If Moms Ruled the World
Today’s reprint in For Better or For Worse is definitely not a strip Charles Schulz would ever do. It seems more like a strip Lynn might do after reading Lord of the Flies and thinking, "If only Elly were there, she would sort out those boys."
Michael’s violent statement about killing the other boys gives the strip an unusual air of seriousness, that he would be so upset he would actually say something like that to his mother. The final panel pulls the plug on the serious nature, because once the boys are disarmed their struggle immediately ceases. The implication is that the boys never intended to harm each other and were just playing. However, that does not work with Michael’s statement to his mom. If it were a fake war, Michael would say something like, “Mooom! We’re just playing war!”
I remember the days of my youth, and if was really upset with a kid to the point I wanted to hurt him, my mother had better take me home and force the other boys to go to their homes, letting them know she was going to call their mothers to let them know what happened. Elly makes a critical mistake by disarming the boys and then leaving. If those boys are still steamed up, leaving them alone is tantamount to disaster. Does she think they won’t use their fists or go and pick up other sticks?
Up until the final panel, the strip runs pretty close to a realistic situation. In the final panel, Lynn can’t resist the preachy, self-complimenting statement which is, as usual, coming from someone else other than Elly. Throughout the 30 years of her strip, these kinds of moments are the weakest parts of her story-telling. The boys suddenly change from boys to minor league philosophers.
The strip following this final should look like this:
Michael: If moms ruled the world there wouldn’t be any bombs.
Other kids: Yeah. The bombmakers would be out of business.
Michael: If moms ruled the world no one would hate each other.
Other kids: Yeah. All the people would love each other.
Michael: If moms ruled the world everyone would be happy.
Other kids: Yeah. Moms are the happiest people in the world.
Michael: If moms ruled the world, everyone would be nice to each other and give flowers to the poor people.
Other kids: Yeah. There wouldn’t be any poor people, if moms ruled the world.
Michael: If moms ruled the world I think I would have to kill myself.
Other kids: Yeah. Me too.
On the personal front, my mother-in-law is still showing no improvement and my father-in-law asked my wife to come out to Dallas, so he doesn't have to go to the hospital every day by himself. In other words, so he doesn't go bonkers doing that by himself. For me this means, doing work and handling the kids by myself. If you find the Howard Bunt Blog not updated sometime this week, this is probably the reason why.
Michael’s violent statement about killing the other boys gives the strip an unusual air of seriousness, that he would be so upset he would actually say something like that to his mother. The final panel pulls the plug on the serious nature, because once the boys are disarmed their struggle immediately ceases. The implication is that the boys never intended to harm each other and were just playing. However, that does not work with Michael’s statement to his mom. If it were a fake war, Michael would say something like, “Mooom! We’re just playing war!”
I remember the days of my youth, and if was really upset with a kid to the point I wanted to hurt him, my mother had better take me home and force the other boys to go to their homes, letting them know she was going to call their mothers to let them know what happened. Elly makes a critical mistake by disarming the boys and then leaving. If those boys are still steamed up, leaving them alone is tantamount to disaster. Does she think they won’t use their fists or go and pick up other sticks?
Up until the final panel, the strip runs pretty close to a realistic situation. In the final panel, Lynn can’t resist the preachy, self-complimenting statement which is, as usual, coming from someone else other than Elly. Throughout the 30 years of her strip, these kinds of moments are the weakest parts of her story-telling. The boys suddenly change from boys to minor league philosophers.
The strip following this final should look like this:
Michael: If moms ruled the world there wouldn’t be any bombs.
Other kids: Yeah. The bombmakers would be out of business.
Michael: If moms ruled the world no one would hate each other.
Other kids: Yeah. All the people would love each other.
Michael: If moms ruled the world everyone would be happy.
Other kids: Yeah. Moms are the happiest people in the world.
Michael: If moms ruled the world, everyone would be nice to each other and give flowers to the poor people.
Other kids: Yeah. There wouldn’t be any poor people, if moms ruled the world.
Michael: If moms ruled the world I think I would have to kill myself.
Other kids: Yeah. Me too.
On the personal front, my mother-in-law is still showing no improvement and my father-in-law asked my wife to come out to Dallas, so he doesn't have to go to the hospital every day by himself. In other words, so he doesn't go bonkers doing that by himself. For me this means, doing work and handling the kids by myself. If you find the Howard Bunt Blog not updated sometime this week, this is probably the reason why.
posted by howard at 11:05 PM
3 Comments:
howard,Elly makes a critical mistake by disarming the boys and then leaving. If those boys are still steamed up, leaving them alone is tantamount to disaster. Does she think they won’t use their fists or go and pick up other sticks?The answer is, of course, yes, she does think that they won't punch one another out or find other sticks. That's because she's kinda screwy for some reason and we gotta deal with it.
As for your real life situation, I know that it takes precedence over trying to figure out some goon from the moon. I hope for the best.
Can't recall who said this first, but it's right on point:
"Think of anything in the world that is interesting, challenging, or fun, and you can bet that a Mom has opposed it."
I don't know what you are talking about, Dreaded. Elly took the sticks away, of course the fight is over. ;>)
And while we are at it, buying a gate with a latch was all Elly needed to do to ensure April's safety. If anything happened to April after that, it must have been Fate.
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