Back on June 11, Lynn Johnston wrote in her blog:
I love being able to write about this time again, because I'm separated from the reality that made me so sarcastic and perhaps a little negative at the time. For me all the negatives have diminished with time, which is as it should be, and with the view I have now, I can focus on the funny stuff.
At the time my thought was that for Lynn Johnston, “funny stuff”= potty humour. Of the 23 new-runs since that time, 7 of them have involved bodily smells or excretions for the funny.
Consequently, it was not too much of a surprise to see another in this series for today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse. In today’s episode we have little Lizzie going to the toilet in her shorts before she can make it to the toilet. She goes to her brother, new-run Michael the kind and beneficent, for solace. He advises her to run through the sprinkler as a solution.
Ignoring the fact that little Lizzie is awfully young to be potty-trained and accepting the idea that a boy Michael’s age would equate running through a sprinkler as a viable method of cleaning someone’s clothing are vital to understanding the joke. Also crucial is the understanding that Lizzie wet her pants instead of defecating in them. This was the part I missed. In the panel where Lizzie is thinking of the toilet, the toilet paper is featured prominently. In the panel were Lizzie is climbing the stairs and then holding onto Michael and crying, there is a drawn shadow on Lizzie’s bottom and a darkened colour. My initial thought was that Lizzie had done more than wet her pants. So, when the final panel came up, I was very confused how Michael would consider that a solution. Ultimately, today’s strip turned out to be one of those strips where I had to think about it to get the punch line. Naturally when you do that, by the time you figure out what was supposed to be funny, then it’s not funny.
That only leaves the “camera in my house” scenario for appreciating the strip. Has something like this happened in my life, in the lives of my children (who are about the same age separation as Michael and Lizzie) or in the lives of anyone I know? Sorry, no. Never has my son recommended running through a sprinkler as a means of getting clean. Never has my daughter come to my son after she wet herself. My daughter has run through a sprinkler before, and I suspect this is the area to which most readers of the comic strip will relate. No “camera in my house” for this one.
I love being able to write about this time again, because I'm separated from the reality that made me so sarcastic and perhaps a little negative at the time. For me all the negatives have diminished with time, which is as it should be, and with the view I have now, I can focus on the funny stuff.
At the time my thought was that for Lynn Johnston, “funny stuff”= potty humour. Of the 23 new-runs since that time, 7 of them have involved bodily smells or excretions for the funny.
Consequently, it was not too much of a surprise to see another in this series for today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse. In today’s episode we have little Lizzie going to the toilet in her shorts before she can make it to the toilet. She goes to her brother, new-run Michael the kind and beneficent, for solace. He advises her to run through the sprinkler as a solution.
Ignoring the fact that little Lizzie is awfully young to be potty-trained and accepting the idea that a boy Michael’s age would equate running through a sprinkler as a viable method of cleaning someone’s clothing are vital to understanding the joke. Also crucial is the understanding that Lizzie wet her pants instead of defecating in them. This was the part I missed. In the panel where Lizzie is thinking of the toilet, the toilet paper is featured prominently. In the panel were Lizzie is climbing the stairs and then holding onto Michael and crying, there is a drawn shadow on Lizzie’s bottom and a darkened colour. My initial thought was that Lizzie had done more than wet her pants. So, when the final panel came up, I was very confused how Michael would consider that a solution. Ultimately, today’s strip turned out to be one of those strips where I had to think about it to get the punch line. Naturally when you do that, by the time you figure out what was supposed to be funny, then it’s not funny.
That only leaves the “camera in my house” scenario for appreciating the strip. Has something like this happened in my life, in the lives of my children (who are about the same age separation as Michael and Lizzie) or in the lives of anyone I know? Sorry, no. Never has my son recommended running through a sprinkler as a means of getting clean. Never has my daughter come to my son after she wet herself. My daughter has run through a sprinkler before, and I suspect this is the area to which most readers of the comic strip will relate. No “camera in my house” for this one.
posted by howard at 10:03 PM
7 Comments:
There's another unfunny element to the strip that only becomes obvious when you really think about it; Elly thinks that Lizzie is simply having fun because Mike has put one over on her. Since she's being deceived by her children, she's accumulating bonus martyrdom points.
I agree that it was unclear what exactly Lizzie had done, except there is a single clue in panel seven: one solitary drop coming from Lizzie's bottom. The absence of stink lines is the only other clarification. Still, as you said, this strip requires too much effort to figure out what's supposed to be happening, and loses any chance it had of being funny.
My initial reading of this was that Elly was going to shriek when she next went to change Lizzie since it will still be obvious that Lizzie wet herself at some point during the afternoon and Lizzie will catch all sorts of hell from her mother for not remembering to go to the 'po'.
forworse,
My initial reading of this was that Elly was going to shriek when she next went to change Lizzie since it will still be obvious that Lizzie wet herself at some point during the afternoon and Lizzie will catch all sorts of hell from her mother for not remembering to go to the 'po'.
Also, Mike will be in deep guano for trying to trick her.
It seems to me we're supposed to forget two things that were recently established. (1) The kids don't get to use the sprinkler without parental permission/assistance. (2) When Lizzie makes a mess, Michael doesn't help her cover it up--he rats her out. See panel three here.
forworse,
The absence of stink lines is the only other clarification.
Of course, the stink lines. Because urine does not stink, only feces. That should have been the giveaway.
aprilp_katje,
(1) The kids don't get to use the sprinkler without parental permission/assistance.
Oh, aprilp_katje, we must read between the lines properly. In this strip, only Michael was required to get parental permission. Elly doesn’t mind if Lizzie gets in the sprinkler, as long as Michael’s not in it.
(2) When Lizzie makes a mess, Michael doesn't help her cover it up--he rats her out. See panel three here.
Oh, aprilp_katje, once again we must read between the lines properly. In this strip, Elly delays attending to Lizzie when she asks for help and Lizzie learns that telling her mother is not the way to go. Then in the strip you referenced, Lizzie tried a different method by telling Michael to tell Elly, in the hope of getting a better response. Obviously this did not work because in today’s strip Lizzie turns to Michael solely.
Hell, we know from previous new-run strips that Elly cannot tell the difference between dog urine and spilled apple juice.
Post a Comment
<< Home