Month: May 2012

The Prom-ulgator

Epicus Doomus
May 16, 2012 at 12:37 am
Is that f*cking Les standing there behind Nate in panel two?

Jeffcoat Wayne
May 16, 2012 at 1:01 pm
I believe that’s both Les and Cayla standing off to the side behind Nate. How fun!

Yep, Lord and Lady Douchebag have a place of honor behind Nate, and Summer beams her approval as he wraps up his sermon. If “the long and short of it” is that the SSC is allowed to attend in accordance with the school’s rules, why the hell didn’t Nate just tell Roberta that when she blew into his office? Oh, right: this is a month-long prestige arc.

promulgate (ˈprɒm(ə)lgeɪt), verb: promote or make widely known (an idea or cause)

Intolerably

Charles
May 16, 2012 at 1:59 pm
Actually, Nate going all Rules-Lawyer on this is actually pretty cowardly of TB. But we already knew that. And his lecturing the children as if they weren’t already in support of what he’s arguing is a narrative failure.

Nate continues to “tell it like it is”. In classic TB “tell-don’t-show” style, the principal states that intolerance exists “inside this building as well.” But the only objection we’ve seen to the SSC (same-sex couple, if you’re just joining us)  has come from perennial Puritan Roberta and the mob of anonymous adults outside the building. Wouldn’t it make for a more compelling story to portray at least a few students as less than accepting? Instead, Batiuk unwisely casts this as an old-fogeys-vs-the-kids conflict.

By the Book

Weird way to approach the whole gay prom issue, Nate. Start with a little passive-agressiveness towards the student body, waving the Westview High Student Handbook and asking “Remember this?” ‘Cause, y’know, those high school kids get their hands on that handbook and memorize it cover to cover, lest they run afoul of “the rules”.

Meanwhile in Kentucky, a real-life same-sex couple was denied entrance to the senior prom at Lexington Catholic High School:

Hope Decker, 18, a senior, and sophomore Tiffany Wright, 16, had already gotten their dresses for the event, but Friday afternoon they were told by school administrators they could not attend as a couple because of the church’s stance on same-sex relationships…When the couple tried to enter the school’s gymnasium, where the prom was held, they were turned away, so Wright said they held their own prom in the school’s parking lot.

I Suppose You're Wondering Why I've Called You All Here Today

Their walkout averted, the Westview kids trudge to the gym to listen to What Mr. Green Is Going To Say. It’s heartening to see that Cody and Owen are already completely over their mutual crush on Summer: she’s walking about ten paces ahead of them and they’re not even looking her way.