A bunch of people got mad when they found out that MacGraw and McQueen were married in Cheyenne, WY. Knew the justice of the peace. He brought the check for me to see. He never cashed it!
That’s true, poihths. (If that’s you or someone you know, my sympathies and best wishes.)
But GT has captured exactly the kind of thoughtless, clueless one-liner that someone of Alex’s age might say. (No mean trick for a writer who must himself be a “seasoned citizen”.)
I think the point is: Ali MacGraw was so gorgeous that it was hard to believe she had cancer, or even a bad cold. The Big C is not funny and I don’t think any disrespect was intended. Read the Christopher Hitchens articles on this subject. Thoughtful and, yeah, somewhat humorous…
I just hit the big 60 and really, really hate cancer and hope for a cure. The quicker the better.
I often hear these “thoughtless, clueless one-liners” (as SCAATY aptly characterizes them) from my university students. I feel sorry for young adults like Alex. They have so little confidence in themselves and their future that they’re driven to depend on their elders—-not even parents, but grandparents!—-for their very dreams.
As usual in his recent strips, Trudeau is satirizing all of us parents, teachers, and mentors who have failed to provide Alex’s generation with anything like the guidance we had from our elders. GT is showing us that we (and he) abdicated our generational authority.
(I vivdly recall my friend’s mother telling another parent, “Yes I take Joe to church even though I’m an agnostic myself. I want him to grow up with SOME beliefs that he can rebel against. If he grows up totally ignorant, he’ll fall prey to some incoherent guru.”)
A minor point: In the movie, her disease was never categorized. The assumption was cancer or leukemia, but it was never stated. Roger Ebert called it “Ali MacGraw Disease” and defined it as “A movie illness in which the only symptom is that the sufferer grows more beautiful as death approaches”.
I’m thinking it was Mad Magazine that published the definitive critique of “Love Story” - as Ali McGraw’s cancer progressed, she was shot through progressively blurry gauze filters so that she got more and more beautiful the closer she got to dying. (This was before HD)
I always hated that movie, it was so sickeningly sweet. and “love means never having to say you’re sorry”! I’ve never figured out what that’s supposed to mean:
If you love someone, you just automatically never do anything that could hurt them? (clearly false, but maybe if you’re living in the world that this movie depicts you think so…)
If you do hurt them, they just automatically forgive you, and it’s immediately forgiven and forgotten? (same comment as before)
not to mention that I would never accuse either Ali McGraw or Ryan O’Neal of being able to act. and personally, I don’t remember her as being particularly beautiful.
it’s a long time since I thought of this movie, and I’ll be happy to forget it again!
Drome, could you read the characters as characters rather than as emblems for “the generations”? Your reading diminishes them. Mike, Kim, & Joanie have been great for Alex, who is one of the strip’s most interesting characters.
G.B. Trudeau has said that he has increasing interest in Alex, Leo, & Melissa, and less interest in Mike, Mark, B.D., & Zonker. Note that the cover of the 40th anniversary collection shows Mike & Alex, and a strip of a few years ago, showed Alex narrating her life the way that Mike used to narrate his. Trudeau is passing the torch.
Your statement that “we… abdicated our generational authority” is misguided.
By the way, Love Story, the book, Jenny has leukemia.
ahhh. my youth, Love Story with it, Romeo & Juliet, Sound of Music, Easy Rider, Woodstock,the Draft, riots, VietNam, uck.
whew. i’m glad i’m done with THAT era.
give me recession, debt, and obama any day. count yer blessings.
Ali also did Goodbye Columbus which was the anti-Love Story. (Also Jack Klugman.)
“I’m not a dreamer. I’m a liver.”
“I’m a pancreas.”
“Joe” gave us Susan Saranden and Peter Boyle.
2001 gave us Hal, the modern Frankenstein ( along with “West world”)
Laugh In (John Wayne in a bunny suit) , UNCLE (pre-NCIS David Macallum) The funny Get Smart (What was Steve C THINKING), Nostalgia for the good times other people seemed to be having on the silvered screen.
Not worth it Alex, from one who knows. Cancer doesn’t improve anyone’s looks – despite the repeated comment that “You look GREAT!!!” And yes, I know people mean well and just don’t know what to say.
pouncingtiger over 13 years ago
The great delusion.
jumbobrain over 13 years ago
Doonesbury is 40? I don’t even wanna think about how old that makes me.
pbarnrob over 13 years ago
Unibrow and all? Meh.
cdward over 13 years ago
40? Why, that would make me…..older.
lewisbower over 13 years ago
Actually, my mother told me about the early strips as I was still in Depends, er, diapers.
Yukoneric over 13 years ago
A bunch of people got mad when they found out that MacGraw and McQueen were married in Cheyenne, WY. Knew the justice of the peace. He brought the check for me to see. He never cashed it!
poihths over 13 years ago
Cancer - “bring it on?” Don’t try to sell that joke to people who have it.
peter0423 over 13 years ago
That’s true, poihths. (If that’s you or someone you know, my sympathies and best wishes.)
