What's Important about Earnest?

Holly Reese
2-10-13

  What’s Important about Earnest?

           I have never met a man named Earnest, and if I ever do, I won’t ever gush over his name. The name will always remind me of this film and that is not necessarily a good thing. The Importance of Being Earnest is one of my mom’s favorite films and when I told her that I was watching it for class, she went on and on about how funny it was. I’m not sure if it was her talking it up or my inability to pay proper attention to the dialogue, but this film was not especially interesting to me. The 1890s London setting and the old english dialect threw me off at the beginning. Usually, I am more open to something this unique, but for this film it was impossible for me to follow along. I think I need to rewatch it because I probably missed many of the jokes. It was a very different type of humor from Monty Python or Charlie Chaplin. The language was not the only issue I had with the film. I also found that I was not drawn to any of the characters.
          The two main women of this film, Gwendolen and Cecily, were very weak characters. I am not a feminist or women’s rights activist, but these women and their obsession with their men and the name Earnest was very annoying. Cecily, John’s ward, always fantasized about her fairy tale life and her life with Earnest-- actually Algy-- and fell head over heels for him as soon as she met him. Gwendolen was also obsessed with Earnest-- actually John-- and couldn’t make it in the city on her own. Both women tried to be upset with the men’s lying but they were never really mad. While I realize that this film was set in the 19th century and the main goals of women of that time were to get married and have babies, I didn’t like the women of this film. They weren’t funny. However, I did enjoy Judi Dench as Lady Bracknell. Judi Dench is an amazing actress (see A Study in Terror or a recent James Bond film) and I always like watching her on screen, regardless of the role.
            The men of this film were more tolerable. Algy and John had several moments of funny dialogue when they were arguing back and forth. Once I understood the premise of the film and the fact that they were both using the name Earnest as a pseudonym, I liked the confusion that followed. This film was very character driven through Jack and Algy. They made the film watchable, and the plot was very predictable and absurd. I like absurdity, but the humor here was might have too subtle for the strangeness of the plot. For example, the issue of Jack not knowing who his parents were because he had been left in a handbag. I can’t quite explain the exact things that I didn’t like about the humor of this film. I think it was either too weird or not weird enough.I never thought it was important to be Earnest.

The One That Had Earnest in the Title

I thought this was probably the best film I've watched for this class so far. I had read the original script for a class back in my senior year, and I even liked reading it. That says something. We also watched the film back then, but it was the one made in the 50's. I thought before I started watching it that the new version was going to be way different than the old one. But I was wrong. They're almost the exact same, besides different actors and filming technology. Which makes sense because both films are based off of the same written work.

I found two themes in the film. The first being the consequence of lying, or at least of getting caught within your lies. This is most prevalent in Earnests use of Jack, or should I say Earnest's use of Earnest, one in the country, and one in the city. Jack uses this "Earnest" fellow to get away from everyone in the Country, and likewise, Earnest uses his friend Jack to visit the city. Of course, the entire film is pretty much based as Jack's lies become his downfall. Yet we see Algy do the exact same thing, but he gets away with it. Perhaps because he chooses to kill his friend off at the ideal time, as to cover his tracks. Once Algy decides to be Earnest, everything goes wrong. One girl loves two men, or two girls love one man, the men named Earnest. It's almost as hard to follow as Inception, really. I mean, he's him, but she likes him, not him, and he's trying to keep him away from her. Wut? However, when the lies are exposed, nobody is innocent, except the girls, of course. They instead become best friends.

I suppose that this lying game could be a criticism on the middle class, saying that those in the class are liars, but I didn't rally see it that way.

I did, however, see an incredibly large criticism on the high or rich class. Lady Bracknell is the epitome of the stereotypical stuck up and complicated rich individual. We first see this attitude in the scene where she first appears. Algy mentions how his friend Bunbury is sick once again, and instead of offering condolences or any form of grief, Lady Bracknell instead asks when he is just going to die, so that Algy and her could spend more time together. What a selfish old hag, right? Even when Bunbury is announced to be dead, Bracknell rejoices in the fact that he had finally "made up his mind about the matter." She is also greedy. Of all the questions she asks Earnest to see if he is suitable to marry Gwendolen, a majority of them are queries as to what he does and how much money he makes annually. Her greed is most prevalently exposed when she finds out how much money Cecily is worth. ₤100,000? Maybe she is good enough to have the interest of Algy...

