Insights love (deadline Jun 7, 12pm noon)

In the last meeting we discussed the changing models of love in the light of social and ideological forces. We did not stop to talk about everything, but we emphasized the national regimes and the therapeutic turn.

You are asked to try and apply these themes to analyze a historical or contemporary love script of your choice (Israeli, Russian, or otherwise). What characterizes it? You can use any cultural text - a book, a movie, a series, a reality show that is relevant to the matter. Write your forum post (up to 300 words) by 12 pm noon on Jun 7.

The task is optional for BGU and EU (for HSE the task is required as part of the Perusall grade).

I think a rather unusual love scenario is when love "begins" with hate. At the same time, hatred and love are quite opposite feelings that can quickly replace each other. There is even a saying - "One step from love to hate." Nevertheless , K. Jung said that the qualities that we hate in other people are actually a shadow of our own ego. What is more, the same parts of the brain are responsible for love and hate. Perhaps this is how the substitution takes place and love begins. Another explanation for the change of feelings towards each other may be a false first impression of each other. When people interpret information about a person  incorrectly. Similar situation for example happened in the book "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen. Elizabeth Bennet at first sight disliked the arrogant Mr. Darcy, all sorts of disagreements unfold, which in the finale will lead to love. After clarifying all the circumstances, when Miss Bennet understood the motives of Mr. Darcy's behavior and saw him from a completely different side, she realized how much she really loves him. At first there was mutual hostility between them, covered with a veil of classical and good manners, but it turned into a strong and strong love. By the way, I can not say that such script of love is specific for exactly country/nation, it more like universal one.

I remembered the depiction of Russians in the Netflix series "Vikings," which focuses on Viking culture and explores the adventures of Norse figures. Even though the time period is extremely distant from contemporary reality, it is still interesting to observe how "Russian" love is portrayed there.

In "Vikings," Slavic love is portrayed as a complex and multifaceted emotion. The representation of love in the context of Ancient Rus reflects interpersonal relationships. Different forms of love are explored, including romantic love, familial love, and loyalty. Romantic love is depicted through the relationships between characters such as Prince Oleg and his wives. These relationships often involve passion, desire, and conflicts arising from love triangles or power struggles. Familial love shows the bonds between family members, blood ties and the dynamics within noble families. Love and loyalty are often tested in the framework of power and political alliances. Love is portrayed in the context of friendships and alliances too. Characters demonstrate loyalty and comradeship, forming deep connections and sacrificing for one another.

The show generally portrays Ancient Rus as a  center of trade and politics. The Rus people are shown as skilled warriors and traders, engaging in conflicts and forming alliances with other factions, including the Vikings. That is why it seems to me that Slavic love in these series coincides with the general perception of Ancient Rus in that time. I mean that it is positioned as brutal, warlike, and passionate. Love is also very paternalistic and dramatic there , though quite strongly interconnected with comradeship. Even though I called the first group as romantic love, it is important to understand that their "romance" was not at all similar to the modern definition of it. I guess, that from the contemporary understanding of love there are no romantic dimensions in this time period yet, like gifting  flowers or any other modernly created presents, and loyalty is mostly connected with the influence and material prosperity of the partners. Thus, love approval was mostly dependent on the welfare, but not feelings.

I would like to draw attention to the love mode in the Hong Kong film "In the Mood for Love". The characters of the film, experiencing the infidelities of their spouses together, fall in love with each other, but their romance does not go beyond regular communication and writing joint stories. It is difficult for a Western viewer to understand why the characters in scenes do not kiss and do not express their feelings in ways common in Western culture. The Asian mode of love presented in the film is completely incomprehensible to the Western viewer because of its ephemerality and modest secrecy. Asian love is not expressed in dramatic action, but is spread out across the film in an unobvious way. The characters obviously love each other, but to embody their love means for them to destroy it. The final scene of the film also, contrary to our expectations, does not show us the characters who, many years later, could come together and become a couple. They continue to remain for each other the ghosts of former love, the absence of which only strengthens it.

