Friday, 13 Jun 08

Disregard this post if you don’t know what I’m talking about

Posted in @#$@#RANTS at 1:13 am by jadeite

If you read the webcomic Ctrl-Alt-Del, you’ll have seen the latest comic story arc which involved Lilah getting pregnant and then miscarrying the baby - a strange storyline for a gaming comic, perhaps, but I thought it would later unravel to show how Ethan may have been shocked out of his childish behavior at least long enough to put his girlfriend’s emotional distress first - Ethan being typically portrayed as madcap and wild and completely without regard for proper social behavior. However, the story ended abruptly without any sort of real self-realization or maturity from Ethan. Guh, okay, whatever. Move on, right? It’s just a comic.

Then I read the comic artist’s news post about the storyline. The artist described his desire to “stress test” his characters’ relationships, “to see if there is really something there that would keep them together despite Ethan’s antics, and I decided that this was the best way to go about it.” He described how he and an ex had gone through a miscarriage, and how it had been the straw that broke the camel’s back in that event. Neither in his comic nor his news post did he show much understanding or compassionate empathy for couples who have been through traumatic miscarriages. He went from “Gee, poor Lilah, this must really suck for her” to a comic about Dungeons and Dragons. No resolution, nothing. He didn’t even show how their relationship had gotten stronger or weaker due to the incident. Nada, zip, zilch.

And I was quite peeved, to see how lightly the whole thing was treated. And one of my favorite webcomics, known for their complete irreverence and political incorrectness, has referred to the matter in their latest comic as well, quoting Tim’s insensitive blog post verbatim. The vibe this comic gives off is that it’s equally annoyed with the pathetic and tactless way Tim dealt with the matter, which I completely agree with. But I suppose it’s a bit hypocritical of Explosm too, since they’re obviously not noted for their own tact and sensitivity.

Meh. But still, I really really think nobody, especially not one who claims to have been through the trauma, should treat the subject of miscarriage so lightly and trivially. Women - and men! - all over the world have gone through really awful depression and trauma over the loss of a child that they had eagerly been anticipating and awaiting. It’s not something to be so easily passed over.

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