Thoughts on Love Actually; or, Why it sucks sometimes to be an English major

As I posted below, I got the movie Love Actually for Christmas. Mom and I watched it last night after the guests went home and we cleaned up the kitchen. It is a nice bit of holiday fluff. It is, as it advertises itself, the ultimate romantic comedy. With an all-star British cast and a quirky funny script, how can you go wrong? However, since I re-viewed it last night (I'd seen it before), I've had some disturbing thoughts about it. It all comes back to my first essay for my Gothic course, which discussed how marriage is both an ideology tool and a method of control used by the government. The government wants us to get married because then we, in theory, are more stable, or at the very least we are more measurable and controlled. Marriage is all tied into the Doctrine of Unity, which states that the husband and wife become one person upon wedding. This doctrine supports patriarchy because traditionally this "one person" has been the husband, and this notion has not been fully eradicated from the general consciousness yet. This push towards matrimony can definitely be seen in many different societal interactions. This all relates to Love Actually because as a movie, it is a form of media. Media, of course, is the mouthpiece of the governmental regime. Love Actually is a movie that definitely supports the ideology of marriage, as well as certain negative (American) female stereotypes.

This is why it is sometimes difficult to be an English major and to always be on "discourse watch". What was previously an enjoyable, fluffy movie that cheered me up has now become an ideology tool in my head. I was happier watching fluff, which I guess is one of the problems with our current society... I'm not the only one to prefer pretty fluff to less pretty substance. However, even after this large rant-like post, I will still continue to watch this movie (although I will try not to be taken in by its pro-matrimonial propaganda) and I will continue to like it (come on, it has Emma Thompson, Colin Firth, Alan Rickman, that (super) hot guy that plays Carlo, that really cute guy that confesses his love through an elaborate scheme involving bristol board... etc). I am also considering making "Let's go get the s**t kicked out of us by love" my motto. Or at least one of my mottos (other mottos include "Be prepared for spontaneity" and "Chocolate is good"). But I will never have the same faith in Christmas love miracles as before.

Marriage has been on my mind a lot lately, not just because of this movie and my essay and my entire Gothic class, but because Andrew's little sister recently got engaged. Of course, she's a lesbian, so the same ideological forces are not at work. She is being subversive by getting married. Not that that matters. Most people get married for love (which is what I stated in my essay) with no thought to my Steven-Hyde-like conspiracy theories, which is great. I hope that I haven't implied that I would label people governmental tools for consenting to marriage, because I wouldn't. I see myself getting married someday, probably. Or, if I can't get past the ideological frou-fer-a, having a private commitment ceremony of some sort, with privately-written vows and a pretty (yet cheaper than a wedding gown) dress.

Anyway. Hopefully this hasn't been offensive. Sometimes my external meter of appropriateness doesn't work. And by "sometimes" I mean "always". I'm also sorry for my lack of citations in this post. I should be referencing numerous sources and legal texts, but I won't. I know it's bad academic conduct, but whatever.

Now, back to the chocolate.