I found The Importance of Being Earnest to be the least comic film we have
watched all semester. Besides a few awkward moments of situational humor, the
movie was not too funny.
Two of the main characters lead double
lives. One is John (Jack) Worthing and is also Earnest Worthing, a guise
adopted when he is the city courting Gwendolen.
The other is
Algernon Moncrieff who becomes Earnest
Worthing, when he visits Jack in the country, so he can court Jacks niece
Cecily. This leads me to wonder how many people led double lives in that time
and also if that is still a common practice today.
I was rather disturbed with the amount of
incest implied in this movie. Not only is Earnest Moncrieff intent on marrying
his cousin but since Earnest and Algernon are brothers, Algy is also intent on
marrying his cousin. I hope that this wasn’t a common occurrence in the
civilian classes even in Victorian England. I do however understand the motive
behind this, I mean besides love. The marriage between cousins was only practiced
the keep royal or otherwise important bloodline “pure.” This happened fairly
often in the royal families of Europe, so much so that that in World War I King
George V was a first cousin to Kaiser William II of Germany, Czar Nicholas II,
Czarina Alexandra (Nicholas’ wife), as well as most other royal families in
Europe thus truly making WWI a family feud. In fact this practice was so common
between about 1500 until about 1900 that a genetic defect called the “Hapsburg
Lip” became extremely prevalent in the royal families of Europe.
I also noticed they way that the couples
in The Importance of Being Earnest “fell in love.” It seems that the males in
the movie, including the doctor, fell in love with some one rather quickly
after only just meeting them. To my knowledge this wasn’t too uncommon for I
observed the same process in The Jeeves and Wooster stories written by P.G.
Wodehouse. A recurring character in these stories is Richard P. “Bingo” Little,
who continually falls in love with women when he first meets them. I have to
think that in those times falling in love with someone was mainly based on
appearance because one can only learn so much about a person after a few
meetings.
Another
thing I noticed was the rather extreme power that the legal guardians had over
their wards. Both Earnest and his Aunt Augusta will not allow their respective
wards to marry because they see that the suitors or not up to their standards.
I also found it interesting that Earnest said that Cecily would not come of age
until she was 35 and that Aunt Augusta deemed 35 to be an appropriate marrying
age (for Earnest). Nowadays, at least in the USA, 18 is the age at which one
becomes an adult and 35 is almost too old to be married.
I
liked the movie despite its apparent lack of humor and I think that it will
give us plenty to talk about over the coming week.
I happened upon this old post by accident and was troubled by some of the comments. Probably the author of this won't even look back at this comment; Evan is probably older now and, if he watched it again, would "get" more of the humor. In case other students are reading this, however, I wanted to clarify a few things.
ReplyDeleteFirst: Jack is Cecily's guardian. Jack is not related to Cecily, thus Algernon is not related to Cecily. Jack's relationship to Gwendolyn would not have been considered incest at the time of this story; in some cases, it wouldn't be by some people today.
This is a comedic book and film, not a history lesson. You may glean a little about history from it, but really shouldn't take comedic situations as evidence of what life used to be like. You should definitely not watch a comedy and assume that having double-lives was common back then.
Part of the reason Evan may not have found this movie funny was simply because he took seriously comments meant to be lighthearted. Almost *every* line in this movie is a quip of dry humor, often directed at society. This includes almost everything Aunt Augusta says, all of which is absurd (including the comment on age - although it should be noted that 35 is quite close to the new norm for marriage). If you understand how society was at the time, the humor in Aunt Augusta’s comments makes more sense. Much of what Aunt Augusta said judges people for things they have no control over, which is both ridiculous itself and a jab at/reflection of society.
Cecily's comments about how she has an imaginary on-again, off-again relationship with someone she has just met is *meant* to be funny. Nothing in this should be taken seriously, including the length of time it took for people fell in love - it is a comedy!
Some examples of comedic moments:
Many characters make comments that compliment themselves - in a way that people would never do in real life because it would be considered pretentious. With the flippant dialog, however, and especially with the way other characters react, it simply comes off as funny:
“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.”
“If I am occasionally a little over-dressed, I make up for it by being always immensely over-educated.”
Over-the-top superficial comments that no one would actually admit to feeling in real life; many are also a comment on society:
“In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity, is the vital thing.”
“My dear fellow, the truth isn’t quite the sort of thing one tells to a nice, sweet, refined girl. What extraordinary ideas you have about the way to behave to a woman!”
Or simply saying things in unexpected ways:
"Gwendolen, it is a terrible thing for a man to find out suddenly that all his life he has been speaking nothing but the truth. Can you forgive me?”"
This comment at once seems perceptive, makes fun of society and education, and pokes fun at Aunt Augusta herself for promoting ignorance - all at the same time:
“I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance. Ignorance is like a delicate exotic fruit; touch it and the bloom is gone. The whole theory of modern education is radically unsound. Fortunately in England, at any rate, education produces no effect whatsoever.”
At any rate, as I have written this I have noticed more posts on the side, which makes me think this may be a blog dedicated to a high-school film class - and here I am out of nowhere putting in my opinion! Without the background in history and literature, a lot of the humor/points above would be lost by a high-school student, so I apologize in a way for placing an unrealistic standard on the post - it isn't anything against Evan. To be honest, to reiterate what I said before - this is written more out of concern for other students potentially coming across the post, misunderstanding the book/film, and missing out on what is ultimately an awesome, fun book/movie.