The Human Body and other sources of grotesque humor

[dreadedcandiru2]

As we know, Lynn has made a point of explaining that she doesn’t find sex especially funny or something that she cares to discuss at great length; my guess is that when she had a clearly mortified Elly duck having to talk about icky, scary sex with April by making her think that she was doing something bad by reading ‘Our Bodies, Our Selves’, she’d thought that she’d handled the issue the way it was meant to. While I’m sort of annoyed by her cowardice, I’m also relieved because given her love of depicting the human body as a grotesque sack of malfunctioning parts, I’d hate to see her try to even discuss copulation. In a world of sagging teats, cellulite-saturated buttocks, jowly, wrinkled faces, bulbous noses and beer guts anyone past the age of thirty, the idea of the repellent sacks of lard mating is one that makes me want to vomit in terror; what’s even worse is that she thinks of having loose skin flapping in the breeze and fiddly hairs on ladies’ chins as uproariously funny. Having to remember her belief that watching the human body age horribly is hilarious is one of the things that makes me shudder when I think of Foob.

Comments

[bastets-place.livejournal.com]

You know, to be fair, Menopause has totally kind of bit it so far. I don't have the emotional swings that mom did, but the hot flashes DO mean that sometimes I am standing in a summer weight nightgown next to an open window with the fan going - during a snowstorm. (no kidding, it happened)

She did go pretty far with it, and along with the rest of the insecurities that she presented Ellie with, I feel we get a pretty good idea of what the lady herself was like during "that time". I feel really, really sorry for her.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

The phrase 'emotional wreck' does come to mind, doesn't it? It's sort of unpleasant to have to remember that she so readily transmutes her distress into body horror comedy; instead of looking as if she's laughing off something that bothered her, I get the feeling that she's ducking the issue under a cloud of gross-out nonsense.

[bastets-place.livejournal.com]

Mom described going through Menopause as being like going through your early teens again - emotionally needy, prone to bursts of sulking, temper tantrums, and insane illogic.

I remember vividly one argument with my mom in which she insisted that the online conversations that I was carrying on with my ex boyfriend about the daughter that we shared together (he was living in the middle of Maine, I was in New Jersey) were exactly the same thing as us having sex. Evidently this argument HAD to take place at 10 pm when both of us were tired, as soon as I got home from work.

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

I hope that she apologized for her outburst later on. That being said, I still wish that Lynn wouldn't make such a vulgar joke of something that clearly seems to have frightened her.

[josephusrex.livejournal.com]

Yes, she does drop the "sex is icky" message repeatedly, subtly or unsubtly, over the years of the strip. One wonders what sex must have been like for Lynn herself.

I still say a two-week arc of this sort might be hilarious:

Monday: Elly obliquely suggests to Connie that she wishes sex could be FUN for her, the way it is for some folks in books. (All kinds of punch-line possibilities here.)

Tuesday: Connie suggests buying a vibrator. Elly gives her the bug-eyed glare of existential horror and delivers another punch line.

Wednesday: Elly explains to Connie (with the palms-out gesture) that if she were to buy a vibrator, she'd be admitting that she wasn't satisfied with her sex life as it is. "Besides; what would people think?"

Thursday: We see Elly, disguised as a man, driving down to Hamilton; in the last panel we see her pulling into the parking lot of an adult shop.

Friday: Nervously, but thought-bubbling her self-satisfaction about the impenetrability of her disguise, she purchases a vibrator. The guy behind the counter says, "Don't worry, lady, we get a ton of cross-dressers here."

Saturday: She's driving home, her new toy sitting next to her in the passenger seat. She thought-bubbles, "Now -- where to hide it?"

Sunday: Edgar does something dumb and makes a mess while the rest of the family reacts with muppet-mouthed dismay.

Monday: Back to the arc. "Nobody's home," she thought-bubbles. "Now's my chance!" But in the final panel: "What will people think?"

Tuesday: You see the entrance to Elly's bedroom. Off-camera sound effects of the vibrator going, and moans of "Ooo! OOOO! OOOOOH! Ahhhhh." Last panel cut to an exhausted Elly lying on the bed, thinking, "That reminds me: I haven't vacuumed at all this week!"

Wednesday: Elly is frantically looking for a place to hide her vibrator, thought-bubbling that she doesn't want to embarrass John by letting him see it. "I feel like I'm cheating," she says in the last panel.

Thursday: John comes home from work, mildly astonished to see Elly in such a happy, relaxed mood. "What's gotten into you?" he asks, smiling. "Oh," says Elly, smiling back, "just good vibes."

Friday: At the dinner table, Elly calls, "April, where are you? We're sitting down." April emerges from some obscure corner of the house, holding up a mysterious-looking gadget. "Mom, what's this?"

Saturday: John, with palms-out gesture, confronts his wife: "Why didn't you TELL me you weren't satisfied?" Elly (contrite), "I didn't want to put you to any trouble." John (creepy grin): "Tell me... do they make them for guys too?"

[dreadedcandiru2.livejournal.com]

Friday: Nervously, but thought-bubbling her self-satisfaction about the impenetrability of her disguise, she purchases a vibrator. The guy behind the counter says, "Don't worry, lady, we get a ton of cross-dressers here."

Sticky-out tongue laugh!!!!!