The penny press offered a new idea on love, or more often, gossip as it relates to love. Dr. Burt described that with the invention of a newer, cheaper way to gather information on a local and then on a national and finally a global level, it changed the way we love and how we think about love. Headlines about young girls running away to elope with a lover may have swayed those reading it to pull the reigns in tighter with their teenage daughters, or may have encouraged these girls one way or another. One may read this article and think of the public shame and embarrassment that may surround her decision once everyone had found out what she'd done, and not run away with her boyfriend. Another, liking the attention that was devoted to the subject of the article, may decide to follow in her footsteps, fueled with the need to have this attention or courage through what she did.
This idea of gaining attention through the media may have changed love in a different way. Now, since it was popularized and the "new thing to do," people may be "falling in love" just because it would draw some focus to them. Scandals sold well, it was the thing that everyone was talking about. Love affairs with married individuals, large age differences, many partners, pregnancy, divorce, all those things sell and that's why it happened. None of it was real, much like reality shows today, it's just the fights, the drama and the repercussions of watching it. And the feeling that the viewer might have by thinking, "Well, at least my life didn't turn out like his/hers." It's a sort of voyeurism that we like in seeing people use love as a commodity instead of an actual relationship taking place with merit and value. When we commercialize love, it stops being real.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Mythology, Zeus and Ancient Love
Love predates pretty much everything, it seems. At least, that's what I took away from Dr. Richard Freund's lecture. When he discussed Greek mythology, especially Zeus and his many forms, I felt his point was clear. Greek mythology had always been interesting to me, although I never really perused it in an academic setting.
There are a lot of implications about love in those myths, and Dr. Freund talked about some of those, especially pertaining to Zeus, who is arguably the most known god according to mythology. One that I remember in particular was something about how humans initially were created with four arms, four legs, and a head with two faces. Zeus feared their power and split the humans, so they would wander around searching for their other half. We hear this expression a lot, especially with the term "soul mate." Even love that we wouldn't conventionally think of, like how religions seem to have a slightly erotic connotation with their icons and images. This is important because without these stories and ideas of different kinds of attraction, desire and love, we wouldn't have the complex theories we've discussed so far in our lecture series or in class.
There are a lot of implications about love in those myths, and Dr. Freund talked about some of those, especially pertaining to Zeus, who is arguably the most known god according to mythology. One that I remember in particular was something about how humans initially were created with four arms, four legs, and a head with two faces. Zeus feared their power and split the humans, so they would wander around searching for their other half. We hear this expression a lot, especially with the term "soul mate." Even love that we wouldn't conventionally think of, like how religions seem to have a slightly erotic connotation with their icons and images. This is important because without these stories and ideas of different kinds of attraction, desire and love, we wouldn't have the complex theories we've discussed so far in our lecture series or in class.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Love After Divorce
Dr. Miller-Ott's lecture was quite interesting. But honestly speaking, one of my biggest fears is of divorce. Most likely because I haven't really been exposed to it. My parents aren't divorced, neither is really anyone in my family. At least, not after I came along. This is probably because I'm still trying to hold onto that idea of "true love." The thought of divorce means that obviously, people aren't finding that true love. Which makes me wonder if it's even possible to achieve at all.
Even though there are many reasons for divorce than just getting bored of or falling out of love with a spouse. Cheating, abuse, a whole host of problems. I suppose none of those things really mean that they haven't found that fairy tale "one true love." At the same time, I never really thought that anyone could come back from that. But it's obviously possible since many people do it. The statistics on it, as presented, are numerous and vast. That just goes to show that divorce must shape our idea about love and that love shapes our ideas about divorce.
We always talk about, at least, in class, about falling in love. We never really talk about what happens when you fall out of love. After the commitment, after the ceremony and all these years together with history and kids. It's weird to think that two people who once thought so highly of each other could suddenly have nothing left, but it seems to happen a lot. But at the same time, it's important to talk about and to recognize and to discuss. That people fall in love and then they can fall out of it. But then that they can find someone else. Maybe our ideal of what we want in a spouse changes over the years and the one you have doesn't end up being the one you want anymore. Maybe that's okay, maybe that's not.
Even though there are many reasons for divorce than just getting bored of or falling out of love with a spouse. Cheating, abuse, a whole host of problems. I suppose none of those things really mean that they haven't found that fairy tale "one true love." At the same time, I never really thought that anyone could come back from that. But it's obviously possible since many people do it. The statistics on it, as presented, are numerous and vast. That just goes to show that divorce must shape our idea about love and that love shapes our ideas about divorce.
