From Bored Housewife to Self-Enjoyment
With today’s reprint in For Better or For Worse, the dialogue of the last panel has been changed from "bored housewives looking for a change" to “others just want to write for their own enjoyment.” In both cases, the professor was speaking dismissively of the type of person Elly is without knowing what type of person Elly is. In the old version, Elly was the bored housewife, and what followed were strips showing how she didn’t take the class seriously, in order to demonstrate the professor was right. The humour poked a little fun at Elly and her aspirations.
With this new version though, we have hit upon one of Lynn Johnston’s themes, i.e. there is a difference between art for enjoyment and art to make a living, and art for enjoyment is better. It reminds me of the old Becky McGuire vs. April Patterson fight and the John Patterson monthly letter written to give John’s (Lynn’s) opinion on the matter. I liked the letter because the opinion expressed by John is exactly the way the storyline played in the comic strip years later.
John's Letter, August 2005
Music has to be fun. That's why it was invented. The very best times with music that I remember were when family and friends got together, gathered in a kitchen or living room, and someone played the guitar, somebody else played the fiddle, and everyone started to sing or dance. These are absolutely the best times! That's when playing an instrument is for the pure love of it. It doesn't matter if you're incredibly good or not. What matters is the fun. Unfortunately music has been turned into a huge industry, and we now have such a lot of hype. It's unfortunate that Becky is choosing to off with stars in her eyes and will be missing the most important part of life: friendship.
Now, instead of “music”, insert the word “writing”. When you understand Lynn’s opinion on the matter, then it becomes clear what the most significant change in today’s strip is compared to the original. In the original, the professor was right, and Elly was gobsmacked to be so accurately categorized. In the new one, the professor is wrong and does not understand the real reason for writing. Elly is gobsmacked that someone who appears so smart, can be so dumb about the reason for writing. Fortunately for him, there is no one better for teaching a teacher a life lesson than Elly Patterson.
Professor: Elly Patterson, I had forgotten that writing is supposed to be fun, until I met you.
Elly: I would say “thank you” or “you’re welcome”; but I’m a Patterson and we don’t do things like that.
Professor: It doesn’t matter. You have warmed my heart with your homespun humourous writings about how awful your husband and kids are. I only wish I could write with half the honesty you do.
Elly: Maybe some day you can! I only wish I didn’t have a husband and kids, so I could have a serious career. Then I could show the whole literary world that writing was invented to be for your own enjoyment.
With this new version though, we have hit upon one of Lynn Johnston’s themes, i.e. there is a difference between art for enjoyment and art to make a living, and art for enjoyment is better. It reminds me of the old Becky McGuire vs. April Patterson fight and the John Patterson monthly letter written to give John’s (Lynn’s) opinion on the matter. I liked the letter because the opinion expressed by John is exactly the way the storyline played in the comic strip years later.
John's Letter, August 2005
Music has to be fun. That's why it was invented. The very best times with music that I remember were when family and friends got together, gathered in a kitchen or living room, and someone played the guitar, somebody else played the fiddle, and everyone started to sing or dance. These are absolutely the best times! That's when playing an instrument is for the pure love of it. It doesn't matter if you're incredibly good or not. What matters is the fun. Unfortunately music has been turned into a huge industry, and we now have such a lot of hype. It's unfortunate that Becky is choosing to off with stars in her eyes and will be missing the most important part of life: friendship.
Now, instead of “music”, insert the word “writing”. When you understand Lynn’s opinion on the matter, then it becomes clear what the most significant change in today’s strip is compared to the original. In the original, the professor was right, and Elly was gobsmacked to be so accurately categorized. In the new one, the professor is wrong and does not understand the real reason for writing. Elly is gobsmacked that someone who appears so smart, can be so dumb about the reason for writing. Fortunately for him, there is no one better for teaching a teacher a life lesson than Elly Patterson.
Professor: Elly Patterson, I had forgotten that writing is supposed to be fun, until I met you.
Elly: I would say “thank you” or “you’re welcome”; but I’m a Patterson and we don’t do things like that.
Professor: It doesn’t matter. You have warmed my heart with your homespun humourous writings about how awful your husband and kids are. I only wish I could write with half the honesty you do.
Elly: Maybe some day you can! I only wish I didn’t have a husband and kids, so I could have a serious career. Then I could show the whole literary world that writing was invented to be for your own enjoyment.
posted by howard at 10:25 PM
5 Comments:
When you understand Lynn’s opinion on the matter, then it becomes clear what the most significant change in today’s strip is compared to the original. In the original, the professor was right, and Elly was gobsmacked to be so accurately categorized. In the new one, the professor is wrong and does not understand the real reason for writing. Elly is gobsmacked that someone who appears so smart, can be so dumb about the reason for writing. Fortunately for him, there is no one better for teaching a teacher a life lesson than Elly Patterson.
This is even more horrifying than my blog post for today; that, of course, means that it's exactly what's going to happen. When Elly walks off into the sunset after having rekindled the love of doing things to enjoy himself in Professor Luxury-Yacht's heart, she'll do so after a rain of anvils crushes the haters and picky-faces.
Thank you for explaining this, Howard. As so very often happens, I had no clue what Lynn was trying to say until you translated it.
Music has to be fun. That's why it was invented.
*head explodes*
Elly's bug-eyed glare of existential horror doesn't make much sense, as I see it. The professor doesn't appear to be condemning or dismissing those who write for enjoyment; he's just being matter-of-fact. Was Elly thinking that a creative writing class in a junior college in a suburban town was going to be full of serious earnest careerists? Her dismayed expression was perhaps appropriate in the old-ruin, when he said "bored housewives looking for a change," but if she's going to politically-correct the dialogue she needs to retrofit Elly's reaction.
josephusrex,
The professor doesn't appear to be condemning or dismissing those who write for enjoyment; he's just being matter-of-fact. Was Elly thinking that a creative writing class in a junior college in a suburban town was going to be full of serious earnest careerists?
I'm not sure; it could be that being told that this is somehow going to be enjoyable is what causes her to get all mopey; if it's easy and fun, it can't be worth anything to her.
Thing is, I've never understood why people thought this way. There is nothing wrong with writing something for your own enjoyment. There's nothing wrong with wanting to write something you enjoy and make a career out of it.
And the strip tells us, you will be rewarded if you slog through a novel that you mostly write while sleep deprived and miserable and ignore your family for.
There is nothing inherently better about a 'fun' kitchen concert over heading to a place in the city to see a band live. Ten to one, it's worse. I'd rather stick with the option where I can be assured the singers know all the words and the band knows songs written in the past decade.
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