Last weekend, my Mother, two sisters and I watched one of Kenneth Branagh’s fantastic movies, Much Ado About Nothing - not the sort of movie one should watch when one does not have a love interest, and we are all single!
We started to compare Hero and Claudio’s relationship with Beatrice and Benedick’s. My mum decided without question that she would rather have her life follow the same path as Beatrice. She admires her strength and wit, and (being a divorcee of 4 years) ability to be happy without waiting for a man. I would prefer my life to follow the path of sweet, modest, romantic Hero. Even though she is so wronged, the movie ends with her marriage to a man hopelessly devoted to her (and who has hopefully learned to ask questions before making accusations).
I see in Hero a lot of qualities that we as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints are encouraged to cultivate. Humility, compassion, forgiveness. I want to believe that I won’t need Beatrice’s willingness to remain unmarried if she doesn’t meet her match, and I worry that if I encourage too much of her strength, I will scare off all potential suitors. I dream of marriage to a good, sweet man. A leader and patriarch, for whom I can be a helpmeet. I want the fairytale.
But, I know that my dream would not really satisfy me. I always wake up in the morning smart, sarcastic, strong and I need a man that can cater to that. I just pray that he really exists!
4 comments:
I love that movie but I always kind of thought Hero and Claudio were kind of sappy, especially the latter. I don't think I'd want a man who would fly off the handle like that, but then Benedick is kind of cruel too. What about the king? He's kind of a non-character but he does seem wise fair, and humorous. I kind of like the older guys too -- Hero and Beatrice's fathers I think they are? Though as long as we're going for dreamy, I say go straight for Christian Bale in a Midsummer Night's Dream. Have you seen Twelfth Night with Helena Bonham Carter? Its super.
I haven't seen the Midsummer movie, I'll have to rent it out. And yes, we watched Twelfth Night the week before. I agree about the sappiness. I guess it's a case of 'the grass is always greener' -- I'm a little too self-righteous and argumentative to be like Hero, so I probably won't end up with a relationship like hers. But, *sigh* how I wanted it after that movie!
Well Midsummer Night's Dream is fun as I recall, although the play was weird to begin with. It has Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett, Calista Flockhart, Sophie Marceau, Christian Bale and I don't remember who else. Kenneth Branaugh probably, isn't there some law he has to be in every Shakespeare movie? As long as we're talking fun costume dramas, Masterpiece Theater (I think?) recently came out with several new versions of Jane Austen. I didn't catch them when they were airing but now you can get them on DVD. I don't know if you have Netflix or something similar -- I rather doubt you'd find them in your average video store but you never know. I just rewatched "A room with a view" (love it -- I wouldn't mind a passionate kiss in a barley field like that from my husband of course) and a docudrama about Victoria and Albert. Clearly I'm a costume drama junkie.
How funny, the time difference makes it look like I'm up in the middle of the night on the internet. It's nearly 8 in the morning, a very respectable hour to be up and writing. Sorry last comment I promise.
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