NOTE: This is the first lecture video for our class, and it's meant to introduce you to some of the historical and literary context for our first book, Manon Lescaut. I think it's always beneficial to know something about the world of a book (its time, author, country, etc.) before reading it. We'll talk about many of these issues in class next week, and your first set of questions (which I'll post on Wednesday) will ask you to think about some of these concepts.
There is a SHORT RESPONSE QUESTION below the video, so watch the video first, and then ANSWER THE QUESTION AS A COMMENT. It's not meant to be tricky or in-depth; rather, it's just a simple way to replicate a class discussion, so you can hear other people's responses and voice your own. For Monday classes, this will be due on Wednesday by 5pm; for Wednesday classes, this will be due on Friday by 5pm. But feel free to watch it and comment on it early if you choose.
[Also--the video opens with about 10 seconds of dead air...for some reason the music didn't record. I'll fix that next time. Bear with me!]
THE RESPONSE QUESTION (post as a comment below, OR e-mail it to me if you have trouble posting. You might copy your comment before posting in case it gets deleted accidentally, so you can paste it in an e-mail): The works of art in the video are critical of love in high society, poking fun at how looks can be deceiving in the art of love making (not just sex, but flirting, wooing, etc.). Can you think of a modern work of art (a song, a movie, a show, or a book) that is equally critical of love relationships in modern society? Something that reveals a "behind the scenes" work to how romantic things really look under the microscope?
That's an interesting response, though I could argue that one of the most consistent experiences of love (or stories of love) is about unrequited love. Is that what's going on here? Or it is something else? How might this song be satirizing or revealing something larger about the way we attempt to date and have relationships? In the novel, for example, the main character believes that love removes all boundaries and that (to quote a popular song) "all you need is love." But the author shows how hollow this claim is, and how there are much greater forces impacting relationships than mutual attraction or affection. But I think this song could be a useful one to explore for these connections.
ReplyDeleteI think that the song "Love the Way You Lie" by Eminem (featuring Rhianna) is a good example of a modern work of art that is equally critical of love relationships in modern society. It reveals that, behind the scenes, not all relationships are perfect and romantic. They can also be confusing, toxic, harmful, and entrapping. It can be full of conflicting emotions, manipulation, and difficult decisions just as easily as it can be sunshine and daisies.
ReplyDeleteYes, this is a great example, since songs are traditionally supposed to perpetuate the romance and fairy tale aspects of love (as a kind of soundtrack to love). This song doesn't, and reminds us that more people probably get hurt or traumatized by the experience than live 'happy ever after.' We'll see many of the same sentiments in Manon.
DeleteUltimately by Khai Dreams comes to my mind. The lyrics don't have anything to hide, they speak what they mean, and one of the lines that hits hard is "I wish I could be different but I'm still growing up..." "I don't know if I'll ever be enough..."
ReplyDeleteNot only does this song have a catchy melody but the meaning of the song speaks of the imperfections of not only being in a relationship but also being human. A relationship isn't always up and up and up. There are times where there are hardships and another thing I like about the song is that it doesn't point fingers, it doesn't say "You made me do this from how you treated me," they are taking responsibility for their actions, acknowledging that they made a mistake and will hard to make things right again, together with their significant other.
Ah, this is a great response because so many 'bad' relationships songs are finger-pointers. You see that one person has been a total creep or a liar, etc., and ruined what should have been a perfect relationship. However, it's often hard to tell where these relationships go wrong, and both parties end up misunderstanding, deceiving, and firing shots. It will be fun to see who is most to blame in Manon, since each side has their share of misdeeds.
DeleteI am a book nerd through and through so of course I tried to think of a book but I could not think of anything new. However, I did see an image online of some graffiti in California that came to mind. Although the image can be interpreted in many different ways, I felt that it sort of poked fun of what love looks like amidst our current pandemic situation. The image itself is of two people in the middle of a kiss. Each of them are wearing face masks so they are not actually touching one another, their face masks are touching. I felt this image also can be seen as making fun of how society is expecting us to behave within our relationships due to Covid-19. Everyone is strongly discouraged from contact and I feel this image sort of voices the ridiculousness of the limitations that are placed upon us right now. Here is the link for anyone curious to see it.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/how-street-artists-around-world-are-reacting-to-life-with-covid-19-180974712/
Ha, that's such a great image: what does love mean in the time of COVID? How do you really get to know someone 'behind the mask,' and is it even worth it? It's almost a perfect metaphor of how getting to know someone can be fatal, since you don't know what they could have or how it can affect/harm you. But it also reminds us that we never really take off our masks, at least not right away, so the people we fall in love with aren't always the people we end up with. Certainly the case in Manon...
