GAMES FOR OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE COUPLES – INTRODUCTION
In The Odd Couple, Felix (the control freak) is always chastising Oscar (the slob), telling him to pick up after himself, wash his dishes, clean his room, eat better foods (not junk foods), and generally act more mannerly. Felix not only gets to order Oscar around, he also continually assumes and expresses moral outrage at Oscar’s slovenly ways. Oscar, meanwhile, continually foils Felix’s attempts to control him and shrugs off his companion’s moral outrage. If Felix picks up after Oscar and gives him a lecture, Oscar almost immediately—and not always absentmindedly—drops something else. Hence he defeats all of Felix’s attempts to control him and ends up infuriating his tormentor. In fact, the two are playing out the role of the scolding parent and the recalcitrant child.
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