John Patterson: Worst. Ogler. EVER!!!

[dreadedcandiru2]

The current sequence, as I mentioned the other day, is one of the first instances of John racing around like a big, dumb jerk and ogling pretty girls in Elly's presence. What's annoying about his doing so is that he isn't exactly subtle about it. As howtheduck reminds us, a good ogler is able to observe the subjects of his or her fantasy without calling attention to him or herself. John, idiot that he is, stands there slobbering like a fool in the midst of what in real life would be a mass of revolted femininity. Lynn seems to have not gotten the memo that explains that young women who have to deal with a man accompanied by his wife and children standing around leering as his loins stir are not going to stand around like robots; they instead are going to be disgusted by being the objects of a pervert's lust. Why this odd inability to see things from the young woman's point of view? Simple; Lynn has always been anxious about her looks. Given her delusion that she actually does look like Elly, it sort of follows that John simply cannot help himself but should, athe the same time, avoid temptation. She fears that he'll leave her for someone more attractive but at the same time condemns him for that fear. It's not hard to see what Rod did to cause Lynn to come to such a conclusion; he glanced a second longer at a pretty girl than she liked and he's been paying for it ever since.

Comments

[howtheduck.livejournal.com]

It's not hard to see what Rod did to cause Lynn to come to such a conclusion; he glanced a second longer at a pretty girl than she liked and he's been paying for it ever since.

Considering that Rod had an affair, I would say that Rod glanced for more than a second. Men ogling women has been a constant theme in the comic strip. In the latter days of the strip, Lynn made jokes about Elly catching John ogling, but the tone was lighter. The primary target in the final years was Grandpa Jim, who was constantly thinking about other women while he was out with Iris. None of those strips was really about making John or Grandpa Jim look bad, like today's ogling strip does with John, where he abandons his wife and child to ogle. In the early days, Lynn's dislike of her husband just rolls out of the strip.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

None of those strips was really about making John or Grandpa Jim look bad, like today's ogling strip does with John, where he abandons his wife and child to ogle. In the early days, Lynn's dislike of her husband just rolls out of the strip.

You aren't kidding; even at fourteen, I was wondering when we'd get the "John has an affair with Cherylnia Plotdevice", "John and Elly divorce" and "John and his trophy wife try to get custody of Mike and Liz because Elly is working and therefore an unfit mother" story arcs. That's because at the time they looked like two people who should not be married to each other or, for that matter, anyone else. Elly was too high-strung, self-loathing and needy and John, well, he was a total frakking greaseball who needed a kick to the groin for being an entitled piece of flotsam.

[clio-1.livejournal.com]

Considering that Rod had an affair, I would say that Rod glanced for more than a second.

Having one affair with a long-time friend doesn't retroactively make someone a drooling pervert.

After reading Lynn's blog about Mexico, I'm convinced that not only can she not reason from available evidence, but that she can't observe available evidence in the first place. She projects whatever's in her mind onto the rest of the world. It's impossible to say whether or not Rod actually checked out women in an obvious way. It's certain that Lynn thought he did, and in fact thought that all men were oglers -- except, perhaps, Anthony.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

Well said; most of the more puzzling things about the strip can be readily explained by Lynn's inability to see the World-That-Is. Since she judges things by the standards of the World-As-She-Would-Like-It-To-Be, our criticism of the Pattersons confuses and annoys her.

[howtheduck.livejournal.com]

Having one affair with a long-time friend doesn't retroactively make someone a drooling pervert.

No. But it does mean that you looked a woman other than your wife in a more-than-friendly way for more than a second.

It's impossible to say whether or not Rod actually checked out women in an obvious way. It's certain that Lynn thought he did, and in fact thought that all men were oglers -- except, perhaps, Anthony.

Definitely. After all this is the same woman who declared that Rod only hired gorgeous women to work in his office, which seems a little unlikely. Lynn's opinions when it comes to women and attractiveness are not to be trusted to be grounded in reality.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

Lynn's opinions when it comes to women and attractiveness are not to be trusted to be grounded in reality.

I should say not: look what she thinks she looks like (http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn149/DreadedCandiru2/forbetter.jpg) and contrast that with what everyone else sees. (http://i303.photobucket.com/albums/nn149/DreadedCandiru2/lynnpic.jpg)

[clio-1.livejournal.com]

The world as Lynn Johnston sees it seems to be a very dark place. FBofW can be so disorienting, for me anyway, because what happens in it seems like black comedy, but it's supposedly a light slice-of-life strip. Weird.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

Which is the thing that makes it so fascinating; if it were just another "Supermom and Idiot Dad" strip, it wouldn't be worth noticing. It's Lynn's oddness and self-hate that make it so riveting.