love means never having to say you're sorry, even in outer space

I understand only one thing about cultural phenomena: I don't understand them.
After I saw the movie Love Story, I got the book from the library.
Not only that, I read it. It's famous in literary circles as kitsch, it's famous in some circles as the first time the word preppy appeared in print, it's famous in other circles as a precursor to chick-lit although the author was male. The names of buildings and streets were spelled correctly. But the implicit characterization of the schools with which I was familiar (full disclosure: I did not attend the schools named in the story, but friends and bygone romances did, so I visited)  didn't ring true. The schools I knew were populated by people who somehow found time to attend the classes, read the readings, write the papers, think the thinking. Their wardrobes were afterthoughts. Their haircuts were either automatic or afterthoughts, depending on era. Frankly, I always thought the best way to dress was to look as if you had better things on your mind but were raised by people who drummed "clean and neat," "it's still good," "quality will always tell," and "where did you say you were going, dear?" into your infant brain. Here the focus was on Luuuuurrrrv and cute clothes. The clothes looked like they tried. Wrong.

I watched the movie with some friends, who were astounded by the clothing. In fairness: Ali MacGraw's outfits fit her perfectly, showed no cleavage (butt or upper), were appropriate to the scene that was taking place, and yet drew gasps of admiration. That this should be unusual and admirable is a sad state of affairs, but the movie is meant to make you sad, so... on some level it works.
(coff, coff)
Spoiler alert: the plot ranges from the implausible to the insipid. 
At the end, Ali McGraw dies from Nonspecific But Inevitably Fatal Movie Disease. 
She is said to grow pallid and weak, but this is stated, not shown. 
Love Story is part of a genre of movies where a girl who tries to speak plainly, 
move up in life, and think for herself, meets a bad end, 
although it's not as dramatic as Looking for Mr. Goodbar. 
The boy who was born to succeed, succeeds. The girl who strives, dies. Sniff, sniff.
well-behaved horse behaving well
frightening to equine population
So what was the way of life that the Boy rejected because he wanted to reach for individuality, independence, and True Love? Not for me to define . But let's look at one teeny facet of "Prepdom as it is shown in films and literature."

Recently an ill-considered e-mail ventured into my Inbox, into several inboxes, in fact. The author, clearly an intergalactic tourist, suggested that the Girl in the movie might have considered these boots to be riding boots. Actually, I don't think the Girl rode. If she did, even if she didn't know better, someone else would have prevented her from getting on a horse in those boots. Riding boots have to have a defined heel, but it should be no higher than 1½ inches, and it should be broad, not pointy. Otherwise, you will hurt the horse. Havoc will occur in the region of the stirrups. Preppies may be dangerous to women in movies,  but they are kind to animals across the board.  And tassels on shoes were not generally accepted on the East Coast at the time of the movie, although I understand that many nice people wear them now. I don't know about tassels on boots in general, but for riding, you don't want anything on your feet/legs that could interfere with the stirrups or tickle the horse at an inopportune moment.
I wish to give Jennifer Cavilleri (Ali MacGraw's character) the benefit of the doubt, because, after all, she died, she was made to wear teeny skirts out of doors on snowy days, and she was said to be smart, and she died, so if she were a real person and learned that she had to get on a horse, she would have found one of the many books about what to wear on a horse that were available in one of the libraries with which Boston and Cambridge teem, and then she would have found a kindly suite-mate from whom to borrow boots, pants and shirt.

Accordingly, I have concluded that these awkward emails are the product of a mind that is studying Planet Earth, but has not yet learned to distinguish the human species from the equine. Or tee-shirts from T-paper (both disposable, no?)


Dorothy Parker was asked to identify her favorite of the four sisters in Little Women, which is a story about how four girls with no visible means of support are deserted by their neer-do-well father, who is kind of a Civil War hippie-chaplain. The girls and their dear mother spend a lot of time hoping he will come home and worrying if he will be proud of them. Meanwhile, they do menial jobs, scrounge for food, mend clothing, and suck up to wealthy friends and relatives. Parker's favorite sister: "Beth, because she died."

