The Psychology of Pillow Fights
In today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, Elly ends up clobbering John with his own pillow leaving him with a star of pain floating above his head, his glasses off his face, and his face turned against the pillow. The excuse given is that when talking over what guys think about, Elly questioned, “Like other women, for example?” and John said, “Yeah…” It seems like a fairly violent pillow attack to leave John in that state, and yet this is very common for this strip. Lynn Johnston seems to feel that a pillow fight is funnier the more violent it appears. She expects her readers will understand that no harm will come to the participants in a pillow fight, so that gives her licence to make the fight as violent as it possibly can be. This is not the first time Elly has whacked John in the head in the bedroom.
John gets whacked for complimenting Deanna’s appearance.
Mike and Elizabeth carry on the family tradition and have a very violent pillow fight, fearing being caught by Elly. If they only knew Elly's history on the subject.
This continues as Elizabeth hits with a pillow Mike for complimenting her appearance.
Later on the strip, Elly and John have a particularly vicious pillow fight, but consider that a sign of their relationship going well.
Elizabeth knocks April unconscious with a pillow for making smooching noises during her phone conversation.
John hits April for calling him a square, and does it hard enough that things go flying in the air.
In order for these fights to be consider humourous, you have to put them in the same kind of light as Sarge beating up Beetle Bailey. The more pitiful and broken Beetle looked after taking a beating from Sarge, the funnier the strip is. Another way to look at it is like Wile E. Coyote taking a beating from the Road Runner. Even though Wile is not really hurt taking a beating which would kill a real-life creature, the humour is extracted from his expression and body shape after the beating and the fact Wile E. Coyote is a villain and deserves it. I think either idea works here. For those who sympathize with John, we can think of Beetle Bailey. For those who think John is a heel, we can think of Wile E. Coyote getting his just desserts. There is something for everyone in a For Better or For Worse pillow fight.
John gets whacked for complimenting Deanna’s appearance.
Mike and Elizabeth carry on the family tradition and have a very violent pillow fight, fearing being caught by Elly. If they only knew Elly's history on the subject.
This continues as Elizabeth hits with a pillow Mike for complimenting her appearance.
Later on the strip, Elly and John have a particularly vicious pillow fight, but consider that a sign of their relationship going well.
Elizabeth knocks April unconscious with a pillow for making smooching noises during her phone conversation.
John hits April for calling him a square, and does it hard enough that things go flying in the air.
In order for these fights to be consider humourous, you have to put them in the same kind of light as Sarge beating up Beetle Bailey. The more pitiful and broken Beetle looked after taking a beating from Sarge, the funnier the strip is. Another way to look at it is like Wile E. Coyote taking a beating from the Road Runner. Even though Wile is not really hurt taking a beating which would kill a real-life creature, the humour is extracted from his expression and body shape after the beating and the fact Wile E. Coyote is a villain and deserves it. I think either idea works here. For those who sympathize with John, we can think of Beetle Bailey. For those who think John is a heel, we can think of Wile E. Coyote getting his just desserts. There is something for everyone in a For Better or For Worse pillow fight.
posted by howard at 9:43 PM
7 Comments:
There's even something for people who want to whine about how evil men are. For those who want Phil to be a player, we have John's "Yeah!" and for those who want him to be an insensitive jerk who hasn't picked up on the higher-level communication, there's the stuff afterward.
It's win-win for the "I hate Phil" brigade. Is it any wonder Phil ends up with Georgia, and moves away from his sister?
In the Mike/Liz pillow fight, Mike appears to be having a fight with a shorter, clean-shaven version of himself. I wonder if that's the reason Lynn gave him stubble--so we'd know which one is Mike and which is Liz.
LJ's fixation on pillow fights is bizarre. My brother and I as teenagers would never have had one. I have never had one with my husband. Can't you just imagine Mike trying to start one with Dee or Liz trying to start one with Anthony, only to have their partner wonder WTF?
I wonder if that's the reason Lynn gave him stubble--so we'd know which one is Mike and which is Liz.
It certainly helps me out. There a few panels where that stubble is the only way to tell the difference.
LJ's fixation on pillow fights is bizarre.
There was a time I remember when fighting with pillows or with fluffy clubs was considered to be the pop psychology method for couples to release anger with each other without hurting each other. I suspect all that ended when someone realized you can swing a pillow hard enough to hurt someone especially if you land one on the face.
Can't you just imagine Mike trying to start one with Dee or Liz trying to start one with Anthony, only to have their partner wonder WTF?
Deanna was far too prissy to participate in a pillow fight. As for Anthony, Liz would break him in half like a twig.
Aside from the pillow fights, the Pattersons were also fond of snowball fights. Here Elly and John proclaim a snowball fight to be the sign of old love. Here Michael and Elizabeth have a snowball fight, even though they are quite old by this point. As for Deanna's opinion on such things, look no further than here.
Pattersons: Always seeking socially acceptable (in their minds, anyway) ways to clobber one another.
April Patterson said.."LJ's fixation on pillow fights is bizarre. My brother and I as teenagers would never have had one. I have never had one with my husband."
See I did have teenage pillow fights with my sister (which did end in tears as I was a drama queen) and I've had pillow fights and tickle fights with my husband but we don't hit enough to hurt anyone as we are just having fun and playing around. But saying that I don't hit my husband with anything when I'm irritated with something he's said I actually you know TALK to him. A concept that LJ seems to find very difficult.
(BTW My husband and I are about 5 and are aware of this.)
But saying that I don't hit my husband with anything when I'm irritated with something he's said I actually you know TALK to him. A concept that LJ seems to find very difficult.
Lynn: Talking? To your spouse? People do that?
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