More Than One Deanna?
With today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, we have once again launched into the odd territory of “Did Michael really know Deanna Sobinski in preschool?” The storyline for this week is that Michael is so infatuated with Deanna Sobinski that he no longer thinks of her as a normal, ordinary person. He is unable to talk to her, and got his information about her move back to Milborough from Lawrence yesterday. In today’s new-run, he runs into Deanna and tells her “Oops! Sorry.” This is supposed to be a conversation with her. However, in order for this to be consistent with the storyline we had before with Michael and Deanna, you would have to ignore their extensive conversations in this strip and this strip and this strip and this strip.
I have a few theories about what is going on. The obvious one is that Lynn Johnston, once again, is paying virtually no attention to her own continuity. My second theory is that this is a different Deanna Sobinski, whom Michael and Lawrence have inadvertently confused with the Deanna Sobinski who left in preschool. The reasons for this are:
1. Preschool Deanna did not have her hair in pigtails. Grade 1 Deanna does.
2. Preschool Deanna wore pants exclusively. Grade 1 Deanna wears pretty short skirts.
3. Preschool Deanna had a head shape which made her look a lot like a young Anne Nichols with a square head which rose up in the back. Grade 1 Deanna has a more oval head.
4. Preschool Deanna initiated conversations with Mike. Grade 1 Deanna has never spoken a word to Mike.
My third theory is that Deanna Sobinski is mad at Michael for missing her farewell party and for not asking her to wait for him.
I have a few theories about what is going on. The obvious one is that Lynn Johnston, once again, is paying virtually no attention to her own continuity. My second theory is that this is a different Deanna Sobinski, whom Michael and Lawrence have inadvertently confused with the Deanna Sobinski who left in preschool. The reasons for this are:
1. Preschool Deanna did not have her hair in pigtails. Grade 1 Deanna does.
2. Preschool Deanna wore pants exclusively. Grade 1 Deanna wears pretty short skirts.
3. Preschool Deanna had a head shape which made her look a lot like a young Anne Nichols with a square head which rose up in the back. Grade 1 Deanna has a more oval head.
4. Preschool Deanna initiated conversations with Mike. Grade 1 Deanna has never spoken a word to Mike.
My third theory is that Deanna Sobinski is mad at Michael for missing her farewell party and for not asking her to wait for him.
posted by howard at 11:09 PM
11 Comments:
Thanks for reposting the "Wait?" strip: it's good to see that the palms-out gesture of helplessness is nothing new. It's also interesting to see that Mike believes an appropriate greeting is to cop a feel.
Perhaps what has happened is that the pre-school Deanna, by initiating conversation, was showing far too much backbone for a FOOB female, so was sent away for reprogramming and now is content to exist silently and let fate do what it will.
Hope you had a lovely time on the cruise.
Yay, you're back! I've missed you. (Please take a moment to visit FOOBAR--Shania-Ann Achronism showed up while you were away....) :)
I suspect that LJ came across the collection-two strip where Deanna tells "Mith Campbell" that "Michael Patterthon" is bothering her. She had the two ponytails in that strip. I agree that it's weird that LJ is having Michael act as if he doesn't know Dee. Maybe we're supposed to believe that her being gone and then coming back made him newly shy with her.... But it doesn't work.
forworse,
Perhaps what has happened is that the pre-school Deanna, by initiating conversation, was showing far too much backbone for a FOOB female, so was sent away for reprogramming and now is content to exist silently and let fate do what it will.
You could be right. After all, this Deanna grows into the Deanna who expects that Michael Patterson will continue to pursue her despite the fact that she was engaged to another man. This is a theme which repeats itself when Anthony continues to pursue Elizabeth Patterson, after he is married and has a child with another woman. There’s just something about those Pattersons which encourages infidelity.
Hope you had a lovely time on the cruise.
I did have a lovely time on the cruise. I can finally see why people like doing them so much.
aprilp_katje,
I suspect that LJ came across the collection-two strip where Deanna tells "Mith Campbell" that "Michael Patterthon" is bothering her.
