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Chauvinist piggery, the next generation.
Feb. 9th, 2016 01:30 amThe really irritating thing about most of the male characters in the strip is not that we're dealing with what Jean is about to call male chauvinist pork-butts of the worst sort. We know that John really doesn't much budge from his initial perception that hormones had to be why Elly felt discontent with her lot in life because the alternative is admitting that men like him make sure women like her get a raw deal. What we lose sight of it that the only substantive thing that he taught the bundle of mommy issues he calls a son is that for some reason, women seem to not know a good deal when they have it. Mike's retcons not only paint us a picture of the sort of man-child whose misadventures Steven Page has based his musical career on, we also get to see that he's got a couple of wrong ideas about women. Take, as by way of example, his peevish comments about how poor Anthony is being cut off at the knees:
Dad tells me that Anthony's marriage problems are taking a toll on him. He looks tired and he feels he's failed. Therese is busy traveling, taking courses and climbing up the corporate ladder. There's no glass ceiling as far as she's concerned - just mirrors, and she likes what she sees. Therese is a sharp woman who tried to be something she isn't. She wanted the stability of marriage but not the sameness. She never shared Anthony's vision of home and family, although for his sake she tried. Instead of talking things out and working toward a solution, she has become distant and more devoted to her career. She's rarely home these days and Anthony expects to have to make plans for a future without her.
Distilled down to its essence, what Mike is saying is that to be fair to Anthony, Therese would have had to live the same lie all her life he expected Elly to. Thirty-five years might have passed since he'd wondered if he did Elly a favour by making her a mother and still, he desperately wants the answer to be yes. The alternative would be to admit that he actually did ask more of a fragile narcissist than could be delivered and moving on with his life. Since this can never be, we can well imagine that the same person who delighted in slandering the Kelpfroths will pursue legal action when someone writes the hilarious story of some pathetic, delusional zombie with mother issues who pissed his pants when asked to make a simple decision and ran home to Mommy to cry.
Dad tells me that Anthony's marriage problems are taking a toll on him. He looks tired and he feels he's failed. Therese is busy traveling, taking courses and climbing up the corporate ladder. There's no glass ceiling as far as she's concerned - just mirrors, and she likes what she sees. Therese is a sharp woman who tried to be something she isn't. She wanted the stability of marriage but not the sameness. She never shared Anthony's vision of home and family, although for his sake she tried. Instead of talking things out and working toward a solution, she has become distant and more devoted to her career. She's rarely home these days and Anthony expects to have to make plans for a future without her.
Distilled down to its essence, what Mike is saying is that to be fair to Anthony, Therese would have had to live the same lie all her life he expected Elly to. Thirty-five years might have passed since he'd wondered if he did Elly a favour by making her a mother and still, he desperately wants the answer to be yes. The alternative would be to admit that he actually did ask more of a fragile narcissist than could be delivered and moving on with his life. Since this can never be, we can well imagine that the same person who delighted in slandering the Kelpfroths will pursue legal action when someone writes the hilarious story of some pathetic, delusional zombie with mother issues who pissed his pants when asked to make a simple decision and ran home to Mommy to cry.
