The best lovable losers are the ones who have problems with the opposite sex. I appreciate the male ones the most, so I have an appreciation for Arthur Dent (Hitchhiker's Guide), as well as Dilbert and Jon Arbuckle. The characters serve as a perfect reminder that a majority of us really don't have any clue what the other sex is thinking or feeling. The lovable losers just do a worse job of hiding it than most of the rest of us. That's what is so lovable about them.
The problem that I have with these characters is that the authors cannot leave well enough alone. In the movie The Hitchhiker's Guide Arthur ends up with a girl he should have never ended up with. Dilbert has been in and out of relationships. Now even Jon Arbuckle, the guy who couldn't get a date with a female baboon unless her date to the prom stood her up, and even then only if he wore a paper bag over his head, is in a serious relationship with Liz, the veterinarian who all too recently couldn't stand him. Sure, she is dealing with amnesia, but still...
I don't know why things have turned around for Jon, but I have three theories.
- Jim Davis needed to make the comic strip align better with the movies.
- Jim Davis had run out of "single Jon" material, so he decided to try his hand at "relationship Jon."
- Jim Davis wanted to get some free publicity like what Cathy Guisewite got when her main character (who had been a female lovable loser) tied the knot.
13 comments:
Maybe Jim Davis is trying to boost his female audience by putting Jon into a relationship. Women love happy endings!
It does almost seem like Jim Davis is being a traitor or hypocrite by changing the story line. Liz never wanted anything to do with Jon.
There is something very appealing about characters with flaws. Especially ones that we can commiserate with. I'm not sure there's anything more humorous in fiction than the loveable loser.
I stopped reading Garfield because it was frustrating me that it seems like the same comics are just being rewritten over and over. So I had no idea about the relationship that has developed between Liz and Jon! I had to go back at lunch today and read back through some of the comics.
I have to admit I like reading about relationships in comic strips. I've enjoyed following the story of Cathy. This might be reason enough to start reading Garfield again!
Dust, the next time I see you can you say "lovable loser."
In real life these losers aren't lovable they are sad. Only in fiction, can you make them endearing. It's a fantasy.
I should probably clarify that being single is not the same as being a lovable loser by a long shot. I am sure everyone knows that but it should be said, nonetheless. A lovable loser is simply a character whose approach to interacting with the opposite sex is a complete failure.
I have been giving some thought to the appeal of lovable losers yesterday and today and I think a lot of what I like is that you can learn a lot about people by those they reject. The male characters who haven't figured out how to attract women and the female characters who haven't figured out how to attract men are enlightening because they illustrate the judgments of the opposite sex. Therefore, I enjoy male lovable losers more because I don't understand the inner workings of women rejecting men as well as men rejecting women. There is more for me to learn from the male lovable losers.
Yes, in real life lovable losers are sad because there is little way to help them, so they become less lovable and more pitiful. Oftentimes, this is through no fault of their own. In the world of make believe, though, lovable losers offer way to laugh at quirks and shortcomings in relationships and provide more understanding of the opposite sex.
Sorry, that sounds a bit harsh, but in real life if they are lovable to me then they are not losers, but I know what you are saying.
That is why I love the OFFICE.
Oh man, you beat me by a few seconds. I meant this to follow up my original comment, because you hadn't posted your's yet. So, when you read "that sounds a bit harsh..." I am refering to my original comment and not Dust's.
The "loser" title is not one used lightly here. It's in the same vein as "nice guys finish last." Life's rough and a lot of the wrong people "win."
The term is used sort of tongue-in-cheek, though.
Yeah, the one minute difference between when I commented and when you did, isn't enough to allow your comment to refer to mine.
Are you saying your comment is at least worthy of two minutes to review and let sink in before commenting on.
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So Jon ended up with Liz after all? I haven't kept up with Garfield in years. I used to love to read it when Jon would call other women on the phone and they would give him obvious fake excuses. I'm a little disappointed too
There were these two people on campus when I was in college. Maybe the strangest, ugliest guy around and this girl who maybe was the strangest ugliest too. Both loners. In a quirk of fate, they got together and we referred to them as the ugly couple, but we were happy they found one another. I never knew if they got married. So sometimes 2 lovable losers find one another...
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