Dominica Nemec Ms.

Caruso ENG1101 4 November 2011 To Love, To Be Loved To take an original text and recreate it into a new genre is a difficult task. One is basically taking a piece of work with a specific meaning and completely changing it. What is hard to believe is that people do this all the time. We subconsciously do this in order to make sense of the world around us. People not only change genres to make the subject clearer for themselves, but they can also do it to explain certain positions to others. While watching the president make a speech, one watches the whole broadcast live and hears every detail. Although this may seem ideal (knowing all aspects of a specific situation), someone watching the news at a later hour may see only small portions of the speech, and may therefore understand and recognize the most important points. In the field of communication, the Westley-MacLean Model, focuses exactly on this phenomenon; it states that in order for A to transmit a message to B, A must use the channel of C. In this situation, C can be either just simply another person, or they can even play a more complex role such as a television editor. This means that original messages are constantly being changed and adapted in order to more effectively transmit a message. Even if we dont notice it as much, people are constantly doing this with broad topics, thus making them more generalized. One such topic is love, and with so much focus of fear and hatred in current affairs, society may benefit from rediscovering the importance of love in a more specific approach. In the film Love, Actually, writer and director Richard Curtis attempts to explain this exact subject. The whole purpose of the movie was to demonstrate that love surrounds all people,

in many forms and with many outcomes. Curtis explained his idea through multiple plot lines as to provide examples of his theory. One of the main ideas was to demonstrate that since love surrounds us all, it means that love is not always romantic; love and affection can be shown between parents and children, old friends, new friends, married couples, and new spouses. What Curtis also pointed out is that love stories do not always end happily. He made his film more realistic by demonstrating such undesirable endings through a few of the plot lines, such as Karens heartbreak after she finds out about Harrys flirtations with Mia. Although Richard Curtis was highly successful in sending his message to the audience, the truth of the matter is that he proved his point through his own perspective on the stories; through his eyes. The major detail missing from the film is understanding what the individual characters involved are feeling. The audience sees what is happening, but what they cannot see is the inner emotional journey of each character. This is crucial if one truly wants to explain love to the fullest extent. Although Curtis did not include the specific perspectives of the characters, one cannot blame him with failing to portray love, rather they should blame films in general. Because films are created to be as entertaining as possible within a span of about two hours, it would be too complx and confusing to the audience if every thought of each character was explained in detail. With this aspect missing from movies, the idea of altering a certain genre to better explain the situation becomes ideal. An interesting portrayal of love through the eyes of the individual would be through a magazine editorial that includes submissions from readers, which is just what I created. With this magazine spread, the audience is able to feel what the writer felt as they explain their emotional journey. The focus of the article was to explain Curtiss original point that love truly exists all around everyone in multiple senses of the word. A film will portray a story as seen through ones eyes, the way the director wants the audience to see it. But if it were real people being depicted in the story, what about the way they would want other people to see

it? When listening to a person recall a past moment, it is common to say, there are two sides to one story, because the teller is communicating it in the way they would like their audience to know it. Therefore, a magazine spread permits the characters of the storylines to explain what happened through their eyes, which allows for a more detailed description of not only what happened, but what they were feeling as well. Turning a film into a descriptive genre such as a magazine spread allows the original point of love being everywhere to translate into a more relatable form. Another advantage to changing the genre from the film to the magazine spread is that the author reinforces the message to a similar audience. It is a common stereotype that women are the main audience for romantic comedies, and it is also a stereotype that it is usually women who would read the kind of magazine that would contain articles about love. Although the more prestigious magazines would benefit from the positivity of such a message, the sad truth is that such magazines do not contain this type of spread; therefore it is safe to assume this particular article on love would be in a more light-hearted issue geared toward the female audience. The average women has seen enough films about love to have evidence that it exists all around, but after seeing it depicted on a fictional screen, it would certainly be an interesting angle on the subject if they were to read about peoples real experiences. If love is all around us in different forms, it only makes sense to surround people with the message being in different forms as well. The magazine article about love also offers a clearer picture of the different types of love. With real people writing about their experiences, they explain what kind of love they have encountered, whether it be heartbreak, joy, friendship, or family. Although this is clearly portrayed in the film, it is sometimes beneficial for an audience to have it plainly laid out and explained. If someone were to watch the movie, they may chose to only focus on the romantic moments, and not even notice that there are other forms of love happening in the film, but if they

were to read the magazine article, it would be clear that the character wanted them to see a certain side, such as a relationship between a stepson and stepfather. The magazine offers a beneficial, clear layout of the important details that might have been too subtly explained in the movie. For example, the film is clear in portraying the emotions young Sam is feeling for his love interest Johanna, but what it does not highlight is the growing relationship between Sam and his stepfather. If it were not for the article, the audience of the movie may overlook this important relationship. The reason why texts can be, and are, changed into different genres is because no genre offers the perfect portrayal of the texts message. Every genre, and every text, has flaws. As stated, the film lacked in certain areas such as relativity and clarity, but this does not mean that the magazine article fills all holes and creates a perfect image; the magazine spread has its issues as well. One such issue would be that the magazine spread lacks in details. In the movie, the eyes see what is to be seen, and the ears hear what is to be heard, but in the article one can only read what the writer wants them to. This also leads to the fact that the reader could never know the full story, since one person is telling only one side. If a woman is writing about her love for a man, and his feelings for her, the reader can never trust this to be true because they have not heard it from the man himself. The magazine article may prove to be beneficial in certain areas, but shows weakness in others. If one were to choose a completely different genre, they would see this same pattern. Love is an extremely broad subject, one of the reasons being is because it is experienced by everyone in different ways. Although exploring the phenomenon of love may be a refreshing step away from the negativity that surrounds the news today, it will never be explained fully. No scientist or psychologist will ever develop a theory, model, or formula for love because it is completely unique to every individual. Although this is true, society sometimes needs to be

reminded that love is a key player in the circle of life; we live, we laugh, we love. Everyone has been through a time in his or her life where they have felt alone and hopeless, but it is important in these times to remember that no one lives without love; therefore no one is ever truly alone. This current world is a cynical, negative one, and all cultures, all countries, all of us would benefit from stopping to think about the greatest gift we all have, L.O.V.E.

Works Cited Love, Actually. Writ. Richard Curtis. Dir. Richard Curtis. Perf, Hug Grant, Emma Thompson, et al. Working Title Films, 2003. DVD Westley, B.H.3, MacLean, M.S. (1957). A Conceptual Approach for Communications Research Contemporary Communication Theory. Kendall Hunt Publishing Company, 2010. Print