by Zoe O'Brien
by Zoe O'BrienIt's true. I seriously dislike "Cathy", that comic strip by Cathy Guisewhite. I won't say "hate" because that's just too strong of an emotion for a lousy cartoon. But I do truly dislike the cartoon, with all of its irritating, whiny characters, especially the noseless woman who appears in the title role. How could a woman with so much disposable income can do so much complaining is beyond me. If I had enough money to waste on 20 pairs of taupe shoes, I'd keep my bloody mouth shut and be grateful for what I had. This "Cathy" has been a single career woman for quite awhile...her mother goes on about the fact she should get married and have kids. How many years has this gone on? Shouldn't "Cathy" be nearing menopause by now? Hey, you could get a lot of joke mileage out of that and substitute that for all the weight jokes for awhile. How about having her parents getting older and in poor health and she has to either look after them or try to find a nursing home that won't tie them into their beds and force feed them tranquilisers?What I do hate is the "woman all do this and men are all like that" idea in the cartoon. There's a good number of joke lists floating around the internet on that same theme. Woman can't manage finances, they like to buy frou-frou house furnishings, they buy too many shoes, they're all obsessed with their weight, etc. Men are insensitive, only care deeply about sports and technology, are inept in matters of manners, etc. I could on and on (a lot of people could.) While it's true there are difference between genders in behaviour, those tired old stereotypes seem to be ideals some people are trying to live up to instead of live down. Every day I open to the comics page and read "Cathy" last because it's sure to irritate me. The whining, incompentant, self-centred, monetarily and socially privaleged Cathy character doesn't get my sympathy. I do, however, feel sorry for her dog for having such a neurotic owner.
And what's the deal with the "noseless" visage of the happy heroine? What is that about? Perhaps an unconscious mutilation brought on by dissatifaction with bodily appearance, hmm?
My Rejected Amazon.com Review
Amazon didn't want it. Hah hah hah.
