Love & Hate in Literature, Film, and Culture

Kelly FulopDr. Wang

LOVE AS A CENTRAL THEME

•No matter what story you read, or film you watch, it has a central theme•Almost all stories and films revolve around love and hate as the theme, even if they are minor themes•Whether the love is for other characters or the main character, there is still love.

HATE AS A CENTRAL THEME

•Hate could be towards characters, feelings, ideas, or simply hate itself.•More than anything, everyone loves, and everyone hates (no matter how strong the word may seem).

I SHALL NOT BE MOVED BY: MAYA ANGELOU

“This memorable collection of poems exhibits Maya Angelou's unique gift for capturing the triumph and pain of being black and every man and woman's struggle to be free. Filled with bittersweet intimacies and ferocious courage, these poems are gems–many-faceted, bright with wisdom, radiant with life.”

Love in I Shall Not Be Moved• Several of the poems in Maya Angelou’s

book “I Shall Not Be Moved” are centered around loving and being loved.

• Her poem “Many And More” discusses the love she has for “him” and the love “he” has for her.– It also discusses how there are many men that “would kiss

my hand, taste my lips, to my loneliness lend their bodies’ warmth.”

Hate in I Shall Not Be Moved• A few of the poems describe a hate

towards something, a disliking.• In her poem “Nothing Much”, Maya

Angelou is discussing how her life is “nothing much”.– She writes the lines with such

beauty and rhythm, but her intent is clear: she wishes more from life

• More than just “cascading stars behind closed eyelids.”

MAIL ORDER WIFE

A documentarian funds a NYC doorman's Asian mail order bride in exchange for the right to film the experience. But when Lichi arrives in America, she finds herself married to a recluse with a penchant for sadistic sexual role-playing. Objectivity flies out the window when she and the filmmaker become involved. Twists and turns are plentiful in this tragi-comic love triangle where all is not what it seems.

Love in “Mail Order Wife”• This movie is centered around the theme of

love.• The characters are searching for love, and

they both find it in the same mail order bride.• They want to be loved, and the don’t care

who loves them.• They just want to be loved, like every person

on Earth, they just go about it in a different way.

Hate in “Mail Order Wife”• This film starts off centered

around love, but by the end it is about hate, greed.

• All of the characters end up hating each other.

• I think that the characters also hate love, the idea of love actually. – They were all betrayed

by love– They didn’t seem to

understand the meaning of it.

“CRASH”

"Crash" is a movie that brings out bigotry and racial stereotypes. The movie is set in Los Angeles, a city with a cultural mix of every nationality. The story begins when several people are involved in a multi-car accident. From that point, we are taken back to the day before the crash, seeing the lives of several characters, and the problems each encounters during that day.

Love in “Crash”• Every one of the characters

loves their family, they cherish their families.

• The characters desperately want to love and accept others, but their stereotypical minds get in the way.

• The characters also love their heritage– They love where they’ve

come from, who they are. • They are proud of who

they are.

Hate in “Crash”• This film is a movie based

on hate, for the most part.• The characters hate each

other.• They all hate the

decisions being made – The hate the way they are

thinking.– They hate being

stereotyped, but that is all they are doing. They are stereotyping everyone they meet.

WHEN LIVING WAS A LABOR CAMP BY DIANA GARCIA

A bittersweet look back at the migrant labor camps of California and offers a tribute to the people who toiled there. Writing from the heart of California's San Joaquin Valley, she catapults the reader into the lives of the campesinos with their daily joys and sorrows.

Love in When Living Was A Labor Camp

• Diana Garcia discusses a lot of love in the poems

• She talks about the love she has for her family and friends.

• Garcia is also very proud of her heritage, the person she is.

• The poems show that people in labor camps were very connected.– They all loved and cared for eachother, they looked

out for one another.

Hate in When Living Was A Labor Camp

• Several of the poems show the hatred that Diana Garcia felt.– She hated the way she

was treated– She hated the way her

loved ones and peers were treated.

– She loathed the living conditions and the lack of respect.

– She was disappointed and upset that she wasn’t able to provide for her family, give a little extra.

“SMOKE SIGNALS”

Love in “Smoke Signals”• This film isn’t a one filled

with love, but it’s filled with a desire to love.

• The characters want to love who they are, they want to love their pasts.

• The main characters care about each other, without actually saying it.

• The community that the film takes place in is very close and proud of their heritage.

Hate in “Smoke Signals”• The main character hates the

fact that he doesn’t know who his father is.

• He can’t stand his past, his history.

• Many of the characters dislike the world outside of the reservation that they call home.– I noticed that a majority of the

characters hate the stereotypical roles that they found themselves in.

PET SEMATARY BY STEPHEN KING

In a horrific set of narratives, Mr. King draws us into what might happen if humans were brought back from the dead. What happens to our soul if we're brought back? Does it come with us? Or does it stay on the burial grounds? Or perhaps something in-between?

Love in Pet Sematary• This book revolves

around the love a family shares for one another.

• Sematary is about how far people will go for the ones they love.

• It is about a love of family, and a love of love.

Hatred in Pet Sematary• The family that is the center of the book

is filled with a hatred.• They hate themselves, they feel guilty

about the loss of a family member, their child.

• The father of the family hates the decisions he’s made, he hates the person he’s become.

DISNEY® MOVIES

Love in Disney® Movies• Disney movies are made

based on love, on fairy tales, and on hope.

• The movies start off with characters looking for something, for love.

• By the end of the film, the characters find their true loves– Or they find love with their

families, friends, and themselves.

Hate in Disney® Movies

• Every Disney movie has a bad guy, a guy that everyone hates.

• There are other things the characters hate:– Their loneliness– Some of their decisions– Their lives before they find

“true love”– The problems that get in the

way of their happiness

“Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illumines it.”-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

REFERENCES

When Living Was A Labor Camp by Diana Garcia

I Shall Not Be Moved by Maya Angelou

“Crash”

Pet Sematary by Stephen King

“Smoke Signals” by Sherman Alexie

Various Disney® Movies

“Mail Order Wife”