Leaving Blanks Unfilled
Sometimes it is better to leave things to the readers’ imagination. There are moments in writing when this is true. I remember in the old TV show, Frasier, one of the characters had an off-screen wife whose eccentricities were often described for comic effect. It was funnier to imagine what she must be like than to see her. The writers for that show knew that no actress could ever live up to the viewers’ imagination of what she must be like, and so they never showed her.
In a similar fashion we have this old sequence with gossiping Elly, which was reprinted today in For Better or For Worse. Originally we had Elly talking with Anne about Connie, and Elly’s confession that if Anne called her interest in Connie’s love life to be “human interest”, then Elly would tell her everything. This was then followed by today’s strip, where Elly almost feels guilty about what she said to Anne about Connie. The difference between then and now, is that Lynn Johnston felt the need to flesh out what the gossip over Connie was all about in a series of new-run strips. Before, Lynn left it up to our imagination. Guess which one is better?
Now the story has been fleshed out, and we have learned the things Elly said about Connie:
1. Connie is still obsessed with Pablo da Silva, who has never contacted her about Lawrence. This is a story that dates back to before Lawrence was born.
2. Connie’s marriage with Peter Landry was bad and they had an awful divorce. Anne says she was around for that one.
3. Elly’s brother Phil, answers Connie’s letters, and it gives Connie hope, despite the fact that Connie is still obsessed with Pablo da Silva.
Of those things, the only thing that should be new to Anne is that Phil responds to Connie’s letters. Yuck! That is not even gossip-worthy. So now you have Elly in the reprint, all worried about Connie’s big, confidential secrets she has shared with Anne. Only this time, we see what the secrets are, and we know that there is nothing to it. My imagination was better. I imagined Elly telling Anne all about the latest men Connie was sleeping with, and what techniques they used on Connie. At least that would have been gossip-worthy and guilt-inducing.
In a similar fashion we have this old sequence with gossiping Elly, which was reprinted today in For Better or For Worse. Originally we had Elly talking with Anne about Connie, and Elly’s confession that if Anne called her interest in Connie’s love life to be “human interest”, then Elly would tell her everything. This was then followed by today’s strip, where Elly almost feels guilty about what she said to Anne about Connie. The difference between then and now, is that Lynn Johnston felt the need to flesh out what the gossip over Connie was all about in a series of new-run strips. Before, Lynn left it up to our imagination. Guess which one is better?
Now the story has been fleshed out, and we have learned the things Elly said about Connie:
1. Connie is still obsessed with Pablo da Silva, who has never contacted her about Lawrence. This is a story that dates back to before Lawrence was born.
2. Connie’s marriage with Peter Landry was bad and they had an awful divorce. Anne says she was around for that one.
3. Elly’s brother Phil, answers Connie’s letters, and it gives Connie hope, despite the fact that Connie is still obsessed with Pablo da Silva.
Of those things, the only thing that should be new to Anne is that Phil responds to Connie’s letters. Yuck! That is not even gossip-worthy. So now you have Elly in the reprint, all worried about Connie’s big, confidential secrets she has shared with Anne. Only this time, we see what the secrets are, and we know that there is nothing to it. My imagination was better. I imagined Elly telling Anne all about the latest men Connie was sleeping with, and what techniques they used on Connie. At least that would have been gossip-worthy and guilt-inducing.
posted by howard at 11:14 PM
6 Comments:
Lynn is trying to get rid of the snarkers by boring us to death.
So now you have Elly in the reprint, all worried about Connie’s big, confidential secrets she has shared with Anne. Only this time, we see what the secrets are, and we know that there is nothing to it. My imagination was better.As was mine; the result of these strips is to reveal Elly to be the sort of idiot who'd moan in despair because she told someone the time of day without seeking prior approval. It also makes her look like a goof who can't handle ordinary situations without going bonko.
ITA with your assessment, howtheduck. She's now turned two strips into the bread for a new-ruin "filler" sandwich. Giving readers that bloated feeling one can get from a non-nutritive meal.
Anonymous,
Lynn is trying to get rid of the snarkers by boring us to death.-
She can try. Rehashing Connie’s love life yet again is dull stuff. But if I survived the most unloving and dullest comic strip marriage since Li’l Abner and Daisy Mae with Liz and Anthony, then this is nothing. Ha! I made it past the week of Elly vacuuming and sorting old slides. Those are the fires which test a snarker.
DreadedCandiru2,
As was mine; the result of these strips is to reveal Elly to be the sort of idiot who'd moan in despair because she told someone the time of day without seeking prior approval.-
I suppose this could have been Lynn’s point. Before, the reader could have imagined an actual transgression on Elly’s part. Now, we see Elly is not really evil, just easily upset.
aprilp_katje,
She's now turned two strips into the bread for a new-ruin "filler" sandwich. Giving readers that bloated feeling one can get from a non-nutritive meal.-
We are into the 9th month of this new-run business and that seems to be the case for all of them. It would be nice if Lynn told an actual new story using the old characters, but that certainly would not be consistent with her overall theme of doing the new-runs, i.e. being as lazy as possible.
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