ril's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Novalee and Forney� Novalee and Forney� If you don�t recognize these names, then you may not understand everything I want to express in this entry. In case you just happen to be bad with names, these are two of the lead characters in the movie �Where the Heart Is.� Novalee is the woman who, as a pregnant teenage girl, is abandoned in Wal-Mart by her worthless boyfriend, Willy Jack. That�s pretty much all you need to know about Willy Jack, but he � or more correctly the kind of person he represents � comes back into play later in my rant. The movie is worth watching for several different reasons. It is reasonably well acted, has several worthwhile stories/storylines, and turns out to be sort of an all-around feel good �date� movie. In talking with various friends about the movie I�ve noticed that different people tend to identify with different characters� I happen to identify most with Forney. I mean, I haven�t ever delivered a baby or anything� it�s just that I tend to find myself in the position of being the �nice guy� friend who people can pretty much count on to be there when they need them� even after those same "friends" have overdrawn their emotional bank account� While I�m thinking about it (this isn�t my central point, but it�s something that I wanted to follow up on from an earlier entry) let me just say that I�ve been there because I wanted to be� it was a choice� a deliberate response to a known (and understood) situation� and (and this is my point) my continuing to be there for someone who has repeatedly violated my emotional trust is not a sign of weakness� it is, in my opinion, a sign of personal strength� I see it as my actions backing up my values� the exercise of personal integrity in the moment of choice� I am there not because they�ve �earned� it, but because that�s the kind of person I choose to be� I don�t explain this very often (seldom to the people who I think need to have it explained to them, and especially never at the times I�ve described)� it�s my �secret,� and I think that people who don�t get that lose out on a lot� So here�s the deal� in the movie Novalee tells Forney (after she�s slept with him) that she doesn�t love him �like that.� But later, after a conversation with Willy Jack (whose reappearance is so contrived that it weakens the whole movie), she realizes her mistake� she drives across the country to find Forney, and (presumably) they live happily ever after� and that is how we know that the whole thing is fiction� In the �real� world, Novalee would tell Forney � the guy who worships her and who, for several years, has treated her like a princess and has always been there for her � that she just doesn�t feel �that way� about him� and then she'd go back to Willy Jack because that�s the guy she �loves.� Sad, but true�. I think I like the movie version better. - 2002-02-13 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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