Overall, good movie. No. Great movie.

David Duneman

Expository Writing

Joe Serio

2/10/13

The Importance of Lying

            While I was watching “The Importance of Being Earnest”, I recognized some of the dialogue, and I knew some of the scenes I had to have seen in another movie, because I hadn’t seen this film before. Trying to think of it was racking my brain, but I finally recognized that a few of the scenes from this film were in Mary Jane Watsons’ play in “Spider-Man 2”. But anyway, I didn’t find myself laughing a lot during this movie. If I were to rate it I’d give it two-and-a-half out of four stars. All the Shakespearean talking made it hard to understand what, exactly, people were saying, and it made intended jokes harder to laugh at because by the time you understand that it was supposed to be a joke… the joke is over and not funny anymore. I’m sure if I watched it again I would get more from it, but I won’t.

            Rupert Everetts’ character, “Algy”, was quite annoying, because of his accent, but he seemed to grow on me and became one of my favorite characters. His brother, John, doesn’t have enough character quirks to be as prominent as he was in the story line. The funniest thing John does is lie to Gwendolen saying that his name is Earnest. Gender roles played a big role in the film. The two main women, Gwendolen and Cecily, played the classic fairy-tale princess, that want a prince-charming named Earnest. This concept is very prominent in Cecily, who is always daydreaming about a knight in shining armor coming to sweep her off her feet. The two main men, Jong and Algy, both lie saying their name is “Earnest” to get the damsel to love them, because the girls won’t like them unless their name is “Earnest”. So there is the importance of lying; to get the girl to love you, and after that you tell her the truth and then apologize until she forgives you.

            Judi Dench’s character, lady Augusta Bracknell, is a point of interest in this film. She plays a condescending queen that won’t accept anything below perfect. She never breaks character, which, obviously, is a key aspect in a good performance. Money seems to be the only thing that can persuade her. A good example of this is when Bracknell wants Algy to marry Cecily, who has a lot of money, but John won’t let them unless Bracknell agrees to let him marry Gwendolen. Bracknell doesn’t want Gwendolen to marry John because John doesn’t have any parents. But by the end they find out that John is actually Algy’s brother and that John is related to Lady Augusta Bracknell. So at that point Bracknell accepts John as a family member and everyone lives happily ever after. I didn’t think “The Importance of Being Earnest” was too special and probably wouldn’t recommend watching it.

Important to be earnest, not Earnest

            One aspect of the film “The Importance of Being Earnest” that really stood out to me was the amount of lying that they did in an attempt to gain the favor of the women they fancy.  Both men in the movie tell these women that their name is Earnest.  In this movie this is not necessarily the name itself that is important, but what the meaning of the name bears with it.  Jack Worthing presents his name as Earnest because the Ms. Fairfax believes the name Earnest to be more than just a name, but that the person that bears the name will in some way be the perfect person for her to marry. 

            In addition to lying in order to gain the favor of women, both Algernon and Jack lie to get out of situations. Jack would lie and say that his brother Earnest lived a life that is frowned upon and so that he must leave to be with Earnest in order to attempt to set him straight.  Jack would do this in order to go into the city to see Ms. Fairfax where he would tell her that his name was Earnest.  Earnest is only an extension of Jack so that Jack does not have to conform to the societal expectations that Jack has.  He lives as Earnest to live in a way where Jack will not bare the consequences, but it will be taken down as another of Earnest’s short comings.

Algernon would tell a similar lie stating that his good friend Bunbury was ill and needed his attention right away.  He would tell this lie mainly as an escape from outings and events with his aunt.  It is at this point in the movie that Algernon meets Cicily and he tells her that his name is Earnest so that he can appear as Jack’s brother.  His timing of this is terrible as this was the exact moment that Jack returned with an urn said to contain the ashes of the recently deceased Earnest.  I also found it curious that Jack attempted to kill off Earnest in order to put to rest that kind of lifestyle.  The death to Earnest in this portion, relates to a death to that side of Jack.

