Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Da*n You, Hollywood!

"For June, who loved this garden, from Joseph who always sat beside her"- Notting Hill.

This has by far been the most beautiful, eloquent and envy-worthy lines that I have heard. It was inscripted on a park bench, and I can just imagine these two couples- June sitting there, staring at couples kissing, families playing, children laughing, and Joseph drinking in his fill of June. I wanted to be June, with my own Joseph watching the 'changing seasons of my face', loving my wrinkles and my grey hair. ***sigh***

Now that's the problem with Hollywood. Yes, Nottinghill was about a foppish Hugh Grant and a toothy but adorable Julia Roberts, but the insertion of the aforementioned line, and the fact that when the movie ends, Hugh and a pregnant Julia sat on the very same bench... it conquered and vanquished and annihilated me completely.

I found my very own 'Joseph', but the BENCH and the inscription failed to mention the trials and the very loooong journey that the fabled June and Joseph took. So there I was, sure that I was living a fairy tale, when reality and familiarity revealed that my 'Joseph' and I had conflicting opinions on sooo many things. We fight, hit below the belt, slash at each other with words and crucify each other with silences. And in the end we feel as miserable as "the pus that infects the mucus that cruds up the fungus that feeds on the pond scum" (My Best Friend's Wedding).

I blame Hollywood and also Nicholas Sparks for the sometimes too-high standards which I expect my man to live up to. Nicholas Sparks made me cry with "A Walk to Remember", "Message in a Bottle", "Dear John" and "The Notebook", all adapetd by Hollywood.

But what really got me was "The Notebook". Guy falls for girl, her parents say "nay" and send her away. Guy builds her dream house by himself, with his own two hands, and never falls in love again. Girl becomes engaged to another guy, a very nice guy too. But she goes back to original guy. They get married, and here's the clincher- she gets dementia, and the guy stays in the nursing home with her. He waits patiently for her lucid moments, which sometimes lasts for just an hour, and that too after long intervals. When she is lucid, he woos her all over again and he tells her their story. Sometimes she regresses in the middle of his story-telling and lashes out at him. But he persists. And in the end, he sneaks into her room, and she is having a lucid moment, and they die together. Damn you, Nicholas Sparks, how dare you create a man like that??

And that movie "P.S, I love you" (another book adaptation too).. My sister's husband refused to let her watch the movie again and I don't blame him. Come on, the guy had such a charming Irish 'blarney' ..charm. And what was worse, when he died, he left behind love letters for his wife, so that she can rebuild her life and fulfill her dreams. ***sigh again***

I feel sorry for men sometimes. Hollywood presents them with such a tough act to follow. The girls have it easier. The girl from "The Notebook" was kind of fickle, loud, spoilt, adorable, yes, but irritating too. And though the "P.S. I love you" girl was special in that dreamy, vibrant, whimsical and vulnerable way, it was not in an out-of-reach" way. And the worst part is, we women tend to buy into the whole act, and sometimes expect our good, but human men to live upto these celluloid images. Men don't really expect us to be Megan Fox (okay, some do).

John Mayer got it right when he sang:

She's like a maze where all the walls are continually changed,
And I've done all I can
To stand on her steps with my heart in my hands,
Now I'm starting to see
Maybe its got nothing to do with me - 'Daughters'.

I'm really trying now to not buy into the whole Hollywood myth. I have learnt that 'real' men, after watching "The Notebook" say, "Don't you dare die on me, or become mad, hear?" and then give you a suffocating bear hug :) And yes, one doesn't automatically become eligible for June and Joseph state just because they are in love. It takes guts, blood, sweat, tears, muscle, gumption, mucus (ok- drama queen again).

And we women too need to be more of a 'June ' sometimes. Yes, men should love us for our imperfect selves, but its only fair that we play nice occasionally too :)

PS: I didn't include Twilight because much as I loved the character of Edward Cullen when I first read the series, Robert Pattinson pretty much killed it for me.. Yucks!

9 comments:

Mimihrahsel said...

I'm dying to watch Dear John, umm.. actually waiting for someone to watch with :D

I cried like a baby watching "the notebook" coz I feel I've experienced what they went through.. sigh.. Why do parents say "nay" when we say "yay" blahhh!!

ku2 said...

"You know there were a few choices i had to make, big choices (or so i thought) where dad and i did not agree at some points. But, i managed to unwillingly obey him, and i do not regret a bit. Somehow, Daddy (and Mommy) always knows whats best for us"- claire (My gratitude towards my dad [comments])

Hihihihh, hmaaaniah heihi ka hmu fuh a, ka va hai chhuak leh ngat2. han soibelh vak ngaihna ka hre ta lo :D

Aduhi Chawngthu said...

I think it was around 2005/06 when this Nicholas Sparks mania hit me and I bought every book I could find, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, A Bend in the Road, Message in a Bottle etc but sadly I have lost most of them to people who don't return books. The last book I bought was Nights in Rodanthe, and after that haven't read any other book of his.
I still haven't read the Twilight series, mostly because everyone else is so mad about it, if a kind soul would lend me the books maybe I would read them.

ku2 said...

@aduhi: Read Twilight! As a novel, they are really good. I re-read them soo many times. But as said, though the movie adaptation was good, I hated Rob Patt :)
I usually try to buy the pirated cheaper versions when it comes to pulp fiction. Bought a couple from the series, plus a few other books, but like you, I know a lot of non-returners, so, sorry, I can't lend you my copies anymore :)

Lucy In The Sky said...

I cried when I read Message in a Bottle :)Borrowed the book from a library so I copied down all the letters! I think I still have them in my old mail box :)

Lucy In The Sky said...

By the way, my Joseph rocks :P

ku2 said...

"By the way, my Joseph rocks"
hahahaa, I love this. Hey, if one should take the plunge, then we should do it with someone totally rockin', right? May Josephs keep on rockin evermore

The copying words from a novel thing, I do that too :)

Jerusha said...

haha you make me laugh girl! June and Joseph have caused my eyes to shed some longing tears too but I woke up a few years ago. The Notebook and P. I love you (I still weep at the thought of this) are just cruel, cruel toy things that Hollywood throws at us.

But despite all of that, it's the goddamn best way to face life and relationships I swear. Believing the fairytale exists, and the Josephs of this world will find you yet. Life would be too dreary otherwise and would turn you into a cold hearted bitch.

So keep waiting for the man who will love the pilgrim soul in you, and love the sorrows of your changing face..:) He exists!

ku2 said...

Glad I could make you laugh Jerusha :)

I do have my "Joseph", the wait's over, hehe. This was actually written after a knock-down, drag-out fight with him. Now we've made up and I'm falling all over again for those romantic scenarios.

I imagine us once again walking hand-in-hand into old age, where he would tenderly extract my false teeth and place them lovingly inside a glass on my night-stand *sigh*

Ain't love grand? :D

Oh, and Ive just noticed my grammatical mistakes up there.
inscripted-inscribed
these two couples- this couple.

Too lazy to edit :)