DeleteI thought the background information of 'The Swing' was interesting because it is in Disney's Frozen! In the movie, when Princess Anna is singing 'For the First Time in Forever' she is dreaming about meeting "the one" and jumps up to mimic the pose the woman in the painting is in. Although, this adaptation by Lisa Keene doesn't have the background garden, the meaning is interesting to me because of the parallel love story that Anna has and what the painting interprets. Anna falls in love with the cold hearted Prince Hans who tries to kill her and Elsa to become the king of Arendelle, and learns that love isn't as respectable as it might seem and who is really 'worth melting for'.
ReplyDeleteYes, and it's fascinating that a Disney movie is the one to deconstruct this ideal, since Disney is largely responsible for creating this ideal in the modern mindset. It's a great and unexpected twist, since the narrative suggests that love is an ideal that makes the lovers ideal themselves; but people can't be ideals, they can only be people. And people tend to break things, unintentionally or not.
DeleteHonestly, I think that if I were to pick only one modern work of art that shows a “behind the scenes” of how romantic relationships work, for me it would be the Doctor Who series from 2005 up until now.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing I think of is the Rose/Nine/Ten story arc. When Rose and The Doctor first meet, The Doctor drags Rose off on an adventure, and she likes him. The series progresses with them getting closer and closer, so when he regenerates into a new person, her relationship with Nine is over. She saved the world with him and now he’s gone.
During that same episode, you can watch as Rose goes from break-up feelings from to new-relationship feelings as Ten shows off his personality. So, Rose and Ten have grand adventures, and suddenly, when the world is in need of saving again, they tragically get separated to the point where she feels like she’s never going to see him again (being stuck in an alternate reality will make that nearly impossible). So what's a girl to do? She tells him that she loves him, and judging by the scene, it’s more than likely the first time she’s ever said “I love you” to anyone. Just before he says it back. . .he disappears and she loses him again. (At least, until another companion’s story arc runs into hers. She ends up with his human clone, so it’s all good eventually. Trust me, it’s complicated, but it makes sense if you ever get the opportunity to watch the show.)
Not only that, but you also get the Rory & Amy story arc from 2010, (after The Doctor regenerates again). In their story arc, you get to see them go through all the trials of being engaged, getting cold feet, getting married, getting pregnant, losing a child, regaining a child, going through a divorce, reconciling the divorce, as well as Amy having to choose between having a life with Rory or having adventures with The Doctor.
So the Doctor Who writers are basically people who show you how messy, complicated, crazy-stupid and fun love is. But, they also get to show you how heartbreaking, tragic and depressing it can be too. Love is. . .a many splendored thing ;).
Ha, I figured you would have a clever answer to this one! What a great example of how science fiction can approach this problem from a seemingly new angle--even if it only uncovers all the old problems. You do a marvelous job bringing us up to speed here, and I love the connections here; even the future can solve the problems of the past, particularly when it comes to love.
DeleteOne of my favorites books is entitled All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven. It details the love story of two very sad young adults who find "brightness" within each other. It handles sensitive topics like bipolar disorder, depression, and suicide. I think this novel is a great example of how love is not the "cure-all" of life. Many books, movies, and songs depict love as the "answer" to the question of life. Whatever issues a person struggles with outside of a relationship will not be solved by the relationship, they will manifest in toxic ways within it.
ReplyDeleteI don't know this book, but that's amazing: we tend to showcase love as the pinnacle of existence, the Holy Grail that everyone is looking for that saves the kingdom. And yet, it's merely an experience that fades into another experience, and it often unlocks some of the darkest and most violent emotions. As you suggest, people who are screwed up before love end up just as screwed up (or worse) after. I think we see this with our main character in Manon, who wasn't prepared to be in a relationship, and has all the wrong expectations.
