Something I've been thinking about over the weekend: while Clinton's attitude and behaviour does tend to be overbearing and boorish, displaying poor judgment of character and jumping to conclusions, I get the impression that deep down, he means well. Consider his
conversation with Claire after the wedding where he backs off a bit and apologises with "Sorry. I just - I don't want you to get hurt.", to which she softens a bit and replies "I know". Claire's reaction suggests that he is genuine and is standing by/standing up for a member of his family in a way that is ultimately appreciated. He just doesn't go about it very well.
I also get the impression that certain past incidents have made him a tad over-sensitive, or quick to go on the defensive. It's possible that he's been around when unpleasant things have happened to Claire, or present when nasty or transphobic remarks have been made in front of her, or about her behind her back. If so, then he's probably more worried and inclined to be protective than he needs to be, though that's understandable. Due to the clumsiness of his words/lack of social graces, he may come off as a bit patriarchal, but it's probably the same way he'd act in defending a male relative, or close friend. At least, that's the way it comes across to me. It would be interesting to get some back story here, fleshing out both characters and making Clinton a bit more likeable.
On that note though, I've also been thinking about Claire's remarks in 2834. One's initial reaction is to smirk, chuckle, or even cheer, because Clinton is the less likeable character and we relish the thought of him getting egg on his face, or verbally dressed down. However, the more I think about it...well, it's kind of bratty and immature of Claire, almost going out of the way to cause drama. The adult thing to do would be to tell him about Marten, and set him straight: something like "We're together, we care about one another, Marten's a good guy, and we're all going to be adults about this", with a warning that he needs to back off and not interfere in the relationship. Instead, he's being set up to be caught off guard and possibly go off half-cocked.
That suggests that although deep down they do love and support one another as siblings, Claire is just as antagonistic towards Clinton as he is towards her.
In her own words, he's "really fun to pick on", which dances the line of being a bullying attitude. Again, we let it slide or even applaud it because Clinton comes across as creepy and unlikeable, but how much of that comes down to the way he's treated, or some back story that we haven't been told yet?
I'm sure Clinton will need to be put in his place, but perhaps Claire needs to re-evaluate how she treats him, too. You lose some of the moral high ground when you scold someone for being disproportionately angry, when you've gone out of your way to anger them in the first place.
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Topic: WCDT: 2831-2835 (10 - 14 November 2014) Weekly Comic Discussion Thread (Read 69978 times)