GUILT GUILT GUILT GUILT
In today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, Lynn Johnston continues her anti-Christmas theme by focusing on the element of Santa Claus as a threat. This is an element of Santa Claus going all the way back to the 16th century when St. Nicholas was so overwhelmed with updating his ledgers on children's behavior and rewards, that he hired a Moorish youth named Zwart Piet (Black Pete), to keep his records. He accompanies Sinter Claes to Holland and on the eve of his feast day, December 6th, Sinter Claes rides his horse, lands on rooftops and descends through chimneys. Black Pete transported and dispensed birch rods for bad children.
In For Better or For Worse, the most recent example of Santa Claus used as a threat was this strip from 12/7/2007, when Anthony used Santa as a threat to force Françoise to agree to let Elizabeth go with them to see Santa. The only other time I could find using AMU reprints or the Comic Strip Catalog where Santa Claus was used as a threat was in this strip, where April says Elly is not going to get any presents from Santa if she keeps on being crabby.
Aside from that, the For Better or For Worse strips which discuss Santa usually do so in terms discussing how Santa does the magic things he is able to do, or pictures with the mall Santa. The Comic Strip Catalog does not have keyword searches of all the strips dialogue like AMU reprints does, so I have may have missed something. Nevertheless, at least back to 1996, the AMU reprints archive start year, there is nothing punitive about Santa. It’s like the working paradigm of the strip dealing with Santa has changed to be more adversarial between the parents and the kids. In the old strips, we had many strips where Michael or Lizzie would walk in on Elly wrapping presents. Now we have strips where the presents are concealed and Michael and Lizzie are threatened for looking for the presents, using Santa. In many respects it’s a good thing Lynn Johnston is ending the strip in Early Spring, or there is no telling how negative an image Santa would have by next Christmas.
In For Better or For Worse, the most recent example of Santa Claus used as a threat was this strip from 12/7/2007, when Anthony used Santa as a threat to force Françoise to agree to let Elizabeth go with them to see Santa. The only other time I could find using AMU reprints or the Comic Strip Catalog where Santa Claus was used as a threat was in this strip, where April says Elly is not going to get any presents from Santa if she keeps on being crabby.
Aside from that, the For Better or For Worse strips which discuss Santa usually do so in terms discussing how Santa does the magic things he is able to do, or pictures with the mall Santa. The Comic Strip Catalog does not have keyword searches of all the strips dialogue like AMU reprints does, so I have may have missed something. Nevertheless, at least back to 1996, the AMU reprints archive start year, there is nothing punitive about Santa. It’s like the working paradigm of the strip dealing with Santa has changed to be more adversarial between the parents and the kids. In the old strips, we had many strips where Michael or Lizzie would walk in on Elly wrapping presents. Now we have strips where the presents are concealed and Michael and Lizzie are threatened for looking for the presents, using Santa. In many respects it’s a good thing Lynn Johnston is ending the strip in Early Spring, or there is no telling how negative an image Santa would have by next Christmas.
posted by howard at 10:51 PM
12 Comments:
Like I said the other day, New-ruin Elly isn't as nice a person as the real one. The pre-apathy mother thought that the chaos, cooking, commericialism, cleaning and credit card bills were a small and necessary price to pay for the magic; the one we have now thinks the whole think is a plot by the Man to make her life suck even more.
My grandmother was half-Dutch, so we've always celebrated St Nicholas Day by leaving our slippers outside our bedrooms on the night of 5-6 December. Our four-year-old pointed to ample evidence of her good behaviour (not all of it true), even offering up some of her classmates as examples of kids who were much naughtier. She also wanted a clear definition of just what constituted naughty behaviour so she could defend herself if Sinter Claes asked. I think she's going to be a lawyer, especially since she received a small gift last weekend so now is arguing that, if Sinter Claes thinks that she is being good, Santa Claus will agree, so she doesn't have to be that good anymore.
