The Notebook
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Plot Summary:
A simple love story of a young couple and the trials they go through early and late in their lives. Much tear-jerking ensues...Opinion:
The problem with most modern romances is that they end too soon. Not the relationships themselves, mind you—only the depiction of them. Most romances start with a young, attractive couple meeting, who are then kept apart by certain circumstances, but get together again in the end, presumably to live happily ever after. The ‘presumably’ comes from the fact that romance movies usually don’t show any of the rest of the relationship—what happens after the couple gets married? (True, that’s the part which usually isn’t very romantic—no one wants to see a ‘finale’ where the two of them argue over bills, children, and then get divorced 7-10 years later, right?)One of the strengths of “The Notebook” is that it shows what happens ‘after’—not comprehensibly, of course, but enough to make a point, and let us know more or less what happened in the middle. “The Notebook” also shows that depictions of life after marriage—even a long marriage--do not have to be inherently unromantic or unmoving.
The story arc of “The Notebook”, as with most romances, won’t surprise anyone: young guy and girl from different social classes get together, the girls’ upper-class parents don’t accept the low class boyfriend and conspire to keep them apart, love wins out in the end as girl and guy still come together regardless. As Roger Ebert is fond of saying, though: “It’s not what a movie is about that matters, but how it is about it.” “The Notebook” is a winner not because of originality, but because of superior execution—and by being a little more ambitious with the ‘after’ segments, there’s an extra level of depth behind the surface simplicity.
Most romances are traditionally the realm of teenage girls (see: “Titanic”)—but I’m inclined to think “The Notebook” is an exception. I would consider, in fact, “The Notebook” to be almost exclusively designed for married couples—and that’s exactly whom I would recommend the movie to. I think you’d need to be married (not just dating or even engaged) for the movie to have its full effect. (Being married also nullifies to an extent some of the moral issues—discussed below—which singles and teens would have to be more wary of)
Haven’t had a good cry lately…or good bonding time with your spouse? “The Notebook” is just what you need…
Content Analysis: (PG-13, 2-4-0-0 on the Baron's scale)
I probably don’t need to tell you there is rampant chastity-breaking, (and ‘attempted’ chastity-breaking) since this is a Hollywood romance. If you feel like splitting hairs, you might note that all of it is exclusively between people who get married in the end, but that may be beside the point.Honestly, I didn’t really care—I don’t need a supportive lesson on the law of chastity as much now as a 16 year old might. Frankly, if you’re married and watching this movie, I don’t think you'll care either. I don't know if being married yourself tends to lessen your objection to depictions of ‘chastity breaking’ in movies (or whether that's right or wrong to begin with), but that's probably an essay topic for another day. Since I’m recommending this movie exclusively to couples who are married, I’m betting that Noah and Allie’s ‘make-out sessions’ will prove to be a non-issue with you, too.
On the plus side, the movie shows that their relationship attained the status of ‘true love’ (versus merely lust). It shows the ‘commitment’ part of love, in other words, and especially commitment through some serious trials. By the time the credits roll, the impression you’re going to be left with—two people who were committed to each other until the very end—is what you’re going to remember weeks and months down the road when the movie comes to mind. Whether they slept together or not beforehand almost becomes beside the point...
In-depth Analysis:
There are a few lines that represent the value and message of “The Notebook”: One comes near the beginning when “Duke” introduces himself:“I am nothing special; of this I am sure. I am a common man with common thoughts, and I've led a common life. There are no monuments dedicated to me and my name will soon be forgotten, but I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and to me, this has always been enough.”Is there a greater purpose in this life than to learn to love and be loved in return? Looking at it from the opposite angle, has a person who has not loved, but has, on the other hand, accomplished many great and wonderful things in terms of a career, really accomplished anything in the end? As I noted in my tribute to Marjorie Hinckley, in terms of men and women, are career or monetary accomplishments really that meaningful in the end. In which way is ‘immortality’ truly possible—making partner and getting your name on a plaque in a building somewhere, or through the memories and influence of your children and grandchildren?
Love’s not all fun & games, though—it requires work. Noah has a line later in the movie that’s interesting as well: “It's not gonna be easy,” he says to Allie, “It's gonna be really hard. We're gonna have to work at this every day, but I want to do that because I want you. I want all of you, for ever, you and me, every day.” In the LDS Dating and Marriage series, I mentioned that the work involved in creating and sustaining a successful family really is work—yet doesn’t have to be tortuous. You can’t avoid it, but the best thing you can do—like Noah—is to prepare for it, and commit yourself to doing what it takes to succeed.
The character of Lon (the ‘other guy’) is another interesting part of “The Notebook”. Usually the ‘other guy’ is there in a romance movie for the audience to root against—since no one really wants to see him and heroine together, right? “The Notebook” makes that a little more difficult by not making Lon to be a villain. In fact, he’s really a nice guy. I mean, really a nice guy! He treats Allie very well, and she seems to love him back in her own way. In fact (I’m not supposed to say this, I suppose) he might even be a better choice for Allie than Noah, considering he has (1) better career potential and (2) he’s seems a little more emotionally stable. Lon even quite frankly forgives Allie when she admits she’s been unfaithful. (Wow, he’s really a nice guy!)
What would “The Notebook” have been like if the story had focused on Lon and Allie instead—with
Noah being the ‘other guy’? The movie keeps the identity of Allie’s husband in the ‘modern-day’ scenes secret for a little while (as if you couldn’t figure it out by thinking about it... I mean, seriously, would Lon be reading Allie the story of how she
and Noah met?). This does work, though, in the sense that after you meet Lon, you'd believe that he’d be just as supportive of Allie in her old age as Noah was…
Random Notes & Comments:
(1) I can understand why Allie’s mom didn’t give her Noah’s letters, although I don’t quite understand why she kept them all, years later. Guilty conscience, perhaps? Or--more likely--just because the screenplay needed the scene later in the movie where Allie could find and read them. (Yeah, I'm cynical...)(2) Rachel McAdams (young Allie) is probably not someone you know much about…but you should. Her first ‘major’ role was a high school girl in “The Hot Chick” where (although unseen by me, thank goodness) according to rumor she was so good they actually cut some of her parts out of the movie so she wouldn’t upstage “star” Rob Schneider. (Not hard to do, if you think about it…) She later was excellent as a high school junior in “Mean Girls” and then excellent again here as 17-year old Allie. For all her roles playing teenagers, you might be surprised to learn she’s 28. (I was…)
(3) Decent Films mentions that there doesn’t appear to be any evidence from the movie that Noah and Allie actually get married in the interim, rather than just cohabitate their whole lives. True, they use different last names in the hospital, but that’s probably due to the Alzheimer’s than anything (note that they purposely don’t introduce Allie's children as her children.) I’m inclined to give the movie the benefit of the doubt—you don’t want to overthink it too much…