I would love to have heard what Dorothy Parker would have said of Love Story.  And as for her opinions on the Copywriter From Space:
she might have said this

30 comments:

  1. Yeah, whomever referred to those as a "riding boot" is either from outer space or on crack, because of the reasons you mentioned and also because you have to keep your heels DOWN when your foot is in the stirrup, both for equitation purposes and so that your foot won't slip through the stirrup (danger!). You cannot keep your heels down when your foot is forcibly shaped into a pointed toe. Dummy should have called them "equestrian inspired" and nobody would bat an eyelash.

    You know what p*ssed me off the most about "Love Story"? Oliver and the doctor deciding to NOT TELL Jenny that she was dying. WTF? So the movie presents you with this intelligent, talented, hard-working young woman, then decides to kill her off, THEN - to add insult to injury - her husband and *her doctor* decide that she's just too fragile to inform that she has only months to live. Never in the entire movie was Jenny presented to us as some sort of shrinking violet - heck, Oliver was the wishy-washy one, but now we're supposed to believe that she wouldn't be able to handle the news of her impending (unspecified) doom with grace and courage? What crap. I didn't even cry at the end, I was so mad.

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  2. Hi, Whitney, I love your comment! I found the movie preposterous and annoying, too.

    Meanwhile I'm hoping they don't let the CFS near any horses. Or goats or large dogs, for that matter. Not so worried about camels, they probably would just exhale on her til she dissolves.

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  3. THE SEGAL HAS LANDED WFF, based on jewellery selections at JC and certain sweaters I think the CFS will be riding an elephant (tufted & tasseled saddles common), a ram, a peacock, or just maybe a feather-stuffed replica of a certain hen. Movie-wise my a fan of "Love Story" for some of the clothes. I saw the very maudlin TV movie-esque sequel "Oliver's Story" when home sick one day (twist: rich-loves-rich, in this case Candice Bergen heiress to Bonwit Teller fortune, who walks out when OB IV keeps whining) first, so even more wary of the original and in plot-line agreement with Whitney.

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    1. see, we may be on the verge of discovering a cure for hearty appetites - watch one Segal movie before dinner.

      The CFS is a never-ending source of giggles around here, and for this I am grateful to her. On the other hand I still haven't figured out if she ever looks at the merch she "describes," or indeed just what the nasty little secret is that keeps her employed.

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  4. Thank you for the reminder not to ever re-watch that movie. Or ride horses with tassels and tall sharp heels. Or read certain emails in my Inbox :)

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    1. hi, cate, sounds like you didn't need reminding!

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  5. I am inordinately fond of Dorothy Parker. The most interesting tidbit to me about Love Story is from this article, in which the author states that the character Oliver is based on an amalgam of 2 students he knew at Harvard- Al Gore and Tommy Lee Jones. I can only wonder about the festivities back then. I think the "copywriter" would do well to rememeber that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing!

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    1. Sorry- this article: http://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/14/us/author-of-love-story-disputes-a-gore-story.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

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    2. or you could wonder if anyone came down with diabetes after repeatedly watching Love Story.

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    3. For some reason, the whole Gore-Jones-Segal-who-was-Jenny business reminds me of how every time a Kennedy is more than 10 years dead, you can't leave the house or pick up a paper or turn on radio/tv without learning about still another girl who was his Own True Love and is giving interviews and has a book deal.

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  6. You have made my day. I have a wretched night of work ahead of me but I love Ms. Parker and being the individual I am, continually use horriculture in the way it was meant to be used "you can lead a whore to culture but you can't make her think." at least once a week and often about a male politician.

    As for Love Story. If I should ever end up in a bed dying of a hitherto undknown ailment, I plan to have a little recording of the music under the blankets to be used at times when required... Ah, who am I kidding? I will die at 93 in bed with George Clooney...

