(no subject)
thefaeriegirl asked a GREAT question in honor of Valentine's Day.
She says, I've spoken before about how I hate how romance and relationships are portrayed in just about every artistic medium. According to my definition of "true" love I have only found one example.
So, today I ask you to name an example you’ve found in an artistic medium, film, literature, visual art - (excluding music, because it is too easy, but if you must to illustrate your point, then ok), that best illustrates your ideas, beliefs and perceptions of “true” love.
Share your answer(s). Post in your own journal, if you want! Here are mine:
True Love:
~Alexias and Lysis in The Last of the Wine (Mary Renault). Two (fictional) young men in ancient Athens, students of Socrates, soldiers under Alkibiades. Their relationship is based on comradeship and romantic love which ends up being sexual, but it's also based on admiration for each other's excellence (as thinkers, athletes, soldiers, etc.), a very strong code of honor, and a mutual sense of the sacredness of love and friendship.
~Alexander and Bagoas in The Persian Boy (Mary Renault). Alexander is "the Great," and Bagoas is the young Persian eunuch who becomes his courtesan. The story is told in first person from the perspective of Bagoas, who falls in love with Alexander so hard that the reader falls right along with him. ::happy sigh::
~Ann and Graham in the movie sex lies and videotape. I like the realistic and interesting way their relationship develops from shy inclination (I love the scene where she watches him sleep!) into love. There is such a sense that each of them is healing for the other -- that they are so compatible precisely because they are both damaged or troubled as sexual beings and spouses/partners.
~Hawkeye and Cora in the movie Last of the Mohicans. The depiction of their relationship against that epic backdrop just gets to me. That is some truly believable passionate love; I hardly even know why.
The following examples are not what I would call true love, but they are also romantic-swoon-inducing...
Tragic/unfulfilled/unfulfillable:
~Vicomte de Valmont and Madame de Tourvel in Dangerous Liaisons
~Pauline and Juliet in Heavenly Creatures
~Harrison Ford and the Amish woman in Witness
~Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
~Miranda and Sara in Picnic at Hanging Rock
Platonic partnerships with sexual tension:
~St. Francis and St. Clare (in Zeffirelli's film Brother Sun, Sister Moon)
~Frodo and Sam (admit it, mrghoul.)
~Mulder and Scully
She says, I've spoken before about how I hate how romance and relationships are portrayed in just about every artistic medium. According to my definition of "true" love I have only found one example.
So, today I ask you to name an example you’ve found in an artistic medium, film, literature, visual art - (excluding music, because it is too easy, but if you must to illustrate your point, then ok), that best illustrates your ideas, beliefs and perceptions of “true” love.
Share your answer(s). Post in your own journal, if you want! Here are mine:
True Love:
~Alexias and Lysis in The Last of the Wine (Mary Renault). Two (fictional) young men in ancient Athens, students of Socrates, soldiers under Alkibiades. Their relationship is based on comradeship and romantic love which ends up being sexual, but it's also based on admiration for each other's excellence (as thinkers, athletes, soldiers, etc.), a very strong code of honor, and a mutual sense of the sacredness of love and friendship.
~Alexander and Bagoas in The Persian Boy (Mary Renault). Alexander is "the Great," and Bagoas is the young Persian eunuch who becomes his courtesan. The story is told in first person from the perspective of Bagoas, who falls in love with Alexander so hard that the reader falls right along with him. ::happy sigh::
~Ann and Graham in the movie sex lies and videotape. I like the realistic and interesting way their relationship develops from shy inclination (I love the scene where she watches him sleep!) into love. There is such a sense that each of them is healing for the other -- that they are so compatible precisely because they are both damaged or troubled as sexual beings and spouses/partners.
~Hawkeye and Cora in the movie Last of the Mohicans. The depiction of their relationship against that epic backdrop just gets to me. That is some truly believable passionate love; I hardly even know why.
The following examples are not what I would call true love, but they are also romantic-swoon-inducing...
Tragic/unfulfilled/unfulfillable:
~Vicomte de Valmont and Madame de Tourvel in Dangerous Liaisons
~Pauline and Juliet in Heavenly Creatures
~Harrison Ford and the Amish woman in Witness
~Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
~Miranda and Sara in Picnic at Hanging Rock
Platonic partnerships with sexual tension:
~St. Francis and St. Clare (in Zeffirelli's film Brother Sun, Sister Moon)
~Frodo and Sam (admit it, mrghoul.)
~Mulder and Scully