I wonder if Lynn is going to work Michael back up to the point where that reprint is going to work? In the old strips, Michael had much more of a school boy crush on Deanna and displayed it in the usual school boy manner of annoying the girl. With these new-runs, Michael seems to be too in awe of Deanna to annoy her.
However, the part I am really interested in is whether we will see any new-runs with lisping Deanna. As I recollect, the reprint strip you mentioned was the only one that showed Deanna lisping.
However, the part I am really interested in is whether we will see any new-runs with lisping Deanna. As I recollect, the reprint strip you mentioned was the only one that showed Deanna lisping.
I wonder about this, too. Lynn apparently had come across this strip when she wrote (or had Beth write) the passages in The Lives Behind the Lines regarding Deanna. According to that text, Dee (even as an adult) has a slight lisp. It's curious that whoever wrote this considered the lisp to be permanent instead of something that Dee would have outgrown. I am fairly sure that even though my six-year-old still pronounces his "L's" like "W's" now, this doesn't mean he will continue to do so forever.
The main thing that bothers me about this arc is its off-putting unrealism; as a lot of us have said, Mike's reaction to Dee's return would be "Hey, there's Deanna! I hope lunch is sloppy joes! What did Teacher just say?, not "My stomach itches." I think that Lynn's odd inability to determine what's age-appropriate has taken hold of her again. As for last week, boy, howdy, was I off-base about you not missing much! Not only did we have a bunch of new-ruins that totally rewrote history, Lynn admitted that the strips were published out of order!!
At least Lynn waited for you to return before she published Candace's Liography. That's about the only thing that you didn't miss during your vacation.
Welcome back! I'm glad to hear you had a good time. I've only been on one cruise, but I loved it.
As for the Michael/Deanna stuff, I find it very yucky. The "stomach itching" part seems a particularly weird way to describe a crush. Like how someone who had never actually had a crush in her life might describe it.
The "stomach itching" part seems a particularly weird way to describe a crush. Like how someone who had never actually had a crush in her life might describe it.
Lynn is a cyborg who is trying to understand human emotion (but failing).
aprilp_katje,
It's curious that whoever wrote this considered the lisp to be permanent instead of something that Dee would have outgrown. I am fairly sure that even though my six-year-old still pronounces his "L's" like "W's" now, this doesn't mean he will continue to do so forever.
Some lisps are more permanent. My daughter has a friend she has known since she was 4 years old, and this girl speaks with a lisp up to age 11 so far.
The "stomach itching" part seems a particularly weird way to describe a crush. Like how someone who had never actually had a crush in her life might describe it. Lynn is a cyborg who is trying to understand human emotion (but failing).
I think the main issue is that that Lynn cannot get her head around what a 6-year-old would say about such things. I remember when I was 6, I had a crush on a girl, but it did not have the emotional ramifications of young Michael in love. I simply thought that the girl was the prettiest girl in First Grade. I ran across a similar sentiment when my daughter was very young and there was a boy who attended her birthday party wearing a suit, who declared that my daughter was the prettiest girl in school. At that age, before the hormones have started their work, a boy’s attraction to a girl is based on very simple things. The inability to talk to girls comes at a much later stage. When my son got to the age of 13, the girls he had known since he was growing up turned into nearly fully-grown women, and he was completely intimidated by it. He suddenly had difficultly talking to girls he had known most of his life. When Lynn did the story originally, she had more of an idea how kids reacted with Michael annoying Deanna to get her attention.
Some lisps are more permanent. My daughter has a friend she has known since she was 4 years old, and this girl speaks with a lisp up to age 11 so far.
I've also known adults who lisp, so I know what you mean. The reason that this jumps out at me the way it does is that it strikes me as such a Bethism to take one strip from a character's very early years and decide it signals a permanent trait. Like Janice Madigan going into the military because of the strip where she gets Mike and Lawrence to play at sword battle with her.
When Lynn did the story originally, she had more of an idea how kids reacted with Michael annoying Deanna to get her attention.
It's a shame that she decided to "improve" the way she'd originally handled their interactions.
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