A few nights ago I was
watching a movie with a group of friends. The film we chose was Shrek: The Musical for a multitude of
reasons, one being that none of us had seen it. We had seen many Shrek films but had not seen it in a
musical format.
Shrek
takes place in Duloc where Lord Farquaad wishes to become king. To do this he
must marry a princess and sends for Princess Fiona. Fiona has been locked in a
tower since her childhood. Shrek, an ogre, is sent to retrieve her. Shrek and
Fiona fall in love in the few days’ travel back to Duloc.
As
we finished the film I realized that Shrek was the closest thing to a prince
Fiona had ever met. Sure, she had read fairy tale books, but outside of that she
knew nothing about men. Shrek also has not had much exposure to love and women,
or even friendship for that matter.
After
taking this into consideration it is not a surprise as to why Fiona and Shrek grow
close over the period of a few days. (They are literally bonding over burps and
farts.) Shrek is not the model prince, but Fiona is not the model princess
either. In my mind they bonded over their imperfections.
This then made me think of Desdemona and Lefty in Middlesex. Growing up in the same room
for over 20 years (with the only separation being a curtain, mind you), they
were the first impression they had of the opposite sex. Lefty even mentions how
he had looked at her outline once he realized their sexual differences. Desdemona
undoubtedly did the same.
Now, the two tried to like other people. Or rather, Lefty
tried to love other women; however, he only liked women who reminded him of his
sister. Desdemona also tried to pair her brother with girls from the village.
If he chose one, maybe then she could move on and find someone else she could
love.
Desdemona and Lefty’s relationship also reminds me of
Sigmund Freud’s theory. This is the theory where all men want to kill their
fathers and marry their mothers and vice versa where all women want to kill
their mothers and marry their fathers. Desdemona is not Lefty’s mother, but she
does take on the motherly role after their parents die. Desdemona and Lefty quickly realize what they really want is each other.
In
both cases the couples fall in love with what they know, pointing to Freud’s
point.
I think it's interesting that you bring up Freud's theory because I've also heard the saying that girls are more likely to marry a man that is like their dad and boys are more likely to marry a woman who is reminiscent of their mom. It would make sense, then, that if a varied selection was not available for siblings, that they might turn to each other.
ReplyDeleteOn a personal note, I went to an all girls school for 7 years and a lot of girls dates other girls because it was all we knew. Now that I am in college and having exposure to men, I'm slowly having to learn what about men is different from women. I'm in the process of learning how men interact with women and what certain social interactions might mean. This may seem silly, but from my perspective, I find it all very fascinating. I take the approach that the women I grew up with are representative of men and women everywhere and I've learned that's not true, but it's fascinating to see how we adapt to what we know and struggle when we have to look outside of that.
I also wsa reminded of Freud's theory of boys having sexual interest in their mothers, which as you mentioned, with Desdemonda as the "motherly" figure for lefty it makes sense as to why he ended up being attracted to her. I think this applies more so than the theory of the son/daughter wanting to kill their parent.
ReplyDeleteBut I do agree with how off it seems that both people who have had little exposure to the social world suddenly fall head over heels for each other. Although the "it's not the outside but what's on the inside" message Dreamworks is all fine and dandy, there are some underlying questions that I think your blog brings up nicely and definitely has room to look at from different angles.