The most beautiful passage in the film is the scene of the three playing together and loving each other at the beach. This is not a love triangle that we generally understand. It shows us a kind of emotional possibility between three people that is difficult to be covered by secular ethics.
After watching the biographical film "The Theory of Everything" about the legendary scientist Hawking, I saw the Internet admiring the love between him and his ex-wife Jane Wilde overwhelmingly. Obviously, what is more legendary than Hawking himself is his ex-wife Jane's loyalty to him for decades.
I vaguely remember that a few years ago, the media exposed the news that Hawking was abused by his second wife Elaine. At that time, there was a good news media gossip: How did Hawking and his wife have sex? Will her wife have sex outside to resolve her sexuality? At that time, we all regarded the bedclothes of celebrities as gossips, but today we look at this "Theory of Everything" to truly discover our superficiality.
Some netizens commented: This is not about Hawking's biography, but about the women behind Hawking. When his thoughts roamed the universe, her world had shrunk to the walls of the house. "Theory of Everything" is nothing but Jane's Passion.
When we praised Jane for her unwavering high-five, we may have overlooked the expectations of public opinion for her to become a good wife: forbearance, companionship, sacrifice, fulfillment, all of these, is it difficult for a woman to get rid of the shackles?
Imagine that in that era, when Hawking's reputation was growing, if she left Hawking very early, how would public opinion talk about her? How will future generations evaluate her? Is the image of the wife willing to sacrifice for love in "The Theory of Everything" made by Jian willingly, or is history given her a judgment?
I remembered the story of famous volleyball players Zhou Suhong and Tang Miao. Tang Miao suffered a serious injury in a game and was paralyzed for life. After that, Zhou Suhong persisted with him and passed on as a good story. Although the two divorced five years later, with their persistence over the past few years, the divorce at that time was also consummated by public opinion.
When I talked about this noble and loyal love to a friend, the friend said: Under the circumstances, could Zhou Suhong have other choices? If she gets divorced, what will the public opinion think of her? I suddenly realized that the expectations of Zhou Suhong's loyal and good wife given by public opinion, to a certain extent, also brought great pressure to her? To become the Zhou Suhong expected by the public, she cannot divorce.
So, does the invisible shackles formed by public opinion's expectation of celebrity loyalty and love only affect women?
After Leslie Cheung committed suicide, the media endlessly praised his love with Tang Hede. The media is eager to capture his sad face and add more legendary glory to this legendary love fairy tale. We are also greedily eager to capture the figure of Tang Hedezhen walking alone after Leslie Cheung's death, and look forward to seeing him not leave their old love nest for the rest of his life. We long for such a perfect story, albeit with a bit of abuse and injustice.
Therefore, when Leslie Cheung’s fans see the news that Tang Hede is playing with young men, they will feel sore, they will feel sad, and they long for him to love only one person for the rest of his life. It can be said that after Leslie Cheung's death, Tang Hede's emotional life no longer belongs to him. He has been deprived of the right to love other people again.
This is the price of becoming the other half of a celebrity idol.
Therefore, when I saw the love between Jane and music teacher Jonathan in "The Theory of Everything", I was more moved and felt how frivolous our fairy tale imaginations about them are. Jane and Jonathan, in the eyes of the world, can be counted as cheating. However, the film uses restraint rather than eroticism to tell the love between them that is "extremely estranged but only courteous". The close relationship of Hawking, Jane and Jonathan shows us another kind of nobility that love can achieve.
Jane loves both Hawking and Jonathan, but Jane's love for these two men has clearly surpassed the logic of "stepping on two boats" in the secular drama. One side is desire, and the other side is responsibility. Jonathan is not a third party in the general sense. He regards Hawking as a noble soul and gives him care and love.
For me, the most beautiful passage in the film is the scene of three people playing together and loving each other at the beach. This is not a love triangle that we generally understand. It shows us a kind of emotional possibility between three people that is difficult to be covered by secular ethics. Perhaps, for Jane, because of the appearance of Jonathan, she can temporarily put down the expectations of her perfect wife given by the world, and pursue her own happiness in a limited space.
But obviously, popular customs cannot really accommodate such noble emotions that are difficult to be classified. When Hawking and Jane’s third child was born, Hawking’s mother asked Jane aggressively: Is this child Hawking’s or Jonathan’s? !
Perhaps the greatest enlightenment given by "The Theory of Everything" is not to write perfect love legends over and over again, but to update our understanding of love: Does a truly beautiful love hold the hand of the son at all costs and grow old with the son? Is it true that our definition of fairy-tale one-on-one love suppresses the possibility of alternative intimacy?
(Text/Shen Hexi, Master of Cultural Studies from East China Normal University, keen to analyze and discuss contemporary China’s gender issues from the perspective of cultural studies. Freelance writers from The Paper, China Business News and other media.)
(Original title: Theory of Everything- In secular prejudice, Hawking’s wife can only be loyal to him alone. Special column, no reprint without permission. Personal opinion does not represent the position of this website.)
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