As the web of lies for both Jack and Algernon grow, so does their attraction to the girls who of course eventually discover the truth that neither of them are “Earnest”.  As the men attempt to win back the favor of the ladies, they are asked to state their intentions for lying to women.  Algernon gives an answer that, let’s face it, is not the best answer.  However, Cicily is eager to eat up and believe this answer.  As it is Jack’s turn to answer the question, he gives no answer at all!  Ms. Fairfax must state the answer for him.  Immediately after, in private conference with Cicily, Ms. Fairfax states that she found his answer more than satisfactory.  I found this part of the movie very interesting and funny at the same time. I look forward to any discussion of the scene.

Oh to be Ernest!

Oh how can you be anyone but Ernest! This story is twisted beyond belief. As we start our story we meet two mid age/ young men. The first we meet is a city man by the name of Algy. In this first accouter we see him running form some type of authorities. From this we can derive that he is a rambunctious man that takes action quickly and without hesitation. The second man we meet (Jack) is one of royalty and well dignified. These two men are best friend and have always been there for each other.  Now these two brothers are in means of escape. Algy lives in the city but deeply desires to be in the country. Dear Jack lives in the country and needs the excitement of the city life. So with this conundrum in hand they both devised a concoction, this being that they pretended that they had a brother giving them an escape. Algy had a sick Mr. Bunbury that he must constantly give his attention.  Jack had Ernest that presides in the city. The ruse became quite useful for the both of them.

                Jack would always go into the city hunting for the nightlife. In this he meets a woman of great royalty. Gwendolyn was the women and she fell madly in love with Ernest. Ernest being the persona that Jack put on in the city.  How is there in drama in that, well it gets better. Gwendolyn’s mother is on of extreme sovereigns and has very high standards for the man who would betroth her daughter. So Ernest/Jack must go through an extensive interview with Gwendolyn’s mother Augusta. Which in turn he does not pass, but his love for Gwendolyn is unfailing. Jack retires to his country side to get his mind about him.

                 Algy is Gwendolyn’s cousin and has a good relationship with her. Algy need his escape devises this plan to become Jacks brother and head out to the countryside to meet Jacks ward. This ward is the young sweet Cecily.  Algy meets the young Cecily and they fall madly in love. This is where the pan goes haywire. Both Cecily and Gwendolyn meet and figure out that the two men were lying about who they really are. With this turn of events the two ladies give them the silent treatment.  With this silent treatment the men must win their hearts back. They do so with ease to say the least. Then Lady Augusta shows up to the countryside to retrieve her daughter. She will not allow her daughter to marry Jack because he is not worthy and has no recollection of who his parents are. In a weird turn of event s Jack comes to find out that he is actually Algy’s real brother and all get married.

In this movie there is plenty of comic relief. The first I found was Cecily always had this dream world where the knight in shining armor would always come save her for her boring studies. This is a sign of immaturity and always a play on all the fairytales we hear. Notice that before she meets Algy the Knight always has his helmet on (no face to be seen). Once she has fallen in love with him he is in the armor with his helmet off. Then after he makes her mad the helmet is back on to show that she did not see him as her “Knight in shining” armor anymore.  Also Gwendolyn has a way with words. She uses her vocabulary to describe sex without even saying it. She even at one point describes her anger in such a caring manner.  

Overall I loved this movie and I would recommend its twisted story to anyone!

The Importance Of Being Earnest

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.

The Importance of Being Human

It would be a comment far too pessimistic to say that we can identify the society of the Victorian era with what we experience today in the United States. However, there are many aspects in the argument of the film that can easily be related to the current and growing social class dilemma we live in. The obsession with money and disregard for education and integrative community can be easily seen. What we observe in TV is now a standard that we try to emulate in a similar to the life during the Victorian era depicted on the Oscar Wilde's adaptation to the big screen The Importance of Being Earnest.

