A question about Lynn Johnson's 'For Better or Worse'?

Question

I'm a fan of 'the For Better or Worse' comic strip and have a question about Mrs. Johnson's views on social issues. For instance, Elly's spanking of her children has been implied throughout the years, but she leaves a lot to the reader's imagination. Then, there is the matter of religion and g*y marriage and abortion. I've always wonder the strip's position on these matters. What is your interpretation?

Answer 1

I think Lynn's views on corporal punishment (which were reflected in Elly's views) are that if they're necessary, they're necessary.  Elly, and Lynn to an extent, have been accused of having somewhat "old-fashioned" views or opinions on various issues.  Elly has always been viewed as believing that a woman's place is still in the kitchen, but a part of her is struggling with the modern-day views, and in some cases they've come out when she ran the bookstore Lilliput's, and the few times when she's felt or looked exhausted and ready to give up.  There was one moment when she kept trying to get April to eat supper, but April said she wasn't hungry.  Elly kept prodding, until April yelled at her, because she felt Elly wasn't getting the hint that she wasn't hungry right now, and she had some homework she had to finish up.  Elly then walks back into the living room or kitchen, and yells "I QUIT!"

As far as religion goes, I don't think there was a strip that really focused on what religion the Pattersons (or anyone else for that matter) followed.  There have been a few instances of them attending church, but as far as I remember it was mainly during holiday services (there was an Easter strip where Meredith asked either Mike or Elly when the pastor was going to get to the part of the Easter story where Jesus meets the Easter Bunny) that the Pattersons attended church.  I think in order to appeal to a wide audience, Lynn Johnston left out exactly what religion the Pattersons followed, and any major religious messages or references.  All Christmas strips were usually centered around family gatherings, being together, things like that.  Nothing was mentioned about the birth of Jesus.  Another Easter strip I just remembered involved April when she was 5 or 6, talking about Easter hats and how they related to Jesus.

There was an entire storyline dealing with homosexuality that received a lot of good and bad reviews, comments, letters, etc.  One of Mike's friends, Lawrence Poirier, "came out" back in 1993.  You can read about it on the FBOFW site (linked below).  His mother Connie was somewhat understanding, but his father Greg just outright refused to accept the fact his son was g*y.  He threw Lawrence out of the house, and went missing for a few days.

Lynn Johnston wrote the strips after talking to a friend who was g*y, and had him help develop the story.  The story received some positive, and a lot of negative publicity.  Over forty newspapers refused to run the story, and some even dropped the strip altogether.

Recently while preparing for Anthony's and Elizabeth's wedding, Lawrence told Mike that he was glad that he and his partner Nick had the right to get married, but they chose to be married "in spirit" instead of having an actual ceremony.

Another subject that Lynn touched on beautifully was the death of a loved one.  In this case, she did it at least twice:  First on Elly's mother Marian, and later on the family dog Farley.  For the latter, Lynn felt it best that Farley died a hero after rescuing April from drowning in a river.  The strip received a lot of letters from readers who also lost their pets and loved ones, as did the death of Marian.

Back in 2004, Lynn introduced FBOFW readers to Shannon Lake, a Special Needs student that attended the high school that April and Becky had to go to for Home Ec classes.  Shannon was based on Lynn's niece, Stephanie Haskins.  Shannon never allowed her disability to slow her down; in fact, she used it to teach others, as did Stephanie.