Muriel’s Wedding (1995), written by P.J. Hogan, explores the central notion of relationships. Relationships can be defined as the connection between people and others, and it is these relationships that allow an individual to find and/or reaffirm their identities. More specifically, Hogan conveys that individuals will always seek out others who they can form positive relationships with, which in turn can reaffirm their sense of identity. He also portrays that the outcome of a relationship is not always what individuals expect when they initiate them, and social labels such as marriage may fail our expectations and do not always indicate the true nature of a relationships.
In Muriel’s Wedding, Hogan successfully discusses that when
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(note: I would probably add an example from the end of the play to show that Muriel has in fact grown from this relationship into a better person.)
The play also highlights that individuals may enter their relationships with certain expectations. However, what they gain from these relationships may not always be as they initially expected. This is shown as Muriel catches the bouquet of pink and white flowers, which symbolises marriage, happiness and success. The stage directions “Muriel pulls a face, something she does when she’s feeling self-conscious” reveals how Muriel believes that marriage will help her attain an identity she desires and lead her to a successful path in life. Furthermore, her statements after her wedding with David, “…and here I am famous and they’re at my wedding. I showed them.” and “I’m as good as they are” convey how Muriel believed marriage to be a sign of success, which was her expectation. However, her realisation “I thought I was so different. A new person. But I’m not. I’m just the same as him” indicates how Muriel finds out that marriage itself has not changed her nor lead to the success which she desired. (needs evaluation sentence to conclude paragraph like “Hence we are shown how expectations of a relationship…blahblahblah)
Even through all negativity, Hogan shows us that we can only feel like we have found our identities when we paradoxically choose to accept ourselves and our flaws. In the end of the play, Muriel
of a girl who was misunderstood. Throughout her childhood and young adulthood, Daphne struggled with identifying with her feelings. Daphne was constantly searching for an answer to why she felt different. Daphne wanted to “fit in” but she knew she was unconventional. The different labels she was given through out her psychiatric stay stuck with her and left a scar of how she was once perceived.
She implores readers to avoid relationships that could only appear in a fairytale, which cast red flags that too often get ignored. She juxtaposes the stories of her first and failed marriage with the beginnings of her new and more successful marriage. Her specific examples depict the images of warning signs for failing marriages, but also the inevitable issues even successful marriages run into. With this final point, Patz stresses that no marriage will ever be perfect, but in the complex and ever-changing nature of modern marriage, each individual must be introspective and understand what makes a marriage truly
“Janie's relationship with Tea Cake serves as a warning against pursuing oneness as an end unto itself. Janie attempts to assimilate her own personhood into the identity of the relationship.” (Thomas 10). This suggests that while unity and connection with a partner are important, it is crucial to maintain a sense of self and not allow one's identity to be obscured or overshadowed by the dynamics of the relationship. Janie realizes that in this relationship, she can be herself.
“Why Did I Get Married?” directed and produced by Tyler Perry is a movie based on four couples who take a reunion vacation to the Colorado Mountains in order to reunite with friends from college. On this vacation things didn’t go according to plan. Throughout the movie there was heartbreak, infidelity, suppressed feelings, conflict, and secrets raging throughout each of the couples’ relationship in some aspect. With these unfortunate events occurred at various times throughout the film it cause their trip to evolve from a place to relax, enjoy friends, and time off from work into an emotional and tense atmosphere with the involved couple seeking validation from the other couples on the reason why their marriages are the way they are. Even though the movie ended on a good note in their celebration of Janet Jackson’s character (Pat) receiving an award one of the marriages did not survive. This couple’s relationship will be my focus for this paper.
