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I'm pretty sure this is the first time Jane and Marigold are hanging out, and it's not the best impression. Later on there is some question of whether Jane respects Mar - we will circle back to that haha.
I think around this time those online services that send you a bunch of measured-out recipe ingredients in tiny disposable packaging were taking off. It definitely gave me a feeling like Jane's that has not nearly subsided today.
6 thoughts on “#606 – a bohemian kinkade painting”
Bleh
People enjoy gifts more than shopping. It makes sense that eventually someone figured out how to capitalize on that, particularly with bored yuppies.
Tangerine
This kind of thing is what made me dubious about Marigold's supposed personal growth. She's so dippy and shallow, so easily swayed by whatever the newest trend is. She consistently presents as a mindless consumer lacking common sense and perception of how her friends perceive these things.
It's hard for me to see her as a match with savvy, snarky Jane for this reason. Jane just seems to change when she's with Marigold–there's no real evidence of them balancing each other out.
Hmmm. One could argue that there's a gradual transition in Marigold's trend-embracing through the comic–we see her semi-pompously shepherding friends through a spa day, and it's charming. And near the end we see that–of course!–she's an early adopter of the bullet journal, and that's for no one but herself.
It might be that it comes full-circle when she sees the insufferable tourists on the roof of her building, and she's just there with her hair down and her glasses on, not trying to show off, just living her life.
Mostly I'm with Hanna–Marigold drives me nuts whenever she's trying to show off instead of just living her life, which seems to be most of the time. And it continues far far past the point when she's supposedly had an awakening.
I root for Marigold, but she makes it hard. Her determination to make good money at any compromise of personal dreams and cultural values is such a stunted one. She'd be more interesting to me–more convincingly growing as a person–if she expressed any awareness of how that eventually backfires (isn't that a quintessential part of the whole classic-hippie-opt-out thing?), and if she had a plan (or even the desire for a plan) for eventually making money in a way that's meaningful to her. In my experience, people who make a flip like this without processing how it squares with who they were tend to go in a loop.
Maybe she eventually (as in, after the comic ends, but the very week it comes out, of course!) reads Michelle Obama's 'Becoming' and has her mind blown.
Part of me wishes she and Hanna could make up. But Hanna would have to reckon with the toxic part of herself that savored having a close friend she felt she was so superior to. And there's no indication that Hanna saw any need for that at all.
Chris
I think you're right that Marigold's transition with trends is important. Mar is sort of trying everything out at this point, but as the series continues she finds things that stick. She keeps the knitting, journaling, and even the spa days and abandons, for example, the glamping.
Jane doesn't stay the savvy, snarky character she is here, either. A huge part of her story is realizing that the persona she's crafted is kind of static in spite of the chaos and it's ultimately not making her happy. She has to fundamentally change how she approaches relationships in order to even start a real one with Marigold. And maybe the motivation is how earnest Mar is in figuring out the life she wants.
Tangerine
I love this.
Beshda
But when do we ever see Marigold’s dreams? They only ever seem to be talked about in the abstract sense, other than her mentioning her remaining dream of wanting children. That makes it hard to believe she really lost anything in the so-called compromise.
Christine Hottinger
I also judge those meal kits, but I always appreciate friends like Mar. You don't get anywhere new without trying shit.