Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT 4451-4455 (the 1st through 5th of February, 2021)
SmilingCat:
--- Quote from: Gnabberwocky on 31 Jan 2021, 21:52 ---Honest question: what makes you think it's not a factor? I didn't quite get your first argument.
--- End quote ---
Because we've seen no indication that he's felt any sort of pressure to maintain a perceived masculine ideal in this case, either internally or externally. Realizing he had feelings for Elliot wasn't treated as an identity challenging revelation. He acknowledged his feelings quickly and moved on to ineptly figuring out what to do about them. The central conflict of his relationship arc has been he's a monumental doofus and Elliot is a monumental ball of anxiety (with a side bit of trying to resolve their mutual feelings for Brun), not whether or not he has some built in hangups telling him his feelings for Elliot are wrong or weird.
The only suggestion that he might be fighting against a perceived masculine identity at all has been Willow saying "toxic masculinity". Nothing actually in the story has suggested it. The story shows a guy with no relationship experience being about as far out of his depth as he could be and trying to doofus his way to some sort of conclusion.
It's... I don't know, the kinda thing you'd expect twentysomethings sticking their noses into the business of people they just met and know nothing about would say, I guess. I'm not saying it's bad writing or anything on Jeph's part. I think he's written a very believable College Student.
BUT...
A person's natural normal anxieties facing something new don't suddenly become toxic masculinity just because they're male. If we're going to have a thing about Clinton wrestling with his idea of manhood as it relates to his attraction to another guy, I feel like that sort of thing would need more setup than some stranger saying "toxic masculinity" without actually knowing anything about him.
So yeah, Willow's kinda annoying with that stuff. Come back to me when you learn some flippin nuance, kid.
Tova:
All this talk has actually made me check today’s comic out of sheer curiosity.
“I should reassess those preconceptions...”
Is that not what he’s been doing for the past million strips? Sheesh.
BenRG:
I do think that the big revelation in this strip is the implication that, as much as he loves her, Clinton really doesn't like Claire. Given her tendency to ignore boundaries when she's excited, I can imagine that an introverted personality like his might resent how 'in your face' she can get about wanting details and wanting to 'help'.
Clinton is troubled and conflicted because Willow is basically the same personality type. Only she's a stranger. This means he has to sort out in his head whether Claire's behaviour is really annoying to him because she's his sister or whether it's just annoying. This will impact on what he decides to do with this person who has decided to be his friend irrespective of whether he wants her to be one.
Gyrre:
--- Quote from: BenRG on 31 Jan 2021, 23:29 ---I do think that the big revelation in this strip is the implication that, as much as he loves her, Clinton really doesn't like Claire. Given her tendency to ignore boundaries when she's excited, I can imagine that an introverted personality like his might resent how 'in your face' she can get about wanting details and wanting to 'help'.
Clinton is troubled and conflicted because Willow is basically the same personality type. Only she's a stranger. This means he has to sort out in his head whether Claire's behaviour is really annoying to him because she's his sister or whether it's just annoying. This will impact on what he decides to do with this person who has decided to be his friend irrespective of whether he wants her to be one.
--- End quote ---
I can certainly relate to the feeling of 'solve your own glaring personal issues before trying to get involved with mine' wben it comes to siblings and family.
"Remove the plank from your own eye before trying to remo e the speck of dust from your brother's" and all that
de_la_Nae:
*gestures at comic 4449*
y'all literally overlooking the fact that he literally says one of the reasons he's feeling anxious about this is because Eliot's a man, implying that this anxiety tastes different from the anxiety when he dated Emily.
it's not actually nearly as big a leap in logic as some of you are making it out to be, for reasons I can only guess/pattern match.
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