The Elly No One Wants to See
I remember some time back when Lynn Johnston was asked why Elly had such a huge nose, and she responded that when she felt good about herself, she drew Elly pretty, and when she felt bad about herself, she drew Elly ugly. Judging from today’s new-run in For Better or For Worse, Lynn must be going through a really bad patch. I don’t know if I have ever seen naked Elly look as bad as she does in this strip.
As for the future, you can look at this strip and it explains what happened to Elly’s red sweater and also the answer to the question: Why lose weight when you can redistribute it? Even Lawrence Poirier has an appreciation for Gayle wearing Elly’s red sweater.
As for the strip itself, this is clearly modern Lynn Johnston. The closet doesn’t show any of John’s clothing and the body is definitely not that of 1981 Elly Patterson who, while not as skinny as Connie Poirier, had a pretty nice figure for many years. I remember liking big, loose sweaters myself back when I lived in a place which had cold winters. Mainly I liked them because if I put them over a shirt, I didn’t have to iron that shirt. Most people can still tell you’re fat, when you have a sweater on.
As for the future, you can look at this strip and it explains what happened to Elly’s red sweater and also the answer to the question: Why lose weight when you can redistribute it? Even Lawrence Poirier has an appreciation for Gayle wearing Elly’s red sweater.
As for the strip itself, this is clearly modern Lynn Johnston. The closet doesn’t show any of John’s clothing and the body is definitely not that of 1981 Elly Patterson who, while not as skinny as Connie Poirier, had a pretty nice figure for many years. I remember liking big, loose sweaters myself back when I lived in a place which had cold winters. Mainly I liked them because if I put them over a shirt, I didn’t have to iron that shirt. Most people can still tell you’re fat, when you have a sweater on.
posted by howard at 11:04 PM
6 Comments:
It's odd how she doesn't seem to realize that making Elly ugly on purpose invites speculation about her mental state. Here we have Fugly, 21st century Elly struggling with the end result of eating forty years of her fat-laden cooking and we're not supposed to wonder why? That's messed up. As for the 'supposed to look' daily, I like it! It reminds us that Elly really let herself go after Lizzie entered grade school.
Most people can still tell you’re fat, when you have a sweater on.
Yup. So she'll have sweater material right over that jelly roll. It won't be a slimming look.
If Lynn wanted to do gags based on Elly's middle-aged body, she shouldn't have gone to her new-run/reprint combo. She either should have stuck with present-day continuity or stayed with her original hybrid plan. (Though I know papers and the syndicate must have become sick of fielding inquiries from the confused readers who could never get a handle on what Lynn was doing in hybridsville.)
DreadedCandiru2,
As for the 'supposed to look' daily, I like it! It reminds us that Elly really let herself go after Lizzie entered grade school.
In this respect the strip works pretty well. It just doesn’t work in combination with skinny Elly in the reprints, who only looks fat when she is exercising or trying on clothes with Anne Nichols.
aprilp_katje,
Yup. So she'll have sweater material right over that jelly roll. It won't be a slimming look.
It will be like the large people who like to wear mumus or loose-fitting athletic wear. Clothing that doesn’t squeeze you feels comfortable, but it doesn’t make you look thin.
If Lynn wanted to do gags based on Elly's middle-aged body, she shouldn't have gone to her new-run/reprint combo.
This doesn’t seem to stop her though. Sometimes Lynn can’t help but put her real-life situation into the comic strip, like when she did the Mother’s Day strip that had no kids in it.
It amuses me to no end that even CRIMPING PIE CRUST is apparently an epic, exhausting task in Elly's world.
Sometimes Lynn can’t help but put her real-life situation into the comic strip, like when she did the Mother’s Day strip that had no kids in it.
Poor April was probably bound and gagged in the basement at the time.
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