Soderbergh's "Solaris" and Guadgnino's "I Am Love"

In "Solaris", love plays a major role in the plot.  Chris, who is a psychologist,  is taken to a space station which orbits the planet Solaris.  Chris does not know why he is being taken there, but once he is there, he realizes that most of the people on the space station have either died or disappeared.  Shortly after Chris arrives, he dreams about his dead wife, Rheya, and then a replica appears.  At first, he sends the replica away, but when she appears again, he does everything he can to keep her. The other astronauts say that replicas of their lovers have appeared too.  It is almost as if the planet Solaris understands that love can influence others more than anything.  I also find it interesting that the astronauts would hire a psychologist to help them instead of a scientist.  I think it shows that the problems from the planet are not scientific, but rather emotional.  Love cannot really be understood scientifically because it plays with your heart and your head.  We have been learning in class that love is a force that cannot be stopped.  Therefore, by the planet using love as their weapon, they are using the most dangerous weapon of them all.  If one is constantly bombarded by love, one can go crazy with grief.  Desire also plays a role because Chris cannot let go of Rheya's replica because he remembers the times he used to have with her, but this is actually hurting his chances to go back to earth because it weighs down the space station.  This shows how loves literally is weighing Chris down.  Chris is so consumed by his desire for Rheya, even though he knows it is just a replica of her, that he cannot see straight.  WE also learned in class that sometimes one can become blinded to reality because they are so consumed in love and desire.  This occurs with Chris because he is so attached to Rheya's replica that he willingly opts out of his opportunity to go back to Earth when he can.  Ultimately, the planet Solaris understands that people cannot resist their urges to obtain their desires.  In the movie is states that "there are no answers, only choices".  This is a universal theme in love and desire.  There is always a double edged sword when it comes to love and desire.  If we don't fulfill our desires, we are starving ourselves, but if we do fulfill them, we are setting ourselves up for disappointment and consequences.  Therefore, the planet Solaris sets up this tricky question that in reality we have to choose everyday: do we engulf ourselves in  our love and desires or do we do what is best for us?

Desire is a key factor in "I am Love".  We see desire in the forms of the seven deadly sins: gluttony, greed, lust, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride.  Gluttony appears with the special Russian soup, "uhka".  Both Edoardo Jr. and Emma simply cannot get enough of this soup.  Therefore, they constantly indulge on it, even though the other family members do not like it, because they are both consumed by their desire of taste.  Greed plays a major role with most of the family especially Tancredi.  Tancredi desires to be rich so badly that he will basically do anything to inherit his father's business even naming his son after his father.  Once he does inherit the business, instead of continuing it, he immediately seeks out buyers for it.  Tancredi has no sense of the value of handwork or money, he merely is consumed with his greed.  Lust plays a role with Emma because this is what ultimately leads her to having an affair with Antonio, but this also occurs with her daughter, Elisabetta.  Emma finds out that Elisabetta is a lesbian and cannot control her sexual urges for sex with other women.  Elisabetta lets herself become engulfed in the need for sex without any control. Sloth plays another part with Tancredi again because he is constantly lazy.  He does not understand the concept of working hard to earn money, he simply wants it handed to him.  Wrath appears in the story when Edoardo Jr. becomes so upset about finding out his mother has an affair that he storm away from the table.  Because Edoardo Jr. is so consumed by his anger, this is what leads to his death because he cannot think rationally.  Envy plays a role because Tancredi is extremely jealous of the wealth and power his father has.  Tancredi wants to be the patriarch, but he cannot because Edoardo Sr. is.  The very last deadly sin is pride which is seen a lot with Edoardo Sr.  Edoardo Sr. is so wrapped up in the fact that he is the patriarch of the family and that he is rich that he becomes so arrogant of his role in the family rather than being humbled by it.  Therefore, desire does play a major role in the plot, but I also wanted to point out other things that relate to the class.  For one, Emma in the movie resembles Madame Bovary very well.  Both women are not content with their boring lives as housewives, thus they seek out passion by having affairs with other men.  This brings up the universal question: should women sacrifice their happiness to live up to society's standards?  Personally, I do not think women should be forced to do this.  Both Emma's were trapped in unhappy, boring marriages, and I do not think that they did anything wrong by fulfilling their love and desires with someone else.