A couple of messages above, Julia wrote about Carl Jung, and I immediately remembered a case that is both representative from a therapeutic point of view and from a commercial point of view) I am talking about the film "A Dangerous Method" (2011), which shows an unusual episode from the life of Carl Jung about how his treatment of Sabine Spielrein grew into a love relationship. What is interesting here, in my opinion, is how a perspective that is itself therapeutic within the psychoanalysis of the early 20th century was simplified when it fell into the hands of Hollywood. And it became "therapeutic" again, but in a completely different way. If for the real heroes of this story it was a complex vicissitudes of feelings, having understood which, they formulated the psychoanalytic principle of "overcoming pleasure", then for the film director this is an occasion to survive emotions from the viewer, and for this he gets rid of all the complex therapeutic concepts that Jung and Freud designed, and embeds the plot in the discourse of popular psychology or psychodrama, if I may say so, because this way this story is sold more easily.

Let me show you a draft making some of my fieldnotes. Since I am occupying some intimate, domestic experiences, the mundanity of television turned into an avenue for exploration increasingly relevant for my current purposes. These are ethnographic observations on the viewing experience of the reality show "The Ultimatum: Queer Edition" by E, my bisexual informant.

In summary, I describe E's viewing of the show as a "mediatic, and mediated, experience," indicating that her interaction with the show is influenced by the larger media landscape. For E, the show is seen as a kind of "social experiment" due to its "rawness" -- a perception of authenticity derived from minimally produced, seemingly unscripted "drama." E and her sister interpret the show, or read it as a text, in order to deduce social meanings rooted in the emotions portrayed on screen, ranging from joy to suffering. The show is recognized as a constructed piece of media, shaped by both the participants and producers. The producers use techniques such as music changes and camera zooms, and the structure of the show encourages participants to generate content through criticism, self-reflection, and engagement in romantic and sexual relationships within a short time frame. The term "rawness" seems to refer to the spontaneous, relatable, and emotional subjectivity of the participants, crafted into a narrative by the invisible observer and the post-production process.

E is aware of the constructed nature of the show and contributes her own interpretations and commentary, informed by her experiences as a member of the LGBT+ community. In this way, "The Ultimatum: Queer Edition" becomes a co-readable text, producing a mediated experience of knowledge about affective sociability, invoking concepts like "emotional responsibility," "red flags," and "compatibility."

The idea of love is one of the main key lines in "Harry Potter" books. This love is scripted in several forms: it is parental love, love to friends and close people and romantic love as well. All these kinds of love serve as a main weapon of Harry to fight Voldemort, because the last one has no touch of any kind of love. These love forms kind of heal the main character and give him the ability to sustain all the terrible and heavy things that happen with him making a therapeutic effect. Parental love is what defends him as a child like directly with powerful magic and as a grown up it also gives him courage mentally when Harry is going to die. Love to his close friends, Sirius, Weasleys etc. heal Harry from simultaneous heavy conditions such as discrimination by Dursleys, fighting with Voldemort physically and mentally, it makes him to choose what is good and what is right instead of what is easy and simple. Romantic love to Ginny is what keeps Harry in the last book while looking for horcruxes and living hard life in the wood, but also at the end of the "Half-blood prince" when times spent with Ginny neglected the hatred and disgust while spending the punishment with Snape. This therapeutic effect is also highlighted in the concept of the Patronus charm, which is basically "the patron" defeating the wizard. While calling the Patronus Harry thinks sometimes about parents, sometimes about Ron and Hermione, or about Sirius and that is what gives him the greatest light, warmth and therefore the biggest protection. On the other hand, Voldemort is depicted as a weak person, who was deprived of love as a child and never experienced one as an adult, so in comparison with Harry, the reader may feel sorry for the villain. So in this case we can see how J. K. Rowling transmits the idea of love, how it is scripted through the books. It can be characterised and broadcasted as a defence (in parents and Sirius cases), understanding and support (in case of Ron and Hermione) and the light in harsh environment (in case of Ginny's romantic love).