The Breath of the Lizard......

[dreadedcandiru2]

One of the things that makes the Pattersons such entertainingly awful people to watch is that they are so blatantly unaware of how nasty they are. As an example, let's examine the word that most readily summarizes Mike's hatred of having to share anything with anyone at any time: Lizardbreath. As we've seen, he seems to delight in not seeing how hurtful and demeaning this mocking distortion of his sister's first name really is; when Deanna called him out on being a petty little bully, he moaned a pathetic moan about how he had no choice but to be an asshole because she was cuter and if left to feel good about herself, would displace him as favored child and he'd have to be shoved away in the crawl space with all the other obsolete old refuse that they have no room or use for and a host of other nonsense.

That being said, there was a time in the strip's history wherein Lynn didn't pretend that the Pattersons knew all the answers; they were allowed to have flaws that, while not especially pleasant to behold, at least made them identifiable as human beings. Mike's flaw used to be an inability to see that what definitely bothered him when it happened to him might be a problem were he to do it to someone else. When we contrast his not taking being mocked for falling for one of an endless series of lying promises to be allowed to hang with the cool kids if he did something stupid at all well, his hatred of being given insulting names and his disbelief that a girl he knew would allow herself to be associated with an asshole who treated her like crap with his smug insistence on being a dick to Liz, we can quickly size him up as a mildly hypocritical stripling with a huge blindspot.

Somewhere along the way, though, the thing that happened to Phil that made him want to build an adult relationship with Elly never happened to him; since he's not really ever going to grow up, he'll always have to relearn that when bad things happen to other people, they hurt as much as he would because, like the seven year old he'll be when he dies in his eighties, he'll always forget that fact. He'll also never really learn that his sister's feelings could possibly be as valid as his own or she'll win being a child.

Comments

[kefkaownsall.livejournal.com]

I think part of the issue is that Deeis a textbook enabler

[josephusrex.livejournal.com]

That is for sure. And one wonders how she got that way. She clearly idolizes that amazingly average, no-talent, self-absorbed closet queen and is happy to subordinate herself to him.

[kefkaownsall.livejournal.com]

she sees into the future

[josephusrex.livejournal.com]

You mean she looks FORWARD to being a housedrudge and knowing that that will be all she will ever be? Maybe she does, but I don't understand it.

[kefkaownsall.livejournal.com]

I meant the money

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

I do; she knows that it drives her obsolete, old and silly mother insane with rage. She doesn't give a damn what Mira says about her being able to be more than a slave to a bounder because she's right and Mother isn't.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

Yes, she is; she does seem to derive some sick sort of validation from her need to sacrifice her self on the altar of Mike's sloth, arrogance and puerile stupidity.

[kefkaownsall.livejournal.com]

it's the mone

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

It's also being able to drive Mommy cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.