With the growth of television, we have created a world inside of our living rooms, a world that does not reflect the reality of what we live. Most of the popular shows in television depict the lives of very rich materialistic families, such as Gossip Girl, or reality shows that incentivize women to look for economic and superficial gain at marriage portrayed in The Bachelor.

Subconsciously, the world of television makes a big part of our days and begins to shape our lives and decisions. The standards of living that we see on TV are much higher than in real life, and in that way we try to catch up with what we see. To attain these economic dreams, instead of lying to others such as the character Jack-Earnest does in the film, we lie to ourselves. We choose our careers based on economic gain and seem to forget about what we really love to do. It is not a surprise to anybody to see people studying business or accounting at UNM just because it seems to be a career that will provide economic stability, but they have no problem admitting that they actually hate numbers, or would prefer not to be in an office environment.

In addition to the authority in television, there is a growing intent to decrease access to quality education. Schools are becoming more and more expensive, and the opportunity to learn seems to have become a privilege more than a possibility. It appears as if part of society in the US does not care about something as important for a healthy society as real education. Just as the character Augusta said, "Fortunately, in England at any rate, education produces no effect what-so-ever. If it did it would prove a serious danger to the upper class," we can read between the lines of political action in the government that they do not want us to think, they want us to do.

Although most of us would think that what we see in TV does not affect us or has any control over our behavior, we cannot forget that the average American person watches about four hours of television every day on average. In the Victorian era, the standards pushed humanity out of individuals away in a similar way in which television pushes reality off our days. In the Victorian times was an offense to show arms or express sexual feelings, today it is not good to talk about the social reality we live in and be critical. We think that "if people in TV can make it, why can't we make it? " It is a taboo to talk about helping each other as a community because everything is categorized as political, instead of simple compassion for each other. But everything is fine because it is all inside of a TV screen.

The Importance of Being Earnest

            I really was not interested in watching this film but it was not that bad.  The humor was different from the previous films we have seen in class.  It was more witty and fast paced.  Marriage during this time seemed to be important and is a constant reminder through out. There were two points of view on marriage. One that it is just business and the other it is for pleasure.

            Jack (Earnest) is in love with Gwendolen and wants to marry her. Jack’s love for her is not business at all. We can clearly see this through out as both he and Gwendolen express their feeling for one another. Jack serenades her when she and his ward Cecily find out about Jack and Algernon double life. Gwendolen loves Jack who she knows by the name of Earnest, that she gets a tattoo of his name. An impulsive decision based on love for her Earnest, which I though was a bit extreme for someone to do. Both Jack and Gwendolen show that marriage does not have to be about business but can be full of love. Which I assume is what most people who get married want in their marriage. But Gwendolyn’s mother, Lady Bracknell sees marriage as business.

            Lady Bracknell is an upper class woman who only wants a suitable son in law based on her criteria’s. She questions Jack about his finances, political stance, where he lives, and who his parents are. He was answering her questions to her liking till Jack reviled he does not know who his parents are. He was found in a handbag at a railway station. After hearing this Lady Bracknell dismisses Jack and does not want him to bother Gwendolen about marriage, unless he can find out who his parents are.  Sounds like a business deal.

            Even though everything worked out for all the characters, this film brings up the question about marriage. How does the audience view marriage? We see two views of marriage, which we either agree or disagree with. Overall, this was an enjoyable film.  

Ernest and Ernest

I must say, “The Importance of Being Ernest” was an exceptional movie. I wrote my expectations paper on this film and all of my expectations were met and much more. Upon reading the reviews I was not expecting this film to be as good as I thought it was after watching it. This movie did have humor but not slap stick humor. It was situational humor more than humor because someone said something and it was funny. That was one thing I liked about this film. The plot was very enticing. As the movie was progressing so was the plot. It kept me on my toes at least. That was something that the reviews did not convey very well.  Reviews are like flashlights in the dark. They can only show you sections of the whole picture. I am glad that the reviews I read did not disclose everything because it made this movie more enjoyable to view.