Madame Bovary Week 2

10. Why does she decide to commit suicide by poisoning?

11. Why is Emma's death so prolonged?

I think why Emma really committed suicide is because she is a dreamer.  Emma engages herself in literature that holds these ideas of a perfect life.  So when she finally realizes that life will never be ideal as she hopes it will be, she feels hopeless.  This is why Emma has relationships with so many other men because she wants this fairytale life that she has read about.  Therefore, Emma feels completely trapped in her mundane life and she feels as if she has no other hope in the slightest at achieving her ideal image.  In which case, this is what really leads to her suicide: her failed attempts of having her ideal life.  This dream aspect of Emma also plays a role in why her death is prolonged.  Emma expects not only life to be perfect, but she also expects her death to be glorious as well.  One of the main reasons why Emma chooses the poison over other means of killing herself is because she expects to drink the poison and have a quick, dramatic death.  What Emma failed to realize is that arson will slowly kill the body not quickly.  Thus, her death reflects her life.  Emma thinks her life will be glorious, but when it is not, she feels like she has to kill herself.  Her slow death represents how Emma's ideal images will never match up with reality. 

Madame Bovary Week One

 3. Why does Emma find the ball at La Vaubyésssard so important? Notice the way others treat her – does she belong to this society? Why or why not?

From a very early age, Emma becomes obsessed with social status.  This could be a lot to do with the fact that she never really received attention in her childhood and so she seeks attention through society as an adult.  Either way, Emma is so consumed by this ball because for her this will represent her social status and then she will be accepted as an important figure in her community.  The main problem with this is that Emma clearly does not belong to this higher society and they make note of this by treating her like a child or fool.  Emma does not belong to this society simply because she is just that: a child.  She is extremely naive and she does not understand the responsibility of being a part of this society.  Emma has an idealized image of this society as being beautiful and having lots of glamorous balls which is why she will never belong because she does not see beyond that.   

 5. Discuss Emma’s pregnancy. Who in truth “carries” the pregnancy? Emma? Why or why not? What does the novel say about maternity?

Emma's pregnancy is really just a tactic for Emma to be pampered and have all of the attention on her for the time being.  The person who really "carried" the pregnancy is the midwife.  It was very common during this time period for the mother to carry the baby and give birth to the child, then once the baby was born, they would take a period of time to rest while a midwife cared for the newborn infant.  Therefore, Emma really did not do anything during her pregnancy, it was those around her who really took care of the pregnancy.  What this says about maternity is that it really does not exist at least not during this time period.  Emma's mother was not close to Emma, and in return, Emma is not very close with her daughter.  Ultimately, maternity means giving birth to the child and that is it.  The actual cannot be bothered with little tasks such as changing the baby because it is important for them to regain their strength so they can stay beautiful.  Therefore, maternity is very false at this time especially with Emma. 

Celestina Week 2

2)  Calisto gives his long soliloquy in Act 14.  This speech comes right after he and Malibea consummate their relationship.  From the very moment that Calisto sees Maliebea in the garden, he is obsessed with her.  There is not a moment in the text when Calisto does not profess his undying love for Malibea and how much he wants to have sex with her.  For Calisto, he thinks that having sex with Malibea is what he wants and what will make his relationship with her even better.  However when Calisto finnaly gets what he wants (or what he thinks he wants), he realizes that consummating his relationship with Malibea really did not give him the pleasure he thought it would.  Thus, the major theme of the speech is desire, and the challenges that one faces because of desire.  Calisto lets this desire for Malibea consume him so much that he confuses his desire for her with happiness.  Calisto believes that if he has sex with Malibea that he will be happy, but it is actually the opposite.  Therefore, desire, by nature, is meant to trick people.  Calisto thinks that he desires Malibea when in actuality, he desires the chase for Malibea    

4)  When Calisto first meets Malibea, it is in the middle of the night in complete darkness.  Thus, the only light Calisto has to see Malibea is from the moon and the stars.  Right off the bat, Calisto is given a false interpretation of Malibea.  Having the only light out as the moon and the stars creates a romantic mood for the initial meeting between Calisto and Malibea.  If Calisto had first met Malibea in a neutral atmosphere, he may not have been swayed by a biased atmosphere.  Also, Calisto has a wrong impression of Malibea because he is, indeed, not actually seeing her.  When Celestina has the dinner at the house, the women wonder what is wrong with Calisto.  Calisto does not see Malibea's features because they are tainted by the darkness.  In actuality, the women describe Malibea as being so ugly that a pole could look better in a dress than her.  Thus, this shows how desire completely sways the mind.  Calisto's desire for Malibea consumes him so much that he is blind to who she really is figuratively just like he is blind to her literally in their initial meeting.