Men Are Insensitive and Forgetful
Rhymes with Orange on men:
True, Nose-Horned-Red-Guy could be Nose-Horned-Red-Gal, but it's interesting that the context tells us that he's not, given the stereotype that men are forgetful about anniversaries.Families Are Proving Grounds for Success!
For Better or For Worse gives us a glimpse into the traditionally masculine male psyche:
There is, of course, lots of truth to this, as far as it goes. Lots of men do feel that they must succeed as the primary income-earners in order to be real men. But of course, one thing we wouldn't ever see in this strip is a role reversal, or even a glimpse into her feelings of needing to prove herself to her family--and of course men and women both feel these things.Men Avoid Complex Relationships
Non Sequitur shows us that, not only do men carry around a 'Men's Relationship Handbook' (not so much), we also love to avoid 'drama':
Except in reality, it's just as often men who create the drama (or is that just my life?).
3 comments:
Here is the way I read the For better or Worse one. In the last panel, when he is looking at his children, he is wondering how they will measure him as a person (something I think a lot of as my kids get older). I don't think he's wondering about financial success, but about whether he is a good writer or not. The promise of the signing offers some reassurance, his wife offers more. But I think he is wondering how his children will come to see him as a writer. I see it as a positive sign - some men strive for a sense of creativity and inner worth from their work, not just financial success.
I like your interpretation, stf, and it is certainly more gracious than most of my interpretations of it. Of course, he's not talking about being a good writer--he seems to be talking about being a successful writer, and of course these two things don't have to be intertwined, and often aren't.
also: I still say it's unlikely we'll see a strip about how his wife wants and needs to prove to her children that she's good at the things she's good at. It just doesn't come up. And I think that's telling, in various ways.
I'm not a big FBOFW fan, at least not in the last ten years when Johnston has become more anti-feminist in her portrayal of women, their relationships and their choices. So I think you're right to point out that Mike's wife (who has no personality that I can discern) will continue in an undeveloped role as support for her husband's artistic aspirations.
That said, I can relate to Mike's angst. As a cartoonist and a recent graduate from a master's program entering a new career - and as a father - I identify the anxiety over being able to raise my kids through my chosen profession (librarian) while maintaining my creative output. These are not traditional male-as-provider anxieties, but parental and spousal anxieties: did I make the right choice? Am I contributing enough? Is my wife working too hard? Am I working hard enough?
Not to read too much of my own situation into Mike's thinking here, but these are among many thoughts that might go through his mind.
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