The highlight of the movie is when Algernon decided to be Ernest's younger brother by the name of Ernest and go to his country home. From here everything unfolds and the plot begins to pick up. In this part of the movie, there is a lot of rhetoric. For instance, they argue about this being the appropriate time to be eating muffins.

Some points of rhetoric; when Gwendolyn and Cecile were deciding on whether to forgive the men for lying about their identity.. They were using sound logic to come to reasonable and a logical deduction on whether to forgive Ernest and Algernon after misleading them on being different people.  The men’s responses for lying are intelligent and sweet but still don’t excuse for lying. The ladies then have a side conversation to further discuss their repentance.  But after rebutting they decide to forgive the men for their deed.

One thing that caught my attention was Cecile's fascination with knights in shining armor. There were several parts when she is day dreaming about being rescued, or being tied up, or imagining her knight riding across the fields towards her. The interesting part about this is when she is laying with the impostor Ernest/Algernon, she imagined him in armor. I'm not sure why this is part of the movie because it doesn't really make sense. Maybe it’s her dreams coming true and being revealed.

Another thing that was interesting was Ernest/Jack/John said he had a younger brother when in fact he was the younger brother the whole time. Maybe this was his subconscious being projected in the sense that he wanted to belong somewhere; ie friendship, family, relatives.

The last thing that I want to point out is when Aunt Augusta invites Ernest to her house for an interview so she may decide on whether he is suitable to be wed to her daughter, Gwendolyn.  In this scene, she interrogates him and writes down his responses. She gets to a point when Ernest says something that she doesn't approve of and begins to rip of his interview. You can't use a check list to make logical sound decisions. What if the paper has unrelated topics and misleads you that way. For instance, if you circle A and B then C must be true or untrue. I thought this scene was interesting because who would ever make a decision that way.

Are You Earnest or Aren’t You???

Are You Earnest or Aren’t You???

Who are you really????  The Importance of Being Earnest is unlike the movies we have previously watched.  In it, a rather plain man creates a lie that allows him to go and live a more frivolous life and to get away from his everyday worries.  This movie is unlike the previous movies that we have watched because the humor and satire in The Importance of Being Earnest is not slapstick or necessarily laughs out loud humor.  However, instead the humor is more set towards the irony of the story as the plot unfolds.            

I found myself really enjoying this movie more than the previous three simply because it was more of a clever plot and it really took though processes to create such a fun story of love, fortune, and human nature.  I was laughing more as certain things occurred and unfolded in the movie that really wouldn’t be all that funny, however, if you follow the storyline the situational irony is quite comical.  For instance as the two men, Jack and Algernon have both lied to make their lives more appealing it truly comes back to bite them in the butt.  Both of their fiancés end up finding out that they have been lied to.  From here the story unfolds fairly quickly and they way it seems to work out as highly unfortunate is quite comical.  For instance the women find out about the lies and then give the men the silent treatment.  This is going toward women having had more authority than that of the men.  Even Algy’s aunt has quite an authoritative personality that really commands respect.  When the two women find out, they give the men the silent treatment and Algy and Jack seem to become continuously more unfortunate as time went on. In the end however, the misfortunes end up equalizing and creating a very comical ending simply because it all works out for everyone.   

Knowing who you are and where you come from are key to determining just what your secrets are and if you are in fact a different person.  After having lied about his name being Earnest, Jack then was discovered to be lying and in the end, he states that his name was indeed to be Earnest.  Also another bonus to this movie was all of the rather larger actors and actresses.  I would highly recommend this film to anyone simply because the plot is so fun to watch divulge and end up really screwing up life’s’ of the main characters.  The acting isn’t bad and the story is constantly changing each time we move it about.  Again, going back to the acting, it wasn’t annoying where there were things that were obviously thrown horribly into the movie to make you laugh, but instead the humor in the movie is more developmental and takes a minute to think about why a certain part of this movie is quite entertaining.  In the end, the story ends happily for everyone.    The man that had lied about his name being Earnest; gained a fiancé because of the name, her finding out his real name, disowning him, followed by him ensuring that his name is in fact Earnest, which is just part of the overall plot theme.  It truly is exciting to watch the plot unfold and then resolving itself.