We always talk about, at least, in class, about falling in love. We never really talk about what happens when you fall out of love. After the commitment, after the ceremony and all these years together with history and kids. It's weird to think that two people who once thought so highly of each other could suddenly have nothing left, but it seems to happen a lot. But at the same time, it's important to talk about and to recognize and to discuss. That people fall in love and then they can fall out of it. But then that they can find someone else. Maybe our ideal of what we want in a spouse changes over the years and the one you have doesn't end up being the one you want anymore. Maybe that's okay, maybe that's not.
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Politics and Love
A lot of what Dr. Borck said was difficult to understand, at least at first. In part, I think it was because Plato's philosophy and politics in general seem to be daunting. And also, because someone wouldn't typically think that love relates to politics. Or, at least, not directly.
Studying history in high school, I remembered reading about allies, especially when it came to World Wars 1 and 2. The countries that were on the same side of the issues being fought over would collaborate. Now, I wasn't there or anything, but I'm pretty sure these leaders didn't have little tea parties or lunch dates. Instead, it was more about working together for a common goal, or greater good. There's a saying I kept thinking about during her lecture. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
That's what I mostly took from Dr. Borck. It's not commonality or friendship that binds people, and it's certainly not love in the traditional aspect, but more of Us vs. Them. The other, or your allies, in a sense. Everyone who wasn't your enemy is your ally. We see this being repeated, in some sort of variance, throughout this course with the books and the movies. If someone isn't on their side, they're most likely an enemy, or something of the sort. This applies to every day life in the same way. The people you work with especially are the people that you have to trust and get along with and love, at least politically.
Studying history in high school, I remembered reading about allies, especially when it came to World Wars 1 and 2. The countries that were on the same side of the issues being fought over would collaborate. Now, I wasn't there or anything, but I'm pretty sure these leaders didn't have little tea parties or lunch dates. Instead, it was more about working together for a common goal, or greater good. There's a saying I kept thinking about during her lecture. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
That's what I mostly took from Dr. Borck. It's not commonality or friendship that binds people, and it's certainly not love in the traditional aspect, but more of Us vs. Them. The other, or your allies, in a sense. Everyone who wasn't your enemy is your ally. We see this being repeated, in some sort of variance, throughout this course with the books and the movies. If someone isn't on their side, they're most likely an enemy, or something of the sort. This applies to every day life in the same way. The people you work with especially are the people that you have to trust and get along with and love, at least politically.
Sunday, February 3, 2013
Before Sunrise
I'm not exactly sure if Jesse and Celine will meet again in six months. I obviously know they'll meet again, considering there's a sequel. But if there wasn't, I don't think they would meet up again. This could just be because I'm pretty cynical when it comes to people promising they're going to do something, like meet up later. And six months is a pretty long time to go without communication, as they've agreed to.
If they don't meet again, which I'm not banking on (at least not when they had initially agreed on) their time together wasn't wasted. There doesn't necessarily have to be a "point" to being with someone, even if it's a short amount of time. At the end of their 24 hours, it's not like they're strangers, like they had started off as. Considering they've burned through many different topics--relatively quickly considering how long they had for everything discussed--I wouldn't consider them to be foreign to each other. Even though sex was involved, as some would say that was too soon, they seemed to know more about each other in the span of a day than some couples do after months.
So, it doesn't really seem like there was a "point" to their time together except for the fact that they both met and enjoyed the company of what had started off as a perfect stranger. They both took a break from their lives and whatever problems they were facing to do something out-of-the-ordinary. Maybe nothing was gained except for just the knowledge that they could do it in the first place. After all, it must've taken a lot of courage to run around Vienna with a complete and total stranger.
If they don't meet again, which I'm not banking on (at least not when they had initially agreed on) their time together wasn't wasted. There doesn't necessarily have to be a "point" to being with someone, even if it's a short amount of time. At the end of their 24 hours, it's not like they're strangers, like they had started off as. Considering they've burned through many different topics--relatively quickly considering how long they had for everything discussed--I wouldn't consider them to be foreign to each other. Even though sex was involved, as some would say that was too soon, they seemed to know more about each other in the span of a day than some couples do after months.
So, it doesn't really seem like there was a "point" to their time together except for the fact that they both met and enjoyed the company of what had started off as a perfect stranger. They both took a break from their lives and whatever problems they were facing to do something out-of-the-ordinary. Maybe nothing was gained except for just the knowledge that they could do it in the first place. After all, it must've taken a lot of courage to run around Vienna with a complete and total stranger.
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