    You really do bring out the worst aspect of me. If there is a copywriter from Space, there surely is room for a "Smartass from Canada"

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    1. Isn't that what you have where we have Brownie Scouts?

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    2. CFS DE-STRESS You two as a dynamic duo crack me up. Signed the not-so-smart a** from Canuck who was a Brownie and a Girl Guide, strictly for the scarf and cookies. (Although you US folks get more/ better flavours.)

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    3. Not to brag, but I was "a happy little gnome, helping others in their home"....

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  7. Wasn't Ali wearing a beret much of the movie? That was the best part. No one looks like that on the way out,believe me.

    And was it Dot Parker who said " Hell is other people"?

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    1. Yes, her hair stayed glossy till the end.

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  8. Hi, Lane, the only symptom of Nonspecific But Inevitably Fatal Movie Disease is that the patient looks great.

    Sartre said "Hell is other people" in No Exit,. Actually he said ""L'enfer, c'est les autres." But Dorothy Parker is like Oscar Wilde and Yogi Berra, in that if she'd actually said what people say she said, she'd never have had time to play baseball.

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    1. Hehe! It is a useful phrase at about 3 PM though. Thanks for the actual attribution; I do like to think it was DP.

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  9. Fred, I seek your expert counsel. I'm starting my copper pot search, do I want cast iron/bronze or stainless steel handles? Just tell me, what i want, it's one of those days when thinking for myself would break the camel's back.

    Thank you!

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  10. Just my opinion: for cooking, stainless steel, easier to clean and less weight. For ornamental purposes, like filling with dried baby's breath and putting in empty fireplaces in summer, other metals.

    Enjoy!

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    1. Thanks, it's all been bamboozling my brain! And great point about the weight, that's what's stopped me from buying them in the past, I didn't even consider the different weight differences between the handles.

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    2. I agree with WFF about the advantages of stainless steel. Be very careful of pots with heat transfer even toward the end of long handles, solid metal handles are sturdier but transfer more heat.

      If you are willing to put up with handling their weight and having to care for them, there are reasons why so many on the Food Network use enameled cast iron.

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  11. I have never managed to watch the entire movie, so your summation of this cinematic effort is extremely useful, in that I know I'll not need to commit any more time to any bits of this flick. I recently watched a youtube clip of Andy Williams singing the love theme, and while his voice is amazing, the song palatable, the images on that youtube clip gave me such a toothache...

    Thanks for the chuckles, you've me (almost) spit my coffee over my keyboard. I really should learn to NOT drink anything while I read your posts.

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  12. Oh, I think Love Story turned a whole generation to car chases. Glad you enjoyed, CC!

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  13. "Nonspecific But Inevitably Fatal Movie Disease"

    This had me in stitches, even though it was a sad movie.

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  14. Hi, Rose! NBIFMD is well known, but fortunately it's rarely contagious.

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  15. I watched Love Story a looooong time ago (when I was young enough to believe that the death of a young person in love with another person is romantic) and I only remember the lovers trying to study on the couch, the lovers skating and the famous line.
    Re. CFS, I honestly think that we tend to overestimate her inspirational moments, or at least overthink them. I think that she thought that the title "a love story" had a good sound and tried to find a link to the movie. The all thing sounded very forced...

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  16. Hi, Ema! I agree that the copy often is unconnected to the clothes, or to the reality of the human body, in a thoughtless, "oh, yeah," kind of way, which is just mildly humorous. Sometimes, though, she's so far offbeam that she just annoys me, because her salary and bonuses add to the price of the clothes that she's not describing.

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  17. JC and its CFS should stop insulting our intelligence, I stopped reading their messages in my inbox a long time ago. Even if just to keep up with their sales, JCAs do a better job.

    I saved this post for a good weekend read and it did not disappoint. I never watched that movie, should I at some point, it's a classic, n'est pas?

    All I know is I wasted way too much time analyzing whether that famous line is truth or not.

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  18. Well the movie as cinematic art fails. But as a party piece, say, drinking game, every time someone says "preppy," or even just for a groaning contest - has possibilities.

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