DeleteJust a few weeks ago I read both of author Sally Rooney's novels, Conversations with Friends and Normal People. There's much to recommend about them -- Rooney's fiction is some of the most absorbing I've ever read, and it wrecked me emotionally -- but what I value most is their willingness to consider the power dynamics that shape every romantic interaction. And by "power dynamics", I don't mean the small stuff, though that does matter; I mean class, gender, sexuality, and how those forces intersect, all within the context of late capitalism. There is a particularly well-known passage, a text conversation, from Conversations with Friends that kind of sums it up:
ReplyDeleteBobbi: if you look at love as something other than an interpersonal phenomenon
Bobbi: and try to understand it as a social value system
Bobbi: it’s both antithetical to capitalism, in that it challenges the axiom of selfishness
Bobbi: which dictates the whole logic of inequality
Bobbi: and yet also it’s subservient and facilitatory
Bobbi: i.e. mothers selflessly raising children without any profit motive
Bobbi: which seems to contradict the demands of the market at one level
Bobbi: and yet actually just functions to provide workers for free
me: yes
me: capitalism harnesses “love” for profit
me: love is the discursive practice and unpaid labour is the effect
me: but I mean, I get that, I’m anti love as such
Bobbi: that’s vapid frances
Bobbi: you have to do more than say you’re anti things.
As well as a passage from Normal People, which I'd consider to be sort of an anti-romantic take on the consequences of romantic love:
"How strange to feel herself so completely under the control of another person, but also how ordinary. No one can be independent of other people completely, so why not give up the attempt, she thought, go running in the other direction, depend on people for everything, allow them to depend on you, why not."
Love as control, love as power, love as a slightly monstrous force in the world that makes you do things you'd never have thought. It even reminds me of Tolstoy, who often calls those forces of love and attachment and desire "terrible". These things run so much deeper and wider than popular culture often gives them credit for.
Oh, and one more thing: both of the novels have ambiguous endings in which characters with strong attachments sort of.... resign themselves to the idea that they'd rather have relationships that look incomprehensible from a societal perspective than try to force them into a recognizable shape. This really speaks to me, I so resent the "relationship escalator" (Amy Gahran coined that term, look her up, she's awesome).
DeleteThese are amazing passages that work well with Manon, since it's a book all about money and how capital shapes people's relationships and morals. The idea at this time is that gentlemen and gentlewoman are born 'good' and 'noble,' and could never be corrupted by things like a profit margin, or even passion. And yet, our main character quickly sells out to love and then to the demands of money to sustain love. And it's questionable how much Manon can understand love without the power of money; so love does indeed become part of the dark mechanics of capitalism. Of course, in this book, it also undermines the society--or it's most deeply held values. But it's fascinating to see love not as a personal, intimate relationship, but something we are trained to emulate. After all, don't we love 'by the book,' as Shakespeare would say? When people propose, don't most get on one knee? And the woman acts astonished and slaps both hands over her mouth...and then someone captures this moment for posterity. Is that natural? Is that spontaneous? Is that "you"? Or is that merely a play that we blindly rehearse in our need to be affirmed by society--and seen by others?
DeleteThe first song I immediately thought of was "Romeo and Juliet" by Hobo Johnson. I would describe Hobo Johnson's style as a sort of slam poetry/rap situation that makes you want to both laugh and cry depending on the song, and many of his lyrics critique the absurdity of life, relationships, and love in general. In his song "Romeo and Juliet" he uses a very loose interpretation of Shakespeare's tragic love story to examine a very typical and modern love story. A particular phrase in the song that stands out to me is:
ReplyDelete"And if Romeo and Juliet continued to be married
Then there's half of a chance
That their kids would get embarrassed
When all the kids at school all talk about their parents
And Romeo Jr. has to say they're not together
And Junior will dream of the day when he's a man
And what he'll do to avoid that fifty percent chance
Of his kids feeling the way he feels
He'll probably just stick with the Netflix and chill."
After this phrase, Johnson pleads to Shakespeare to "write a happy ending please," as he describes having two Christmases because his parents are divorced and he dreams of his future children only having one Christmas. In the end this song describes the sad reality that accompanies falling out of love, and witnessing someone fall out of love, which is sometimes inevitable in a relationship. With the divorce rate being so high, and as someone with divorced parents, I think Hobo Johnson is examining the harsh realization of losing trust in love as you watch the two people who are supposed to model it for you fall apart.
