Mike's independence day......

[dreadedcandiru2]

As you know, one of the most unlovely habits Elly has is her tendency to explode with rage and start ranting angrily when confronted with minor setbacks. This is frightening to someone who's never experienced it before. That's because you'd be walking down the street minding your business and not looking for trouble and, having inadvertently offended some nondescript housewife with a nose starting to turn into a trunk, were the unwitting target of a screeching fit in the middle of the shopping district. As you'd wondered what you'd done to get the crazy woman in the dowdy clothes to blow up in your face, you'd probably feel sorry for the little boy she had with her. You'd be right to do so; most of Mike's more anti-social behavior is the result of the following belief: "If I'm going to get yelled at no matter what I do, I might as well deserve it." The day that he realized that Elly is all sound and fury, signifying nothing, was the best day of his young life; as long as he could avoid John, who actually backed up his threats, he could make it through the day and all he'd have to do was fake taking his mother seriously.

Comments

[clio-1.livejournal.com]

I don't know how frightening Elly's rages would be to someone who hasn't experienced something like them before. I can tell you that, as someone who has experienced stuff like it quite often (both from a parent and from working retail), it's pretty horrifying. It is anything but funny.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

Living with it from day to day would probably be a lot worse; it would, for instance, explain why Liz is so submissive.

[howtheduck.livejournal.com]

Not just Liz.

John is so afraid of Elly, he jumps up and apologizes when he thinks she is yelling at him for sitting in the washroom (http://www.amureprints.com/img1/ForBetterOrForWorse/2006/fb061105.gif) reading.

Michael is so passive he didn't address his problems with his neighbours directly, but chose to humiliate them in publication and then wouldn't own up to having done that when confronted. (http://www.amureprints.com/img1/ForBetterOrForWorse/2005/fb051018.gif) He leaves Lovey to fight his battle for him.

With April, you don't need to go any further than the Kortney Krelbutz story, where April is afraid to tell her mother about being threatened and has to tell her grandfather instead. (http://www.amureprints.com/img1/ForBetterOrForWorse/2003/fb031206.gif)

All of this can be attributed to learning how to deal with a shrieking mother. In this respect it is good writing on the part of Lynn Johnston. Elly's children are reacting just the way you would expect children, who have been brow-beaten by their mother all their lives to react.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

I wish I could express disbelief when I read all the letters that identify with Elly but I cannot; the Kool-Aid Quaffers are either burning balls of hate like Elly or mindlessly swallow her claims of martyrdom.

[howtheduck.livejournal.com]

I would be hard-pressed to come up with a Coffee Talk comment that says they scream at their kids just like Elly does. Most of how they relate to Elly is the situations she gets in and they are often only tangentially related. For example, with today's strip, someone will write in and talk about how their dog got dirty right after they washed them. That's easy. However, no one will write in to say, "My dog got dirty after I washed him 2 times in one day and yelled at my kid for allowing him to get dirty."

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

Ah, that makes much more sense; I have noticed that they point out what they have in common with her when they talk about cameras being in houses. Not to give too much away, it'll be obvious that Monday's Coffee Talk will feature a lot of letters about wondering where household items vanish to and very few about evil husbands laughing at clever theories.

[clio-1.livejournal.com]

It often (usually?) takes years of therapy to be able to "get over" a parent who flew off the handle at you regularly. One way of dealing with it is to avoid, avoid, avoid... and then you have to UNlearn those avoidance "skills" to actually live a fulfilling and responsible adult life. Playing it for laughs is so not funny. But then, Lynn Johnston apparently thinks that strip with John screaming at Elly, Elly screaming at Mike, Mike screaming at Lizzy, then Lizzy beating up her stuffed toy, makes for good Sunday entertainment.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

She also thinks Elly having a God-damned meltdown because April makes a mild complaint (http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/000351.php) is hilarious. That's when another of the less productive ways of handling an irrational ball of hate like Elly come into play: when Screaming Lunatic Mom starts foaming at the mouth (http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/003100.php) over nothing, one of her other victims exhorts the sap that touched off the tantrum (http://www.fborfw.com/strip_fix/archives/003101.php) to step off so she'll shut her mouth.