What’s true love, anyway?

From richardarmitagenet.com

I’ve been reading some fun blogs about the difference between love in fiction and love in real life.

Since I’m working on a novel right now in which the main character (like me) likes Darcy, Thornton and Rochester a little too much, it has been on my mind.

In my not so humble opinion, a good romance is realistic.  There are enough “men are from mars” type insights in Pride and Prejudice, North and South, and Jane Eyre to make those male characters ring true emotionally.  Of course, they may be richer and better looking than the men at the grocery store, at church, or at work but underneath the fictional glitz, they really are men — and that’s why those books are so popular today.

Or am I just deluding myself?

One of the interesting blogs:

http://mgirouxstories.wordpress.com/2012/10/21/writing-past-the-passion-of-true-loves-kiss-a-tale-of-two-edwards/

 

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I do.

English: Wedding cake (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is something wonderfully romantic about weddings.  Two people making a serious, legal commitment to love each other and take care of each other.  I’m in the middle of a manuscript that has a wedding (no big surprise there) and I’m thinking about some of my favorite weddings in books and film.   Many spoilers below….

♫ ‘How do you Solve a Problem Like Maria?’ ♫ (Photo credit: marragem)

Sound of Music.  Beautiful wedding scene — great dress, great church — until they sing, “How do you solve a problem like Maria??? ” I always thought that was weird.  And funny.

Pride and Prejudice.  Colin Firth finally kissing Jennifer Ehle after the minister marries the two couples and the camera cuts to a sour faced Lady Catherine de Bourgh.  Great stuff.

It’s a Wonderful Life.  George Bailey getting married in the rain.  Mary’s grumpy mother watching it all and crying because she doesn’t want Mary to marry George.

Runaway Bride.  Although I’m not sure all those fantastically overdone almost-weddings count.  But they’re fun.  I loved her escaping in the FedEx truck.

Jane Eyre.   The absolute best almost-wedding, ever.  Great in the book and all the film versions.

Scarlet Pimpernel (Anthony Andrews/Jane Seymour version)  Great scene when Percy discovers on his wedding day that his wonderful wife sent people to the guillotine.   My favorite scene with Anthony Andrews.  Give me a heartbroken, angsty handsome man who must hide his feelings.  I love it.

Cropped screenshot of Myrna Loy from the trailer for the film The Best Years of Our Lives. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Best Years of Our Lives.  Sweet, sweet wedding, which reminds us of what true love is.  And I will say again that I want to be Myrna Loy when I grow up.

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Praising Jane Eyre

I find the character of Jane Eyre fascinating — even more fascinating than the melodramatic plot of the book that bears her  name.

Jane Eyre is such a moral person — true to herself.  SPOILERS.  She doesn’t go off with Rochester when she learns he’s already married (even though we all know that she would love to do that), and she doesn’t marry the missionary cousin who would give her a “noble” life  of church service but doesn’t love her.  She does what she believes is right at a huge personal cost.  She shares her inheritance and she is even kind to her nasty aunt later in life.  In the hands of a lesser writer, Jane would be a very annoying too perfect character.  But she’s not.  Thank you, Charlotte Bronte.

Jane is painfully honest about her flaws and fears, and doesn’t see herself as others see her.  As much as I love a brooding hero, I sometimes wish she would end up with someone nicer than Rochester.  But I understand how their interactions strip away the layers of social norms and reveal them as they really are, which makes for great fiction.

I’m in a Jane Eyre mood and ready (finally) to watch the latest version with Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender.  More later.

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