Wow, what an interesting song...and yes, the ideal of R & J dying at the height (and the beginning) of their passion allows them to sidestep the question, "what next?" They never had a next...they never had a relationship. So when they become an ideal for romance, it's doomed to fail, since they don't give us anything to go by. That wasn't the point of Shakespeare's play (which indeed, satirizes the language of love in his own time), and if read that way, it will probably lead to many more divorces or just disappointed hopes. Very nice connection!
DeleteWhen I read this question, the first work that popped into my head was the film 500 Days of Summer. I remember being 15 and becoming enraged over the fact that Tom and Summer didn’t end up together. “But they were perfect for each other!”
ReplyDeleteIt turns out that the film is a love story - despite the first line of the film “this is not a love story” - it’s just not the typical one the audience would expect from a rom-com.
Instead of portraying the perfect fairytale love story, the film guides the reader through the inconsistent and messy reality of love with Tom and Summer’s relationship.
Tom is head over heels for Summer and expects everything to fall into place perfectly because of this. They began dating but because of Summer’s indifference to commitment and loss of interest she pulls away entirely.
There is no big cliche here. There was no large event that pulled them away from each other and caused them to realize their intense love and come running back. The two simply drifted apart without a proper reason. The harsh reality is that just because you love somebody doesn’t mean it will always work out. There doesn’t have to be intense drama that causes a relationship to fail. The film shows that life doesn’t revolve around love and your expectations of it will not consistently be true.
Yes, I love that movie and the way they subverted the ideal; that even the "right" people don't necessarily end up together. And maybe a relationship isn't the best way to be friends with someone. Love doesn't answer all questions or even answer the right questions. And it ends, sometimes far sooner than we realize. It was a very realistic movie in this sense, and showed that behind every happy ending is another day, and another ending.
DeleteYHelm.
ReplyDeleteThe film Love Actually comes to mind. A young man named Mark is in love with his best friend's new wife, Juliet. In this scene, he rings the doorbell, which she answers, and proceeds to declare his love for her with a stack of posters with written messages for her. All the while, his best friend, and her new husband, is in the house unaware of what is happening at his front door. Mark does not speak, just shows the cards. As he walks away, she runs after him and kisses him and runs back into the house. Mark walks away happy. This scene is considered romantic. However, it actually subverts the depiction of true love in an earlier scene showing Juliet's wedding. The film seems to be highlighting the fickleness of modern romantics and furthers the idea that "all is fair in love and war".
Yes, this is a great scene and it shows how little we see of the 'big picture' of love. How we can't completely understand even our partner's inner life, or even that of our friend's. The scene in that movie that crushes me is when the wife finds the jewelry and assumes it's her Christmas present...and then simply gets a cheap CD (even if it IS Joni Mitchell...wouldn't she already have it if she loved it so much??). But I do like that a 'feel good' romantic movie doesn't always feel so good...it shows that even the good relationships have hidden corners, shadows, and lies.
DeleteThe song that immediately comes to mind for me would be "Cant tell you no" by Muscadine Bloodline. In this song the duo talks about doing the little things or saying the little things that are very much needed to keep a healthy relationship. For instance, the group talks about how they feel their girl is just as beautiful when she just wakes up as when she is all done up for a night out. Or how the man should willingly stay in for a night on the couch to watch a show like the Bachelor with his girl instead of a night of bar hopping with the boys. Lastly, they sing about dancing around the house even though they have two left feet. These "behind the scenes" acts may seem miniscule in the grand scheme of things, but hold a lot of weight and stick in the girls mind when analyzed.
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting take on the idea, and the song does seem to try to show the less romantic work necessary to make a relationship last. However, it can also be seen as 'romantic' in itself, and somewhat idealized, since we've seen many of these moments in movies. I wonder how much these relationship tips are realistic, and how much they are a different part of the cliches of romance that we tell one another?
DeleteCarla Torres:
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of a modern work of art, the whole genre of R&B music comes to mind. Singers like Usher, Beyoncé, Chris Brown, Rihanna, and many others all talk about "love" in their songs and things that are similar around it. In their songs like many others, the lyrics can be twisted/manipulated to what is going on in someone's life to make it more relatable. I feel like music in a way is a work of art because artists come up with lyrics that are meaningful to other people which makes is relatable for others to relate to.
Yes, good points, but can you use one of these songs to examine this? Since we can connect to any song and make it about us, are these identifications healthy or useful? Or do they merely perpetuate romantic ideals that are largely unattainable in real life? Or, do they make us try to act in as if we are following the lines of a play? What are these songs really teaching us?
