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brigid 11/11/2024
Happy Corduroy (11/11) Day!
Today's strip is a 3 panel one with Alistair and Lolly as adults.
P1:
Alistair: In South Korea the first snowfall has a deeply romantic significance. What's the custom in Maine on the first snowfall of the year?
Lolly: We complain about it.
P2:
A: It's not torrid and wreathed in kissing?
L: Nope. We just gripe.
P3:
A: You Mainers are a practical people
L: We prefer the word "passionate."
L: That makes us carp, too.
"Person one says something romantic which person two immediately shuts down" is a classic, and solid, gag. As with almost all his gags, though, this one is overly wordy and also raises some questions.
1) Alistair's father is from England and his mother from Hong Kong. He may or may not have grown up in the USA. Many places have romantic snow stuff. Why is he bringing up South Korea? It frequently feels like McEldowney just kind of thinks of "Asia" as "group of people, fairly interchangeable," that passive ignorant racism so many white folks share. I could just be too sensitive, though - I wouldn't have this complaint if Alistair weren't Asian.
2) Alistair may or may not have grown up with Lolly and Polly? His mom taught them music. He calls Edda his aunt. We've seen him hanging out at their place playing piano from infancy through young childhood through teenager-dom. Wouldn't... wouldn't that mean he knows how people are in Maine? Of course, everyone seems to have lost track of how old he was so maybe they were never that close after all and just had visits?
3) Are they even FROM Maine? Do they live in Maine? It's like a 7-9 hour trip from Maine to NYC. Do they consider themselves as being from Maine because their parents are from Maine? Do Edda and Amos commute to NYC regularly? Do they have two homes? Do Edda and Amos only play concerts in Maine (or in Europe when they travel)? Is there a tango salon in Maine, or are they spending a full day to drive into NYC to get their tango on then come home?
4) Why would Alistair assume that there's a special significance to "the first snowfall" in Maine? It's just weather, dude. Also: wouldn't he know this? Assuming he's spent any time with the Van Hoesen family at all he should have picked up on this.
5) "Torrid" and "romantic" are... are they really that closely linked? When I think "romantic first snow" I don't think of frenzied rutting, which is the predominant way of showing affection in this strip.
It's nice to see these two talking and not just grinding on each other. In theory it shows us a bit of their personalities: that Alistair is a dyed in the wool romantic while Lolly is far more practical and a little wry. In practice this exchange could occur between multiple pairings with no change.
Happy Corduroy (11/11) Day!
Today's strip is a 3 panel one with Alistair and Lolly as adults.
P1:
Alistair: In South Korea the first snowfall has a deeply romantic significance. What's the custom in Maine on the first snowfall of the year?
Lolly: We complain about it.
P2:
A: It's not torrid and wreathed in kissing?
L: Nope. We just gripe.
P3:
A: You Mainers are a practical people
L: We prefer the word "passionate."
L: That makes us carp, too.
"Person one says something romantic which person two immediately shuts down" is a classic, and solid, gag. As with almost all his gags, though, this one is overly wordy and also raises some questions.
1) Alistair's father is from England and his mother from Hong Kong. He may or may not have grown up in the USA. Many places have romantic snow stuff. Why is he bringing up South Korea? It frequently feels like McEldowney just kind of thinks of "Asia" as "group of people, fairly interchangeable," that passive ignorant racism so many white folks share. I could just be too sensitive, though - I wouldn't have this complaint if Alistair weren't Asian.
2) Alistair may or may not have grown up with Lolly and Polly? His mom taught them music. He calls Edda his aunt. We've seen him hanging out at their place playing piano from infancy through young childhood through teenager-dom. Wouldn't... wouldn't that mean he knows how people are in Maine? Of course, everyone seems to have lost track of how old he was so maybe they were never that close after all and just had visits?
3) Are they even FROM Maine? Do they live in Maine? It's like a 7-9 hour trip from Maine to NYC. Do they consider themselves as being from Maine because their parents are from Maine? Do Edda and Amos commute to NYC regularly? Do they have two homes? Do Edda and Amos only play concerts in Maine (or in Europe when they travel)? Is there a tango salon in Maine, or are they spending a full day to drive into NYC to get their tango on then come home?
4) Why would Alistair assume that there's a special significance to "the first snowfall" in Maine? It's just weather, dude. Also: wouldn't he know this? Assuming he's spent any time with the Van Hoesen family at all he should have picked up on this.
5) "Torrid" and "romantic" are... are they really that closely linked? When I think "romantic first snow" I don't think of frenzied rutting, which is the predominant way of showing affection in this strip.
It's nice to see these two talking and not just grinding on each other. In theory it shows us a bit of their personalities: that Alistair is a dyed in the wool romantic while Lolly is far more practical and a little wry. In practice this exchange could occur between multiple pairings with no change.
