Last night Jenn and I went to see Finding Neverland. I was warned that this film wasn’t so much a romance, but a story of adultery—but I don’t think that is true. I will admit that Mr. Barrie, despite his love for the Davies children, did a horrible job of taking care of his own marriage and through his inattention was responsible for it’s breakup. Never the less, it wasn’t adultery.
Finding Neverland did make me think about how “true romance” is sometimes inaccurately portrayed—I don’t know if this is a recent thing and suspect that it’s been happening in entertainment for millennia. In some movies, perhaps this one, maybe in The Notebook (which I haven’t seen) and others, satisfying love is not found by being faithful and nurturing ones chosen love, but by keeping your heart open to wooing (and being wooed by) people at the theatre, in the park, riding that horse, from your past, etc.
Now, my point isn’t to pass judgment on this kind of practice—you probably know where I stand—but I wanted to make a connection to serial monogamy and why this type of film is so popular. Could it be as simple as these films reflect and justify what’s already going on in so many exclusive relationships? I would estimate that a greater percentage of the western population has forsaken a chosen love (be it through marriage, civil union, going steady, whatever) for a potential new love (or “true love”) than those who have been true to a chosen love. Include me in the stats, I’ve broken up with a serious (at the time) girlfriend—though, not for another, but the potential of another.
Right, well, I don’t like to get moralistic here, just a thought I had. By the way, that Johnny Depp is quite the versatile actor. I saw him in Pirates of the Caribbean a few weeks ago. He’s rising the ranks of my admired Hollywood actors. And who tops that list? Maybe Sean Penn.
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