DeleteA modern song that first popped into my mind was “Cold” by Crossfade. This song follows the singer talking about how he was so mean in his last relationship and how its almost an apology to the old partner about how he was so cold to her and all the lies he fed her to save himself.
ReplyDelete“I never really wanted you to see
The screwed up side of me that I keep
Locked inside of me so deep
It always seems to get to me
I never really wanted you to go
So many things you should have known
I guess for me there's just no hope
I never meant to be so cold”
Love in this sense, was never going to work out due to how he treated his partner. Behind any relationship there are things people do not see unless they are experiencing it. Kind of like Lips of an Angel by hinder, cheating and lies will most always happen, at least in this “love” song he is admitting to his wrongs.
This is a great example, since it's a confessional song (a bit like our novel) showing what went wrong in the relationship as a warning to others. This is the reason the narrator says he's writing this story in Manon Lescaut, to serve as a moral warning that others can adapt to their lives. We all like to be right in a relationship, but when it goes cold, it's the duty of both partners to rekindle it. In this song, clearly, he made no attempt to do so, but even took a perverse pleasure in destroying it. We can see some of this in our novel as well.
DeleteKurstyn Young:
ReplyDeleteWhen thinking about something that exploits what a relationship really can be, the first thing that comes to mind is the TV show, Yellowstone. Within the show, there is a character named Beth, who is a very passionate about what she does, yet she does not show a whole lot of warmth to people. Then you have Rip, who works for Beth's father and has been in love with her since they met in their young teenage years. Rip is extremely loyal to everyone, has a hard outside but also knows when to let people in. Throughout the seasons you see Beth fall more in love with Rip and she starts to take on some of his more caring characteristics. It might not have been the healthiest relationship at times, but it shows extreme character development in both characters and just how a relationship can help mold and create a better future. It shows the screaming fights and the wholesome moment when Beth gives in and starts to open up; the good, the bad and the ugly, per say.
Yes, great example...both this show and our novel beg the question, what IS a healthy relationship? Almost anyone on the outside looking in could say, "yikes, that's very dysfunctional--get out while you can!" And yet, who is a relationship supposed to work for? Sometimes what doesn't work on paper does work in real life. As bad as de Grieux's relationship is with Manon, does it ultimately make him happy? Is it worth fighting and dying for? He usually seems to think so...
DeleteCallie Farley: I thought of Illicit Affairs by Taylor Swift. The song is from a character's perspective, that Swift created, of a woman who is having an affair with a married man. The song in one way or another is telling the listeners about how she felt like at first the affair was exciting, glamorous even and that she felt special.
ReplyDelete"Tell yourself you can always stop
What started in beautiful rooms
Ends with meetings in parking lots
And that's the thing about illicit affairs
And clandestine meetings and longing stares"
"Take the words for what they are
A dwindling, mercurial high
A drug that only worked
The first few hundred times"
However, there comes a time when the affair gets messy and complicated; it's no longer a fantastical exciting mysterious love story. When one person in the relationship doesn't want to lose their "real" life for the sake of an affair that wasn't supposed to go anywhere from there the other person feels betrayed and hurt. The character is reflecting on how she feels like she cant be mad at herself for a situation she really knows that she put herself in even though she blames him.
"Look at this godforsaken mess that you made me
You showed me colors you know I can't see with anyone else
Don't call me "kid," don't call me "baby"
Look at this idiotic fool that you made me
You taught me a secret language I can't speak with anyone else"
This is where I feel like she is is frustrated with where things turned out. I think this relates to the question a lot because a lot of guys (especially in the 1700's) think that it's cool to be a player and cheat on their significant other. However, behind the scenes can look a lot different. A lot of the time the girl can feel like she will be the one and that she will change them but then when she doesn't get picked over the original significant other she feels like she doesn't have the right to be hurt because she was the other woman.
Wow, this connects very well to the novel, and shows how the glamour of romance and secret meetings quickly becomes cliched, sordid, and absurd. It's a nice reversal of the story, since in our novel, it's the man who tells this story, while the woman is the one in power. It would be interesting to see how Swift would turn this novel (or its relationship) into a song. It also suggests that we fall in love with danger and thinks that defy social taboos...but ultimately, we recoil from this behavior when we realize it doesn't give us what we thought we needed. Then we just end up hating ourselves as well!
