I revisited the movie the other day and still love Meg Ryan's smile and her playful little gestures, and Tom Hanks' confidence and slyness. But at the same time, I found a few places that I had overlooked, and I was very terrified. These all remind me of the hidden dangers behind the beautiful love in this movie. Once again, I sigh that the beautiful love is still quietly sealed in the movie.
The first is the background difference between the men and women. Let's talk about the male protagonist Joe Fox. From the beginning of the film, we know that Joe Fox has a prominent family, but the family is not happy: his grandfather has countless children, the youngest daughter (his aunt) is only ten years old; his father also has many women, including when he was a child Several of his nannies, and his dad's current girlfriend apparently had an affair with him. The wealthy family is pretty muddled about ethics, and Joe seems to have gotten used to it. He believes in "The Godfather" and the family's ancestral motto "nothing personal, only business" "for money, not for people"
And the heroine Kathleen Kelly does. She inherited a small, warm and lovely children's bookstore from her mother. She is very sensual and cares about the people around her. She is a beautiful girl full of childishness. Although she is not very rich, but she has a house and a career, and she is quite wealthy. The difference in the background of the two people shaped their very different values, which is why Joe likes "The Godfather" and Kathleen likes "Pride and Prejudice"; I think he destroyed the bookstore his mother left behind.
Joe's ex-girlfriend is a workaholic in the publishing industry. She is resolute in her work, strong and confident, and can be regarded as the female version of Joe. But Joe doesn't love her. Kathleen's boyfriend is a small-name writer, chattering, and, if not charismatic, decent. But Katheleen doesn't love him. The partners of the hero and heroine seem to be copies of themselves, but neither of them likes this copy of themselves. That's why at the beginning of the movie, the two waited for their partner to leave the house as if they were having an affair, and then started to open the computer and reply to the email, because they thought that the NY152 and Shopgirl opposite the computer were more interesting and could bring more surprises to themselves. In other words, Joe longs for a playful, caring girl, and Kathleen likes someone with a confident humour that can make her laugh. They crave people who are different from their own circle. In real life, a publishing tycoon like Joe would most likely appreciate a strong publishing woman like his ex-girlfriend; and Kethleen married a well-known columnist and had children, and it was also a very common choice to spend a lifetime together. But it doesn't look good for the movie. Romantic movies are all about magnifying the spark of love between two people. As for the background difference between the two people, and the problems that will arise in the future, I will leave it to the audience who are willing to think about it.
The second is Joe's "confidence." I don't know why, when I looked at his behavior this time, I felt that some of his "confidence" actions were actually very unreasonable and superior. For example, Kathleen was in line at the supermarket and accidentally stood on the cash-only side, and she happened to have no cash. Just when she explained that it was useless to plead, Joe stood up, first praised the cashier lady for being very beautiful and lovely, and then used his self-confidence and masculine charm to ask the cashier to accommodate Kathleen. The cashier grinned from ear to ear at the compliment, and gave Kathleen a glance. There is also a paragraph, when Joe came to Kathleen's house with flowers, when Kathleen opened the door to let him leave, he did not leave under the pretext of looking for a vase. Although his thick-skinned presence also contributed to a sincere conversation between the two, it was also because he had a very poor attitude towards Kathleen before, not at all gentlemanly. Later, when she found out that she was Shopgirl, her attitude eased and she came to visit, and she stayed cheeky.
When I saw these two paragraphs before, I just thought Joe was the style of a successful businessman. He represented the self-confidence of the white American male. But if you think about it, you can also interpret these behaviors as being thick-skinned, impolite, not giving up until you reach your goal, and being self-centered. Kathleen's affection for him mainly comes from his changing attitude towards her, which makes me question what exactly Kathleen likes about Joe?
With these thoughts in mind, I rewatched the film with a lot of worry about Kathleen. I'm afraid that she will not accept Joe's family and disagree with Joe's values. I'm afraid that Joe will fail Kathleen, the best girl in the world. I'm even more afraid that she will be bruised and bruised after falling in love with Joe vigorously and finally break up. Her breakup with Joe will certainly not be as peaceful as with her writer ex-boyfriend, and it will likely be heart-wrenching.
But my worries were unnecessary after all. I believe these lovely characters live in an alternate universe of New York: in that New York, they feel the catkins in spring, the waves in summer, the leaves in autumn, and the snow in winter; they will take a walk in Central Park in good weather, Walk the dog; Joe will try to be independent of family and be a good husband and dad, Kathleen will become a best-selling children’s book author, and occasionally hold book meetups at bookstores, but she still never does anything in her husband’s Fox bookstore publicity. I hope they can be happy forever. So just let these characters live in this one-and-a-half hour movie.
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