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dreadedcandiru2Now that we're dealing with Phil and Georgia's wedding, let's remind ourselves of a fact that the Pattersons don't like to face: Lizzie is a mildly ditzy six year old who doesn't really understand what's going on because, well, she's six and they, like, don't know a lot about the world around them yet. They aren't born knowing what flower girls are or why people deliver embarrassing speeches or anything like that and expecting them to behave like middle-aged ladies like Elly is kind of stupid and unfair and reacting as if they're yelling HAIL SATAN when they do act like kids is an unproductive waste of time that makes the over-reacting fool look like an idiot who wasted her life being pointlessly upset.
Since the easiest way of saying that mouthful IS "Elly Patterson," it should be noted that when Lizzie does act like a small child and wonders when she can eat cake instead of standing around getting bored waiting for the photographer to tell her when she can move is a traumatic horror on par with they mistakenly assume to be Lizzie's clear hope that her uncle and aunt's marriage will collapse in heartbreak and failure because none of the saps explained what 'forsaking all others' means.
The reason I do like this arc is that it helps to remind us that Elly's witless failure to understand what children are thinking and what they do or do not know is genetic. Her parents haven't a God-damned clue between them when it comes to understanding offsprings and small ones either so their brainless bafflement is passed down to cripple her as a mother. Always and ever, we have an adult making a point of not understanding what a child wants or thinks and the results are always sordidly stupid.
Since the easiest way of saying that mouthful IS "Elly Patterson," it should be noted that when Lizzie does act like a small child and wonders when she can eat cake instead of standing around getting bored waiting for the photographer to tell her when she can move is a traumatic horror on par with they mistakenly assume to be Lizzie's clear hope that her uncle and aunt's marriage will collapse in heartbreak and failure because none of the saps explained what 'forsaking all others' means.
The reason I do like this arc is that it helps to remind us that Elly's witless failure to understand what children are thinking and what they do or do not know is genetic. Her parents haven't a God-damned clue between them when it comes to understanding offsprings and small ones either so their brainless bafflement is passed down to cripple her as a mother. Always and ever, we have an adult making a point of not understanding what a child wants or thinks and the results are always sordidly stupid.
