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Tragic love story, anyone?
Aug. 28th, 2009 01:59 pmWho doesn't love a good tragic love story? More to the point, why do we love them, and is it unhealthy to love them so? I don't know the answers to those questions. All I know is that I have had inspirations for such stories a lot in the past few weeks, and I feel like I need to tell one. For instance, I watched the movie version of one of my favorite novels, Wuthering Heights, the other day (the version with a youngish Ralph Fiennes omghot and an amazing actor to boot) and scene after scene I was struck repeatedly with how overwhelmingly in love Heathcliff and Cathy were, to the point of self destruct. Unhealthy? Yes. But heartbreakingly lovely.
( Some quotes from the movie... )
I realize that this tragic kind of love goes entirely against my own desire to promote self reliance ( "My world will not end if I am alone, because I will always have myself/higher self"), but it's so gloriously powerful. The reason Emily Bronte was able to pull it off was that Cathy and Heathcliff are awful people, in reality. They're not the heroes (the next generation of children is). They're not anti-heroes, either. They are selfish, and cruel, but in a very human way that makes us love them. That's a difficult thing to pull off, in writing.
I also am aware of the fact that a certain author of sparkly vampires thinks her main characters reflect this same tragic romance... WRONG. Wrong wrong wrong! OMG wrong! I am offended by that comparison. Even if I did like the "saga," Wuthering Heights is a masterpiece and you would have to be on crack to think Clutzy McGee and Sparkle Marbles have anything in common with Catherine and Heathcliff. Ugh.
Ok.
Anyway.
I have a tragic love story building in my brain. I reconcile my spirituality this is logic: it's okay to write tragedies because we create our own desires by learning through contrast. This way, we can experience the badness of tragedy without it actually happening to us, but strongly enough to launch those wonderful desires that we live to manifest. Yay :D
Look out for lyric posts in the near future... there are a few Belle & Sebastian songs that have been haunting me in this arena lately.
( Some quotes from the movie... )
I realize that this tragic kind of love goes entirely against my own desire to promote self reliance ( "My world will not end if I am alone, because I will always have myself/higher self"), but it's so gloriously powerful. The reason Emily Bronte was able to pull it off was that Cathy and Heathcliff are awful people, in reality. They're not the heroes (the next generation of children is). They're not anti-heroes, either. They are selfish, and cruel, but in a very human way that makes us love them. That's a difficult thing to pull off, in writing.
I also am aware of the fact that a certain author of sparkly vampires thinks her main characters reflect this same tragic romance... WRONG. Wrong wrong wrong! OMG wrong! I am offended by that comparison. Even if I did like the "saga," Wuthering Heights is a masterpiece and you would have to be on crack to think Clutzy McGee and Sparkle Marbles have anything in common with Catherine and Heathcliff. Ugh.
Ok.
Anyway.
I have a tragic love story building in my brain. I reconcile my spirituality this is logic: it's okay to write tragedies because we create our own desires by learning through contrast. This way, we can experience the badness of tragedy without it actually happening to us, but strongly enough to launch those wonderful desires that we live to manifest. Yay :D
Look out for lyric posts in the near future... there are a few Belle & Sebastian songs that have been haunting me in this arena lately.
