"Life offers you a thousand chances ... all you have to do is take one."
The movie "Under the Tuscan Sun" is generally viewed as a yet another glossy chick flick with beautiful sceneries in Italy, and beautiful actors and actress. But amidst all the over-idealistic setup, it sets me thinking about many things...
What is love? What do you do when love comes to you? And more importantly, what do you do when it leaves you? The story shows a few individuals learning to stand up again when they are hurt. At that moment of being hurt, we always think that we might not be able to recover again, the world seems to collapse, the hope seems to have vanished. The pain is so deep that we feel we would rather just end everything...
Yet, time heals. As we painfully bring ourselves to stand up again, we might still feel a gaping hole in our heart, but there are new things happening, new people coming into our life, and who knows, new hope?
Despite being a light romantic movie which idealizes lots of things, the movie struck a chord among many people, with many of its little reminders of learning to hope again. After all the ups and downs, do we have that passion of life, to hope again, to love again? The movie says a big YES. What do you say?
To some extent, I am grateful for watching it. Never lose hope, and stand up again when you are hurt. Some small reminders about life, rite?
7 comments:
I enjoyed that movie too.
It is the fundamental nature of all all life to survive, every species is driven by this. We have a difficult time when it comes to spriritual and emotional things like love, but even those things are driven by our nature.
It is normal to go on after a loss of any kind- the end of close relationship, the death of a loved one. We grieve - a process during which we reprogram our thinking to include the loss which brings with it emotional healing - and then we start reconstructing ourselves (our lives) anew.
Some people have a harder time doing that than others, but it is painful to some degree for everyone.
It doesn't matter if you choose to describe it in terms of nature (bilology) or mystical spiritual experience. Either way it is a part of our lives and a trait that affirms life as good and positive.
Personally I like movies (and other art forms) which idealize things, or at least try to define the ideal and show it to us.
That is not to be confused with the kind of film which trivializes relationships and human experience. Those are the true "chick flicks" in my book.
Under the Tuscan Sun was perhaps a bit formulaeic, but filled with positive messages, and beautiful scenery. It was entertaining as well.
Thanks panda for your wise thoughts. "We grieve, we heal, then we reconstruct" - how true...
What makes me like this movie very much is that underneath the light and cute atmosphere, each character is undergoing a lot of spiritual and emotional ups and downs, each one is searching for their happiness in life, and they are sharing with one another. The rich emotions in the heart, though unspoken, can actually struck a similar feelings in all of us...
I feel very grateful to you for many words of wisdom you have said to me, and your encouragement when I was at the low peak.. Thank you my dear friend.
What is love? What do you do when love comes to you? And more importantly, what do you do when it leaves you?
Another important question to ask is, "How do we know if it's really love and not just infatuation?"
Infatuation happens quicker, strikes harder, gets your blood pumping, makes you see fireworks, stars, and magic moonbeams. It picks you up and carries you, leaving you dancing on air, thinking you are immortal, making the rest of the world and all its cares and worries disappear. It makes you passion personified, like a perfect saint or angel of light devoted to the god/goddess that is the focus of your affections.
Unfortunately, infatuation, by its very nature, is also doomed to end in disappointment. It is short lived because it is programmed to fail. It is the ultimate form of deception, and the biggest lie is the one the "love-struck" one tells him/herself.
True love takes a lot of time and patience. Frankly, it's not very exciting. There aren't a lot of fancy special effects. No flashes and bangs. No maddened chases. However, if the characters manage to make it through to the end, they know they have built something very real that will last a long time.
Not surprisingly, the entertainment media is more interested in infatuation, because it has more glitter. People don't want to be told that something real takes effort; they want instant entertainment now. We hear and read "love" this, "love" that, but it has far more to do with what's in the pants than what's in the heart. Presto! Yet another lie in a fancy package. Let's pretend it's real until the end of the month, and then, like an old battery, we throw it away and get a new one.
I guess it depends on what you want in life. Do you want a quick, disposable fix that will make you feel good now but leave you in pain later, or do you want something secure that takes a bit of work and patience? The choice is yours!
(Wow...I really got on this groove, didn't I?)
Hi YD, just stopped by to listen to Johann Pachelbel's Canon while waiting for K to get home from Mito. Happy to see MM has been buy with another thoughtful comment. Seems some of us check in here even though your are in a light posting mode. I do so because when you do post it is meaningful.
MM's point is a good one. I have some friends of each sex who never got married. As I watch them go through relationships it is apparent to me why. Some don't want a long term relationship for various reasons. One close buddy of mine was hurt so bad by relationship that didn't work back when he was in his mid-20's that he never got it together again (I think he compares every woman to his lost love). Now in his mid 50's he's given up entirely. Sad.
Others aren't prepared for the commitment that Moody speaks of. They want fireworks and roses, but no work. And one woman is, frankly, such a perfectionist, no man she dates is ever going to measure up. There again, an unwillingness to do the work that lasting relationships require.
Good comment, Moody.
Well, time to open the garage for K.
Thanks for the music.
有機會我也會去看那套電影.
(愛): 是甚麼?? 父母的愛....友愛...你對寵物的愛…等等 可以講很複雜, 又可以說很簡單.
而Moody Minstrel 和 Pandabonium 所言的都值得我們去深思,可能他們是過來人吧!!!!
但是能夠在人海茫茫的世界裏找到自已所屬的永久/永恆之愛, 當中必定會經歷各種階段(Puppy-love, infatuation,…???etc.)才能配合啦..
(緣) 是最重要的一個字或因素.
Wow moody... Thanks a lot! That comment is a mind-provoking one. It certainly set me thinking, and re-thinking about many things. Many thanks for your wise comment.
Yes true love takes time. I remember a saying that compares cultivating love to making soup. A good soup takes time to make, we can't boil it in high temperature for just a few minutes and expect it to taste great!
Thank you, my friend...
Panda, I feel happy that you still enjoy the background music. My roommate has started to complain I played too much of this piece on my computer, haha...
It is sad to see people being hurt, and unable to face future relationships... Like what is said in Happy's blog, "To Love is one of the many Wonders we have in life." Love hurts, but love heals too. It is up to us to choose how we want it to be. Let's hope that we can make wise choices.
Dear annonymous,
Thanks for your words... Fate, is a mysterious thing I have yet been able to understand. But life is always full of surprises and unexpected turns... Should we accept fate? or should we challenge it? That is a question yet to be answered... Thanks for reading the post.
YD:
That Annonymous is Me (Z.J.), forgot to put my name there. ;-(
“Should we accept Fate” or Should we challenge it”? Good questions.
如果站於迷信的角度去看命運或天命, 當然在某些程度上我會相信..如:別人常說(姻緣由天註定)….很多時侯我們心中想去追求某人或某種事情的時候,往往事與願違….又或者死亡----突然奇來的意外…天然災害所致…等等, 這些可以讓我們去挑戰嗎???
又例如: 相士給你批命, 說你將來會是成攻人材…這就要靠自已去挑戰及尋求機會啦…
我只體會到若能在許可的條件及環境下, 我們是可以選擇自已的生活去向,道路和方式,從而改變生命.
人生裏所帶來的之難以估計的變化, 好和壞都要欣然接受. 我只會抱著樂觀態度去善待我的人生. 你呢???
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