dreadedcandiru2 (dreadedcandiru2) wrote in binky_betsy,
dreadedcandiru2
dreadedcandiru2
binky_betsy

Sunday, 3 February 2013

Today's strip is a heavy-handed chunk of moralizing about how innocent children aren't. It's also why Schulz tried very hard to not make broad-strokes statements like this.

(Strip Number 7152, Original Publication Date, 5 February 1984)

Panel 1: We start things off in the living room with the kids playing what a passing observer would confuse with house. It's not quite the same because Mike tells Lizzie and Chris to play house over there while he plays divorced guy where he is.

Panel 2: Chris objects because Mike always gets to be the divorced guy.

Panel 3: Mike sets the ground rules for the next round of Broken Home by handing Chris the want ads because he's a daddy who needs to look for work 'cause he got laid off and he's gotta s'pport Lizzie an'their three kids. (This means that they're now playing Economic Collapse.)

Panel 4: Chris's wanting to 'tend that bombs are coming so they can figure out what to do when the Reds push the button down turns the game from Collapsed Economy to Total Global Thermonuclear War.

Panel 5: He puts a blanket over the two of them so they can pretend that they have enough time to get to a fallout shelter.

Panel 6: He next pretends to be a soldier who's just commandeered said shelter.

Panel 7: As Elly and Annie look on, Annie says that it'd be fun to be a kid again. Elly agrees.

Panel 8: That's because children live in such a fantasy world. This is meant to be ironic and is but not for the reason that Lynn supposes.

Summary: This is because what we're dealing with is another ham-fisted chunk of unrealism from the twisted mind that said children won't play Armageddon because it isn't fun. When Lynn's grandpa said children don't talk or think like this, he must have foreseen crap like this. Oh, wait. She's trying to get a dead guy to see he's wrong by making her characters be as subtle as a mallet to the head.
Subscribe

  • Thursday, 10 October 2024

    The one where April first knowingly encounters resistance from a peer. Synopsis: Ryan hogs a ride April wants to play on because children aren't…

  • Wednesday, 9 October 2024

    The one where April is a music critic. Synopsis: We find out what Vi is for: to sing songs about social conformity that kids hate. Summary: This…

  • Tuesday, 8 October 2024

    The one where April has no idea that it just gets harder and harder....and then, sweet, sweet Death! Synopsis: Since April has lived a life without…

  • Post a new comment

    Error

    default userpic

    Your IP address will be recorded 

    When you submit the form an invisible reCAPTCHA check will be performed.
    You must follow the Privacy Policy and Google Terms of use.
  • 26 comments

  • Thursday, 10 October 2024

    The one where April first knowingly encounters resistance from a peer. Synopsis: Ryan hogs a ride April wants to play on because children aren't…

  • Wednesday, 9 October 2024

    The one where April is a music critic. Synopsis: We find out what Vi is for: to sing songs about social conformity that kids hate. Summary: This…

  • Tuesday, 8 October 2024

    The one where April has no idea that it just gets harder and harder....and then, sweet, sweet Death! Synopsis: Since April has lived a life without…