Considering a different perspective, it can be argued that both sides of the argument are true to a certain extent, in that we are able to possess a sense of existence whilst devoid of most connections, but there are some affiliations such as the bonds we share with our family that we cannot live without. A sense of acceptance from our familial ties and intimate relationships with others shape who we are. These connections ideally provide love, protection, security and the opportunity to discover our values, attitudes, and beliefs that help to define us from the time of our birth. In ‘The Member of the Wedding’,
Marriage has been a heated controversy for the past few years because people often marry for the wrong reasons. Anyone who thinks of an ideal marriage would think of two people loving each other and sharing a personal bond or goals together. Marriage is regularly defined as the legally or formally recognized union of two lovers as partners in a personal relationship. This definition remarks there is an actual connection between two people in marriage, but do people actually consider this when committing to “love” and “support” their partners forever? As research and studies have shown, people ultimately get married for many reasons, except love. This philosophy can be easily applied to the short poem, “Marriage” by Gregory Corso. In this emotional poem, the author argues marriage is more effectively understood or known for culture and convenience rather than through the abstract considerations of love. Here, we can identify people generally decide to marry for the incorrect reasons, for instance the story of the author himself. Corso finds himself confused multiple times, wondering if he should marry to not be lonely, for tradition and for his physical and mental health. He disregards love, a relationship or a connection with his future wife. General ways of convenience like loneliness, health and economic status between cultural stereotypes and religion are usually the true reasons of why people chose to have the commitment of marriage with another person.
The film Muriel’s Wedding is set in the fictional town of Porpoise Spit, Australia and follows the journey of self-discovery of the young woman Muriel Heslopp. In searching for marriage, the idea which she thinks will validate her as a person, she finds herself. In the film, the character of Rhonda helped me to understand the important message that friendship acts as a catalyst for self-discovery. The director PJ Hogan uses the techniques of music, cinematography and dialogue to help communicate that idea.
Marriage has often been described as one of the most beautiful and powerful unions one human can form with another. It is the sacred commitment and devotion that two people share in a relationship that makes marriage so appealing since ancient times, up until today. To have and to hold, until death do us part, are the guarantees that two individuals make to one another as they pledge to become one in marriage. It is easy to assume that the guarantee of marriage directly places individuals in an everlasting state of love, affection, and support. However, over the years, marriage has lost its fairy
The idea of marriage that is presented in the play differs from what we see marriage as
The film Our Family Wedding illustrated the diversity among and between families. The film depicted the views of different generations within a family and how an interracial marriage affected them differently. The film explores new contemporary marriage trends and challenges traditional family roles and marriage trends. This paper will explore different demographic trends as it relates to the social constructs of class, race, and gender, survey the recent trends and changes towards contemporary marriage, and study the changes in the family relationships within the film. Conclusively, this film analysis will use textbook concepts and examples in the movie to establish a framework for the diverse family system and the changing marriage.
In the late 1800’s through early 1900’s women and men were did not “tie the knot” like the women and men do in today’s day. In today’s world, women and men get married because they have many things in common, they are in love with each other, and they choose to get married to one another. In many stories written back then, readers can expect to read about how marriages were arranged and how many people were not having the wedded bliss marriage proclaims today.
However, I believe the opposite. This play makes a statement about shallowness, the partnership of a married couple and what virtues are truly valuable.
In the play “Muriel’s Wedding”, ideas of self-worth and one’s identity are explored and expressed throughout the plot, dialogue and characters. Self-worth and one’s identity is explored in greater detail in scene one, scene sixty-one and scene eighty, eighty-one, eighty-two. These scenes further explore Muriel’s character and her personal growth as Muriel searches for her own identity.
Upon a comparative study of the texts Emma and Clueless, we can see that the quality of relationships in society bears strong similarities, despite their different contexts. Emma is set in 16th century England, where the rigid social structure dominated social interaction. This is contrasted to Clueless, which is set in 1990’s Beverly Hills where popularity was integral to determining a relationship. Being integral to modern society, relationships were used as medium to secure wealth and to find purpose in one’s life, in different contexts. Additionally, the restrictive nature of relationships has changed over the course of time despite still existing in a different sense. The strict class based society of the Regency Era limited relationships in Emma while social groups at school dictated the dynamics of relationships in Clueless. However, the popularity of marriages has decreased, with many teens opting to settle with dating before any further commitment. By discussing the different purposes and changes in relationships over the two texts we can develop clear ideas about the quality of relationships in society.
The stark divide between love and marriage shown right the way through cannot be comprehended fully by the twenty-first century reader: in today’s society marriage and love are mutually exclusive - you very rarely get one