Currently listening to: Walking by The Dodos, Theo B by Sunny Day Real Estate
Fidelity is a subject that I never really thought about. Perhaps a fleeting judgment, a small consideration. Taking into account the films I have been watching, books I have been reading, scenarios I have been approached with in recent years, I realize, now, that I have been steeped to my nose in themes of unfaithfulness. I guess I just accepted it as wrong. Nothing else.
At today's Cinemateque, we watched
Sunrise: The Song of Two Humans. I sat there watching this character stray from his loving wife, with whom he had established a family. He met "The Woman From the City" a distance from his home, and kissed her passionately. Eventually he became convinced that drowning his wife to escape to a life of bliss with this woman would be the most rewarding course of action. The man was willing to sacrifice his life that he had built from the ground up with a lovely woman to go off to somewhere else with someone else for something else. But isn't this other woman full of empty promises? Sure, she's a person like any other. He was already married, though, and, at one point at least, was very much in love. Murnau, being a gracious storyteller, offers up a happy ending. But you're wondering why this supposed monotony gets to people so quickly. On a larger scale, people often fear change, and yet crave the its idealistic promises. After spending a day in the city, the couple's love is renewed. Any thoughts the man once had about leaving his wife have diminished. I think it's interesting that a change in setting encouraged such a dramatic change in disposition. His wife was there the whole time. Anyways, the lesson was learned. There are storms in the city, too, after all.
Although I have never solidified my personal ideas about marriage or relationships in general, I think it is generally stupid to make promises you cannot keep.
But there's always that "what if," right? I'm thinking about stories and films like
Purple Rose of Cairo, where you find yourself rooting for that affair. That gets into a discussion of morality that I don't feel confident in pursuing. But I thought I would qualify everything I am saying with that. You never know if the grass is really greener. Sometimes you're in a position where that's all you can hope for. Other times, it's just a matter of realizing what you have, and how much you should appreciate it.
For most, I suppose it could all come down to reality, the brass tracks of it all. This reminds me of something Matthew Gray Gubler's character said in
500 Days of Summer. He is asked to describe his "dream girl," and he does so in comparison to his long-time girlfriend. Gubler pauses for a moment, though. And he says something to the effect of, "Robin is better than the girl of my dreams. She's real."
