I must admit I’m probably in the minority of Alina Pete’s Weregeeks readership who actually likes Mark’s girlfriend, Jessica. While I understand many readers feel Sarah is a better fit for Mark insomuch that she shares interests with him, in many ways I’m old-fashioned and feel that if a relationship has grown to the point that a couple are close, maybe even considering marriage (I could have sworn they were engaged, but my memory’s never been the best) then they should do their best to work through their differences. It is these differences that can make relationships interesting when you get down to it.
Thus I’ve watched the current fight between Jessica and Mark with tremendous trepidation. I’m not exactly fond of emotionally-charged situations like this (I always have that little voice in the back of my head blaming me for what’s happening, no doubt because as a writer I have caused my share of pain for my own characters). But what’s worse is that I felt this entire situation could have been avoided with a little bit of honesty and taking time to communicate. At least, I felt that up until today’s strip, when Jessica promptly fell off the sympathy wagon and got mud all over her outfit.
First, I should state for the record that Jessica was wrong to snoop in Mark’s e-mail. It wasn’t even so much that she opened the browser page to find the e-mail from Sarah as part of the Vampire Live Action Role Playing game they’re in which led her to thinking her boyfriend was cheating on her. But it was the final panel of todays’ strip that fully stripped any sympathy I felt for Jessica away, especially because it’s true! We’re talking about a guy who helped her out with her church, despite not being a member from what I can tell. He respected her interests and her beliefs. And yet she falls right into the trap he accidently set by making fun of his hobbies… right after claiming she didn’t.
One of the things I believe (and no doubt it’s foolish to think this) is that a healthy relationship isn’t comprised of attraction, but instead of loyalty, communication, and respect. Yes, Mark and Jessica are attracted to one another. Mark’s a decent man, and from what we’ve seen of Jessica, she’s usually a nice person. But she doesn’t respect him. She snubs his hobbies and ridicules him for it; it may not be the level of disdain that some people in the Weregeeks world hold for geeks, but she doesn’t make an effort to understand his interests and doesn’t understand why her interests aren’t good enough for him.
Honestly? At this point I can’t help but think this relationship is going to fall apart. Nor do I think Mark will end up with Sarah, seeing that she made an effort to befriend Jessica and does share interests with Jessica. Indeed, I could even see Sarah working to patch things up between Mark and Jessica, rather than pursue him for herself. I mean, that’s just not done. But given the greater world of Weregeeks and some of the truly insane elements within it (including a group of people who murder or brainwash geeks and get away with it), I doubt very much this will be the last we see of Jessica. The only question is what role she’ll play in the future.
General Protection Fault
The sad thing is, it can take very little to create such perceptions. One such example can be found in the recent Global Protection Fault comics, with Fooker and Patty talking about Tim (another of the tertiary characters)… and his reaction when she implies to Fooker that Tim might be gay and seems to be attracted to Fooker. Okay, I’ll admit that if I was trying to put computer memory into a server and was told that a coworker was gay and into me, I might break the memory as well. But mostly it’s Fooker’s facial expression and how he worked things that hints to me that while Fooker might say he doesn’t care what people do privately, he personally doesn’t approve of homosexuality. And while I suspect cartoonist Jeffrey T. Darlington may not intend to imply this, I think it would be an interesting path to take with Fooker.
Let’s be honest here; while there is growing acceptance of homosexuality and the LGBT movement, prejudice is an ingrained trait for people. We can overcome it, but deep down there is still that tiny germ waiting to sprout at the most unexpected moment. Thus I feel it would be interesting (and valuable) to see this potentiality with Fooker expanded upon. Let him have a personal aversion to homosexuality… and show his efforts to keep this from influencing how he reacts to Tim or to other homosexual men if Tim is in fact straight – I’m afraid I don’t recall one way or another, though if Tim is gay, then Darlington has done fairly well at subtly introducing this element, laying the groundwork until Patty launched a salvo to disconcert Fooker.
Of course, this could just be Patty trying to disconcert Fooker, who’d been needling her about her own semi-relationship with Dexter. And let’s be honest here; Fooker was out of place to press her about things with Dexter. But if it were just Patty “getting even” with Fooker, it was in rather poor taste. What’s more, I’d be interested in seeing this element expanded upon. Things such as hidden prejudices tend to be ignored by cartoonists due to the ease of internet drama and reader misconceptions. While Fooker has never been a “perfect” character, his relationship with Sharon is stable now, his distrust of Trudy is understandable, and his other “flaws” tend to be lackluster or laughable. And to be honest, it’s Nick that is the author’s mouthpiece, so any flaws Fooker show can be brushed off as storytelling elements.
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Posted in Webcomic commentary
Tagged Character development, Character flaws, Homosexuality in comics