But GT has captured exactly the kind of thoughtless, clueless one-liner that someone of Alex’s age might say. (No mean trick for a writer who must himself be a “seasoned citizen”.)
uhuru1968 over 13 years ago
I think the point is: Ali MacGraw was so gorgeous that it was hard to believe she had cancer, or even a bad cold. The Big C is not funny and I don’t think any disrespect was intended. Read the Christopher Hitchens articles on this subject. Thoughtful and, yeah, somewhat humorous… I just hit the big 60 and really, really hate cancer and hope for a cure. The quicker the better.
cdhaley over 13 years ago
I often hear these “thoughtless, clueless one-liners” (as SCAATY aptly characterizes them) from my university students. I feel sorry for young adults like Alex. They have so little confidence in themselves and their future that they’re driven to depend on their elders—-not even parents, but grandparents!—-for their very dreams.
As usual in his recent strips, Trudeau is satirizing all of us parents, teachers, and mentors who have failed to provide Alex’s generation with anything like the guidance we had from our elders. GT is showing us that we (and he) abdicated our generational authority.
(I vivdly recall my friend’s mother telling another parent, “Yes I take Joe to church even though I’m an agnostic myself. I want him to grow up with SOME beliefs that he can rebel against. If he grows up totally ignorant, he’ll fall prey to some incoherent guru.”)
Sandfan over 13 years ago
A minor point: In the movie, her disease was never categorized. The assumption was cancer or leukemia, but it was never stated. Roger Ebert called it “Ali MacGraw Disease” and defined it as “A movie illness in which the only symptom is that the sufferer grows more beautiful as death approaches”.
glenardis over 13 years ago
love story, kalin gibran, johnathan livingstone seagull, polyester, and sensitivity groups.
no wonder our children screwed up. they never really had any hope.
glenardis over 13 years ago
kalil, kahlil, kay lill, kay tel, duh…where did i leave that box of depends peon?
longtimecomicsfan over 13 years ago
I’m thinking it was Mad Magazine that published the definitive critique of “Love Story” - as Ali McGraw’s cancer progressed, she was shot through progressively blurry gauze filters so that she got more and more beautiful the closer she got to dying. (This was before HD)
RinaFarina over 13 years ago
I always hated that movie, it was so sickeningly sweet. and “love means never having to say you’re sorry”! I’ve never figured out what that’s supposed to mean:
If you love someone, you just automatically never do anything that could hurt them? (clearly false, but maybe if you’re living in the world that this movie depicts you think so…) If you do hurt them, they just automatically forgive you, and it’s immediately forgiven and forgotten? (same comment as before)
not to mention that I would never accuse either Ali McGraw or Ryan O’Neal of being able to act. and personally, I don’t remember her as being particularly beautiful.
it’s a long time since I thought of this movie, and I’ll be happy to forget it again!
BrianCrook over 13 years ago
I agree with Fbjsr.
Drome, could you read the characters as characters rather than as emblems for “the generations”? Your reading diminishes them. Mike, Kim, & Joanie have been great for Alex, who is one of the strip’s most interesting characters.
G.B. Trudeau has said that he has increasing interest in Alex, Leo, & Melissa, and less interest in Mike, Mark, B.D., & Zonker. Note that the cover of the 40th anniversary collection shows Mike & Alex, and a strip of a few years ago, showed Alex narrating her life the way that Mike used to narrate his. Trudeau is passing the torch.
Your statement that “we… abdicated our generational authority” is misguided.
By the way, Love Story, the book, Jenny has leukemia.
dfowensby over 13 years ago
ahhh. my youth, Love Story with it, Romeo & Juliet, Sound of Music, Easy Rider, Woodstock,the Draft, riots, VietNam, uck. whew. i’m glad i’m done with THAT era. give me recession, debt, and obama any day. count yer blessings.
freeholder1 over 13 years ago
Love means never having to say I love you.
From the Mad Rip-off mentioned.
Ali also did Goodbye Columbus which was the anti-Love Story. (Also Jack Klugman.)
“I’m not a dreamer. I’m a liver.”
“I’m a pancreas.”
“Joe” gave us Susan Saranden and Peter Boyle.
2001 gave us Hal, the modern Frankenstein ( along with “West world”)
Laugh In (John Wayne in a bunny suit) , UNCLE (pre-NCIS David Macallum) The funny Get Smart (What was Steve C THINKING), Nostalgia for the good times other people seemed to be having on the silvered screen.
Dragoncat over 13 years ago
Trust me, Alex…
Your relationship with Toggle is doing just fine without the cancer.
lindz.coop Premium Member over 13 years ago
Not worth it Alex, from one who knows. Cancer doesn’t improve anyone’s looks – despite the repeated comment that “You look GREAT!!!” And yes, I know people mean well and just don’t know what to say.
ransomdstone over 13 years ago
A great crop of interesting and well articulated comments! Wish there were a lot more of this caliber.