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Monday, April 30, 2012
Monday, April 16, 2012
Too Much Love in the American Story?
The other night, I watched the French film Lila Says with a friend. While this film was a romantic drama and a bit of a love story, it was not your conventional love story. (*Semi-spoiler alert) While nothing truly physical happened between the two protagonists (nope, not even a kiss), that did not change the fact that they were in love (or that one really loved the other).
I then thought about The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I've seen both the Swedish version and the American remake. Comparing the two, the Swedish version is definitely a lot more gritty and "graphic" (for lack of a better word right now). I realized that the American version kind of "romanticized" relationships more. **SPOILER ALERT** For example, the American version ends with Lisbeth throwing away a leather jacket and driving away on her motorcycle after spotting Mikael getting into a car with his co-worker whom he had an affair with. In the Swedish version, though, the film ends with Lisbeth walking in her blonde, professional woman disguise on the island (or wherever she is) after she has completed the deed to set up that one guy. We do not see her come back for Mikael or return to Sweden at all. Since I haven't read the book yet, I am unsure if the Swedish version left out that final scene or if the Americans added the final scene. Either way, it still leads me to ask the question:
Is there too much love/romance in American stories?
Even as a writer, albeit an amateur, I realize that most of my stories revolve around romantic relationships or include some type of significant romantic relationship (or great desire for one) between characters. I'm not sure if this is because I haven't much relationship experience and try to create the relationships I desire (or want to avoid) in my life through my stories, but I've noticed it in written stories as well as films. There are people who get annoyed when action movies have seemingly unnecessary sex scenes and things of that nature. Think about it, when's the last time you read a book, watched a movie, or watched a tv show that didn't have some type of "important" romantic relationship? When's the last time you read/watched a story that focused strictly on actions and the issues at hand while only featuring friendships or business relationships only? Even movies for kids feature little crushes and "puppy love" stories more and more. Children's stories seem to be the only ones left that focus strictly on friendships, probably because no one wants there nine-year-old to desire to have a boyfriend/girlfriend right at this moment when they're still going through puberty and all of that jazz. Whatever happened to cooties? Anyway...
Do I have a problem with this overwhelming presence of love in our stories? No, no I do not. As a growing writer, though, I'm becoming frustrated with my own writing because it seems like all of my stories will end up being the same because of the focus on romance. A good example of this is a short story I had an idea for. I actually thought out the entire story, and it was not going to include any type of love story. Two friends were to just simply chat about life in a coffee shop when an unexpected event happens. When I actually began to write the story though, another character was introduced who is a love interest of the main protagonist. This frustrated me because I had no intentions of going down that path, but once you start writing, the story tends to guide itself and take control (hence why so many of us writers can become frustrated with our own characters, our own creations, when we could simply say no and rewrite). I've officially decided that I will try to write two versions of this short story, the one mentioned above and one that completely avoids the love aspect, and see how that works.
Maybe it's an American thing. Or maybe it's a Western thing. Or maybe it's a human thing, and I just don't see this as much in stories from other countries. Maybe it's because of the influence of previous works, the classics, that have put us in the mindset that these love stories are very important to the overall story. Like, is a sex/random hookup scene really necessary in a film about zombies taking over the earth or a group of people planning to rob a bank? As they say, sex sells, but it isn't necessary for every film. Also, a ton of sex scenes aren't necessary for a romance story since there is more to love than sex (well, that's technically just an opinion because some people would not agree).
This could just be a result of my over-analyzing, but at least one of my friends has agreed with me about this, so I'm not completely alone. If anyone else does actually read this (doubtful), please share your thoughts on this- whether you agree/disagree, don't care, never noticed, whatever.
I then thought about The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I've seen both the Swedish version and the American remake. Comparing the two, the Swedish version is definitely a lot more gritty and "graphic" (for lack of a better word right now). I realized that the American version kind of "romanticized" relationships more. **SPOILER ALERT** For example, the American version ends with Lisbeth throwing away a leather jacket and driving away on her motorcycle after spotting Mikael getting into a car with his co-worker whom he had an affair with. In the Swedish version, though, the film ends with Lisbeth walking in her blonde, professional woman disguise on the island (or wherever she is) after she has completed the deed to set up that one guy. We do not see her come back for Mikael or return to Sweden at all. Since I haven't read the book yet, I am unsure if the Swedish version left out that final scene or if the Americans added the final scene. Either way, it still leads me to ask the question:
Is there too much love/romance in American stories?
Even as a writer, albeit an amateur, I realize that most of my stories revolve around romantic relationships or include some type of significant romantic relationship (or great desire for one) between characters. I'm not sure if this is because I haven't much relationship experience and try to create the relationships I desire (or want to avoid) in my life through my stories, but I've noticed it in written stories as well as films. There are people who get annoyed when action movies have seemingly unnecessary sex scenes and things of that nature. Think about it, when's the last time you read a book, watched a movie, or watched a tv show that didn't have some type of "important" romantic relationship? When's the last time you read/watched a story that focused strictly on actions and the issues at hand while only featuring friendships or business relationships only? Even movies for kids feature little crushes and "puppy love" stories more and more. Children's stories seem to be the only ones left that focus strictly on friendships, probably because no one wants there nine-year-old to desire to have a boyfriend/girlfriend right at this moment when they're still going through puberty and all of that jazz. Whatever happened to cooties? Anyway...
Do I have a problem with this overwhelming presence of love in our stories? No, no I do not. As a growing writer, though, I'm becoming frustrated with my own writing because it seems like all of my stories will end up being the same because of the focus on romance. A good example of this is a short story I had an idea for. I actually thought out the entire story, and it was not going to include any type of love story. Two friends were to just simply chat about life in a coffee shop when an unexpected event happens. When I actually began to write the story though, another character was introduced who is a love interest of the main protagonist. This frustrated me because I had no intentions of going down that path, but once you start writing, the story tends to guide itself and take control (hence why so many of us writers can become frustrated with our own characters, our own creations, when we could simply say no and rewrite). I've officially decided that I will try to write two versions of this short story, the one mentioned above and one that completely avoids the love aspect, and see how that works.
Maybe it's an American thing. Or maybe it's a Western thing. Or maybe it's a human thing, and I just don't see this as much in stories from other countries. Maybe it's because of the influence of previous works, the classics, that have put us in the mindset that these love stories are very important to the overall story. Like, is a sex/random hookup scene really necessary in a film about zombies taking over the earth or a group of people planning to rob a bank? As they say, sex sells, but it isn't necessary for every film. Also, a ton of sex scenes aren't necessary for a romance story since there is more to love than sex (well, that's technically just an opinion because some people would not agree).
This could just be a result of my over-analyzing, but at least one of my friends has agreed with me about this, so I'm not completely alone. If anyone else does actually read this (doubtful), please share your thoughts on this- whether you agree/disagree, don't care, never noticed, whatever.
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