DreadedCandiru2,
The pre-apathy mother thought that the chaos, cooking, commericialism, cleaning and credit card bills were a small and necessary price to pay for the magic; the one we have now thinks the whole think is a plot by the Man to make her life suck even more.
I hope that maybe Lynn will recover a little and do a “joy of the holidays” kind of strip, but I remember the Christmas of hate, and doubt she has the capacity anymore.
forworse,
Our four-year-old pointed to ample evidence of her good behaviour (not all of it true), even offering up some of her classmates as examples of kids who were much naughtier.
That is very impressive and, I am sure, very cute too. If she can make such good arguments at age 4, you will have to be well-prepared with her. I don’t think, “Because I said so” will cut it as a parenting argument.
Yeah-boy, that "Christmas of Hate" strip is weird. How long can a grace last, anyway? A minute at the most. Just one more reason to lay some hating on Mira.
I'm not religious and I don't care for the idea of praying over food, but it would never occur to me to resent it, if I were a guest in a religious household. A few seconds of sitting quietly before I fall to? Gosh, what a burden. But then, the Pattershits really love to find excuses to be miserable. And to loathe Mira, because she wears bright colors and is such a hog about wanting to have quality time with her grands.
So Elly's official line is that "You won't find any presents because they're not here until Santa brings them and, besides, you're evil so you won't get any anyway."?
But...but...Mike already FOUND presents. He knows that they're here - just didn't find his. You think he "gets" that Santa just brings (or doesn't bring) HIS presents?
Even MY first grader would call bullshit on THAT one...
That "Clause and effect" strip still makes me go blind with anger. Any jackass who uses Santa Claus as a threat to make his child accept his new girlfriend is just a bad parent, plain and simple. I still don't understand why Lynn kept on insisting Anthony was a good parent--I never saw it and with examples like this, I can't imagine that anyone would.
josephusrex,
I'm not religious and I don't care for the idea of praying over food,
I understand the sentiment behind it. I was reading the Diary of Anne Frank recently, and there was a spot in there where Anna Frank went into detail about how the quality of their food became worse and worse as WWII went on, so the prayers for the food genuinely became prayers of “Please don’t let what I am about to eat kill me or make me really sick.”
And to loathe Mira, because she wears bright colors and is such a hog about wanting to have quality time with her grands.
Not only to loathe her, but also to treat her very badly and take her gifts without thanks or recognition. My favourite Mira / Elly statistic is this: Mira was thrown out of Deanna and Mike’s Toronto apartment as many times as Elly visited Deanna and Mike in their Toronto apartment -- 3 times.
FDChief,
You think he "gets" that Santa just brings (or doesn't bring) HIS presents? Even MY first grader would call bullshit on THAT one...
It’s hard to say with young Michael Patterson. He “gets” a lot of things that a normal Grade 1 kid would not get. For example, last year he knew that Uncle Phil only took him to visit Santa so he could ogle the elf girls. Phil’s response asking Mike if he was really a kid oftentimes seems appropriate for Mike. The one who would have a real difficulty understanding Elly would be 1-year-old Lizzie.
Anonymous,
I still don't understand why Lynn kept on insisting Anthony was a good parent--I never saw it and with examples like this, I can't imagine that anyone would.
The marvel of Lynn Johnston’s pro-Anthony work was that each and every time she tried to make Anthony look good, she ended up making him look even worse. Back in the day, there was a certain contingent of pro-Anthony fans. However, there must have been a significant number of persons who were anti-Anthony, which made Lynn nervous enough that she wrote letters to her fans in support of Anthony and had Beth Cruikshank write up the Anthony biography on Who’s Who just before the wedding. Neither one worked.
I remember the Christmas of hate
The one funny thing about that strip is that Anthony is not thinking anything. Not a thing in his head. The perfect man, right Lynn?
Clio,
He's perfect. However, I am sure if Lynn were still doing the modern strip that she would have taught him to learn to hate Mira. I could see Anthony going through a “Mira is just like my ex-wife, Thérèse” moment.
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