20-something hygienist. Or your 50-something best friend who likes sex. Just for example.

I catch your drift from Lynn's real-life situation. However, the running joke with this strip for years, is the wife who doesn’t put out for comic effect. When the man seeks sex from his wife and she refuses him, to a certain segment of the population that’s hysterically, funny stuff. Just this last week, I was watching Desperate Housewives and that joke popped up. The husband says, “I got a promotion and a huge raise, thanks to a deal I put through and I want to take you out to celebrate.” The wife says, “If you had told me that this morning when you were trying to get some, you might have put that deal through too.”

11:29 AM  
Blogger howard said...

DreadedCandiru2,

Knowing the future of these people makes her look uglier than she thinks John is telling her she is, though. It's clear that she's denying him sex as punishment for his sins.

I am sure that in the case of John / Rod, any strip where John doesn’t get any, is a strip Lynn will reprint for just that purpose.

11:30 AM  
Blogger howard said...

aprilp_katje,

And Elly using that drippy goop is a recurring thing in the strip--LJ's even had Elly get up in the morning and wander down to breakfast with the stuff still hanging stalactite-style off of her face.

Lynn did tell that story about how she fully made herself up just before going to bed, to make herself feel pretty. Most people thought that was a terrible idea, but maybe Lynn really does this.

Plus, there are the giant, puffy sideburns. Although Lynn tries to replicate his old-style hair in the new-runs, she can't seem to bring herself to repeat those sideburns.

Sideburns and typewriters. Those will date the strip. These are the things which Lynn actually recognizes are no longer around. Of course, it makes the things she doesn’t recognize that much more amusing for us snarkers.

11:31 AM  
Blogger howard said...

clio-1,

It's nice to look good, but if your beauty regimen is preventing you from having sex with your husband, something is wrong. Why marry him if you don't want to sleep with him?

Lots of reasons. Elly meets John in university because he spots her in the library. At my university, there were husband-hunting girls who were notorious for hanging around the Law Library to try meet a potential lawyer. I don’t know if Lynn intended this, but the pattern fits with Elly and John, especially considering the speed at which they got married and Elly quit school afterwards. Elly was looking for a man as a meal ticket, not a man as a lover.

11:32 AM  
Blogger DreadedCandiru2 said...

howard,

At my university, there were husband-hunting girls who were notorious for hanging around the Law Library to try meet a potential lawyer. I don’t know if Lynn intended this, but the pattern fits with Elly and John, especially considering the speed at which they got married and Elly quit school afterwards. Elly was looking for a man as a meal ticket, not a man as a lover.

There's also the issue of status to be considered. As a dentist, John carries more weight in the community than (to quote an example) an engineer working for the phone company despite the latter man making more money and having more influence on how people live their lives. John is more visibly powerful than the man who decides how we communicate with one another and that's all that matters to her.

12:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yes Howard, but every halfway intelligent golddigger knows you have to f*** your meal ticket now and then if you want to keep him. It's part of the implied bargain.

Elly wants a meal ticket AND a husband she can emotionally manipulate. In the strip, it worked out for Elly. But that's fantasy. IRL, Lynn found out what happens when you marry an iffy guy for bad reasons and then try to mess with his mind for jollies.

5:02 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home