U4: What is your definition of true love? Do you think it has to be romantic and sexual love? Can you name a movie or story that tries to define “true love” in an unconventional way?
What is your definition of true love? Do you think it has to be romantic and sexual love? Can you name a movie or story that tries to define "true love" in an unconventional way?
Well…I reckon that I'm really too young to give “true love” a precise explanation. If I must define true love, I would say that it is the most precious thing between two persons. True love means much more than romance and sex. While the latter might also be engaging and exciting, they’re ephemeral pleasures. True love, however, is everlasting and ever-growing. It rarely happens at the first sight or stems from one’s charming appearance. Rather, it slowly unfolds as people spend time to know each other, and it comes from the resonance between two souls. True love is a cheerful willingness to accept and love someone as his/her true self, to dedicate to him/her, and to accompany him/her throughout the remainder of our life. At many times, we cannot name it, but we may feel it in every moment of shared laughter and tears.
Speaking of a movie or story that defines true love in an unconventional way, somehow I think of the film Brokeback Mountain. It tells the touching love story between two star-crossed lovers Ennis and Jack. The two cowboys start their secret relationship with unexpected, passionate sex, but later nurture a lifelong emotional connection. Although they go in separate ways and engage in heterosexual actions( such as marrying girls and raising children), they always kept each other in mind despite social pressure and life’s complications. I deem it “true love”, for were their love a sudden impulse, they could’ve departed without ever looking back. I once came across a film review on The Guardian that best puts it: “The whole movie is a rich, spacious, passionate way of showing, not telling, feelings that dare not speak their name -- and doing so with superb intelligence and magnificent candour.” [1]
My opinions on true love are quite partial, and hope that my understanding of this concept will deepen with age, especially after meeting the person I love dearly.