Ewan McGregor and Writers and Love
Jul. 12th, 2005 02:28 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
butterflySo, I have two Ewan McGregor movies rattling about in my head, longing to be compared. They are, of course, Moulin Rouge and Young Adam.
The contrasts are too fascinating to ignore. Both movies are about a writer searching for his story. Joe never finds his story and ends up throwing away even the chance of writing it, while Christian finds and finishes his.
In both movies, we start out with the female love interest already dead, and during the course of the movie, we find out how she died, and why. Satine has tuberculosis and Cathy can't swim.
Satine was dying before Christian ever met her -- if they hadn't known each other, she would have died never having been in love. Cathy, on the other hand, dies as a direct result of her contact with Joe. If they'd never met, she'd probably still be alive.
Moulin Rouge takes place in a heightened world, while the world of Young Adam is all too real and drab.
So, what is the difference between the two, the one thing that changes everything?
The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and to be loved in return.
Comparing Joe to Christian, it's easy to see that Joe is a flatter character (though certainly no less complex) -- Christian sings, and by comparision, Joe is tone-deaf. Christian is an idealist and a romantic, while Joe doesn't even seem to enjoy all that sex that he's having (Joe actually reminds me a bit of Brian from Queer as Folk (US)).
To steal words from yet another movie that Ewan McGregor was in -- your focus determines your reality (Qui-Gon; Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace).
To the romantic, the highs are infinitely higher and the lows are infinitely lower. They are interconnected -- the higher you can fly, the further away the ground is.
The idealist has passion. One of the easiest ways to show the possession of passion is through romantic love. When Christian loses Satine, his reaction is immediate and powerful -- we see him break down and we see the slow and painful process of learning to live without her. With Joe, losing Cathy is merely part of him falling into complete apathy (though a very important part -- it is only with Cathy that we actually see Joe show any strong emotions at all).
Joe throws away his typewriter and doesn't save Cathy. He burns her picture and throws away the mirror that she gave him -- the one that he's been using the entire movie. He burns his bridges and starts anew, losing himself in the fog.
Christian, on the other hand, writes out his love story, takes in Satine's pet bird, and through his ability to love, keeps Satine with him.
Through the differences in Christian and Joe, we can see that that old saying is true -- it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. Joe survives, but Christian lives.
And because Joe does not live, does not allow the extremity of emotion into his soul, he cannot write. We see him try, and fail. In both cases, we get to meet a muse, a reason for inspiration, but while Christian embraces this, completely, Joe pushes it away. He demeans the very idea of love by making it something filthy and violent.
Cathy dies having been rejected, while Satine dies forgiving and forgiven. In some ways, Joe is a vision of a possible person that Christian might have been, had he kept walking when Satine sang out their song to him.
The contrasts are too fascinating to ignore. Both movies are about a writer searching for his story. Joe never finds his story and ends up throwing away even the chance of writing it, while Christian finds and finishes his.
In both movies, we start out with the female love interest already dead, and during the course of the movie, we find out how she died, and why. Satine has tuberculosis and Cathy can't swim.
Satine was dying before Christian ever met her -- if they hadn't known each other, she would have died never having been in love. Cathy, on the other hand, dies as a direct result of her contact with Joe. If they'd never met, she'd probably still be alive.
Moulin Rouge takes place in a heightened world, while the world of Young Adam is all too real and drab.
So, what is the difference between the two, the one thing that changes everything?
The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and to be loved in return.
Comparing Joe to Christian, it's easy to see that Joe is a flatter character (though certainly no less complex) -- Christian sings, and by comparision, Joe is tone-deaf. Christian is an idealist and a romantic, while Joe doesn't even seem to enjoy all that sex that he's having (Joe actually reminds me a bit of Brian from Queer as Folk (US)).
To steal words from yet another movie that Ewan McGregor was in -- your focus determines your reality (Qui-Gon; Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace).
To the romantic, the highs are infinitely higher and the lows are infinitely lower. They are interconnected -- the higher you can fly, the further away the ground is.
The idealist has passion. One of the easiest ways to show the possession of passion is through romantic love. When Christian loses Satine, his reaction is immediate and powerful -- we see him break down and we see the slow and painful process of learning to live without her. With Joe, losing Cathy is merely part of him falling into complete apathy (though a very important part -- it is only with Cathy that we actually see Joe show any strong emotions at all).
Joe throws away his typewriter and doesn't save Cathy. He burns her picture and throws away the mirror that she gave him -- the one that he's been using the entire movie. He burns his bridges and starts anew, losing himself in the fog.
Christian, on the other hand, writes out his love story, takes in Satine's pet bird, and through his ability to love, keeps Satine with him.
Through the differences in Christian and Joe, we can see that that old saying is true -- it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all. Joe survives, but Christian lives.
And because Joe does not live, does not allow the extremity of emotion into his soul, he cannot write. We see him try, and fail. In both cases, we get to meet a muse, a reason for inspiration, but while Christian embraces this, completely, Joe pushes it away. He demeans the very idea of love by making it something filthy and violent.
Cathy dies having been rejected, while Satine dies forgiving and forgiven. In some ways, Joe is a vision of a possible person that Christian might have been, had he kept walking when Satine sang out their song to him.