Eat, Pray, Love written by Elizabeth Gilbert, a very popular one this year, is a book full of religious content. What I found most interestingly religious about both the book, and the
recent movie, is the protagonist's search for spirituality by undertaking the adventure of her life. In one part of the book Gilbert does reach out to God in a prayer, and essentially prays for the first time in her life. She says, "Are you there God, It's me Elizabeth". She finds peace through this prayer on her bathroom floor and even claims to hear God's voice. I am very comfortable with this portrayal being a member of the church of Jesus Christ of Later-Day-Saints. It is very interesting to me that an author would expose herself enough in a popular book and reveal such a sacred experience. That is not my judgement call. How amazing it is that she did so though. It may just mean that those going through confusing, painful situations will kneel down at last attempt because of Eat Pray Love. Books and movies have so much power, they mold the social conciousness and have the ability to cause those who are touched to take action.
Another couple facets of her popularized journey, in my opinion, hurt tenets of religion that many of us find important in our lives. Elizabeth's confusion and consequent divorce lead her to a spiritual journey where she finds pleasure through food in Italy, Spirit through meditation in India, and a balance of the two in Bali. Of course she found herself again, she wasn't looking for anything else, or for anyone else's happiness. It was all about her. But my question is, d
id Elizabeth Gilbert Glamorize and Glorify leaving her husband? .In one part of the book she says, " The many reasons I did not want to be this mans wife again were too sad and personal. I equal parts loved him and could not stand him." Where's the part where she touches on the fact that we all experience that in marriage but find patience and compassion? Again, it's a little touchy that I'm making a judgement call here, but this facet of the book really emanated with me. This common social trend of divorce, was given the hollywood makeover. Not only divorce, but leaving your husband without a chance to speak, without trying to solve differences, in an entirely self serving manner. Oprah even gives Gilbert the hoorah when she gives her motherly, "OK" to Gilbert's love affair with a twenty-something actor during her divorce. Talk about the universal stamp of approval in consumers' eyes.A book review on good reads.com, though, summed up my feeling. MelssaS said, " A responsibility towards a marriage and spouse is now considered an unwanted "obsession" and one's own pursuit of happiness supercedes everything else? If a man decided to dump his wife and family to flee to the Himalayas to meditate we wouldn’t be calling it a spiritual journey...we would call it irresponsibility." Go Girl.
Considering that divorce is a religious issue for most classical christian, jewish, and muslim faiths, I pose the question... Has media glorified divorce? Is it becoming more permissible because popular media figures participate in it? Step outside the LDS perspective of divorce and do we see something trending in media affecting society like a plague?
Apologies for the formatting. I have never blogged and the pictures are throwing off my text!!!!
Absolutely. There is no doubt in my mind that divorce is becoming more commonplace because people see celebrities doing it and the media shows greater instances of it occurring.
ReplyDeleteOne of my biggest peeves with recent movies/books that women obsess over is the portrayal of men. The man that the lead women in stories go crazy for is usually not a man that "exists." A glamorized caricature of what man "should be," in the eyes of women, gives women a false hope in their real lives, wishing and desiring the very thing that doesn't exist.
"Oh my husband isn't like so-and-so. In the movie they got divorced because of that, so that's probably what I should do."
Let's get back to reality...
Candi! Great post! I loved the idea of media's "giving divorce the Hollywood makeover."
ReplyDeleteI agree that the media's portrayal of divorce both reflects and influences Americans' approach to marriage. It reflects it in the sense that...divorce is a reality. It happens every day in our society. People find new reasons to jump ship on their marriage. No one seems to have an "endure-to-the-end" attitude anymore when it comes to marriage, and their excuses for leaving are getting weaker by the day.
And the media perpetuates this trend. The more people see it, the more they become desensitized to the realities of divorce. It "makes sense" to leave your husband to "find yourself" or dissolve a marriage on the premise that you're "just not the person you used to be." Media makes it look easy. No pangs of regret upon seeing your old spouse every time you hand off the kids, no light shed on the selfish nature of many (not all) reasons for splitting, glamorization (not a word, I know) of the "picking up the pieces" stage where Mom finds a cuter, more appreciative boyfriend right off the bat.
I know there are real reasons for divorce. And I'm not trying to undermine anyone's decisions for getting one. I just feel like the media is the main reason divorce went from being culturally taboo to the norm...and that's sad. Many people miss out on happiness because they've forgotten how to work for it.
Yes. This movie is the perfect example of how divorce is condoned and made more acceptable. I have talked to several people, women in particular, who do not support the main character in walking away from her marriage. I agree with Tyler-people think their lives should be like the movies. People need to get back to reality and understand that relationships, especially marriage, take unselfishness and compassion.
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