DeleteThis question makes me think of the song Beautiful Trauma by P!nk. The song is about being involved in a relationship that isn’t very traditional or easy, and the music video is kind of wild in showing how the couple differs from the accepted perception of how married couples behave.
ReplyDeleteThe music video starts with the main couple waking up in separate beds, which was a trope used in Hollywood back when the Hayes Code was enforced to make films less raunchy (because showing a married couple asleep in the same bed was too much for audiences), in very 1950’s inspired clothing. As it progresses, however, the couple is shown to break traditional marriage roles – the wife can’t cook, the husband wears makeup, both parties cross dress, and their sex life is unorthodox to say the least. When they are breaking from stereotypes, both are shown to be much happier than they were in the beginning of the video.
When they are pretending to be the picture-perfect traditional couple, they are both unhappy - the wife takes pills, and the husband drinks and is addicted to porn. It’s safe to say that this isn’t an easy relationship for the two of them to be in, which is further explained in the lyrics of the song:
Mmm tough times they keep coming
All night laughing and f******
Some days like I'm barely breathing
Then after we were high and the love dope died, it was you
The pill I keep taking
The nightmare I'm waking
There's nothing, no nothing, nothing but you
My perfect rock bottom
My beautiful trauma
My love, my love, my drug, oh
I think the video is meant to be critical of the idea that relationships have to be a certain way in order to work out. No relationship dynamic is one-size-fits-all.
Remember to put your name somewhere in the comment so I can give you credit for this! :)
DeleteOtherwise, this is perfect...the song challenges our conventions of relationships and romance, suggesting that what looks 'wrong' could actually be right. So this relates beautifully to our novel. While de Grieux ends up involved in crime and other degradations to stay true to Manon (who doesn't exactly stay true to him, depending on how you define that term), the relationship still fulfills him. He thinks it's worth dying for. So what is the book telling us? Is it holding this up as a kind of romantic ideal, if only a fatal one? Or is it critical of the relationship? We assume the latter, but if the book is merely saying "this is bad," would we need an entire book to see this?
One of my favorite books ever is It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover. She is a contemporary romance writer and all of her books obviously deal with love. This book in particular can be deceiving because the male main character is a doctor who falls in love with a florist. Obviously, when I think of doctors I think that they want to do more good than harm and Lily, the florist, probably thought the same. Ryle, the doctor, was abusive but when he wasn't abusive he was so good to Lily. In front of their friends they were the perfect couple but behind closed doors he would get angry and hit Lily even after finding out she was pregnant. I believe this book is perfect for the times we are living in today. I constantly see on Twitter women speaking out about their abusive relationships. Domestic abuse is so common in relationships but it is a topic that is hardly ever talked about especially in the south.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great example: is a relationship 'good' if the abuse only happens now and then? Can the good outweigh the bad? If you project the right image, why do people assume that's as far as it goes? Social media makes it very easy to do this, and I know many couples who celebrate their charmed life who are miserable and vindictive behind the scenes. I think in the book, des Grieux is trying to show us the Facebook relationship, though even he has to account for some strange lapses. But he tries to put a spin on those, and hide the abuse under his (and her) romantic sensibility. Love causes them to act like this, not money, he says! But do we believe him???
DeleteOne of the first examples that comes to mind is the Netflix series You. I recently watched it with my girlfriend and both of us noticed immediately the lengths the show goes to in order to make you understand and even sympathize with Joe. He begins very human and timid in the first few minutes and then slowly (and later very quickly) the audience is shown how controlling and obsessive he is. But as the show continues it seems to become a social commentary utilizing Joe’s obsession as an extreme (but very real) example of how our modern society has normalized obsession and stalking, to a degree. With social media and access to so many forms of online outlets, we have become a society that makes these actions easily accessible. And the with that comes the normalizing of them. And much like reality, the show continues to show us Joe’s good and caring side along with his more sinister aspects.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, great example...I watched this, too, and it has a lot in common with this book in some interesting ways. He wants us to sympathize with him and see him as the 'good guy,' the guy who is unfairly used and duped, and yet, merely because he's the protagonist we find it easy to buy into it. But if he was a secondary character, he would be the villain. A lot like Victor Frankenstein, we want to believe in him and his story, yet he constantly undermines his own victimhood.
Delete