December-Movie

I didn't make time this last month to find and watch a new movie so I'm going to comment on one I watched this last semester.

Tess of the d'Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy
(2008 BBC mini series is the version I watched)

This is a very sad story filled with darkness and sorrow...I chose to comment on this movie because it was so thought provoking. This movie made me think for days, even weeks. Each day I pondered it my mind was consumed with connections and questions, and Nathan and I had some great conversations about the themes.

The main questions are:

-What is true virtue and purity?
-How does society define purity? How does the church? (context: 1800's rural English society, the Church of England)
-How do those definitions conflict with one another, which definition is right?
-Can events taint or take away purity, or is purity guarded in the heart no matter what happens to you?
-How do we personally define purity in our own minds today?

The story has biblical references to the Garden of Eden and The Fall.
The main character Tess is a parallel to Eve. The conservative churches back in that day took the bible literally and labeled Eve as a sinner because of her choice in the garden ("Original Sin")
Angel in the movie is an Adam figure, and Alec is the serpent.

Throughout all the sorrow, trial, blame, and everything Tess endures she remains an obvious standard of personal purity and innocence. Things happen to her against her will that label her as a sinner by society and the church, and yet she is the most pure in heart out of all the characters. There is continuous symbolism that supports this theme: what could be more pure and virtuous than a precious newborn baby? And yet, if it's born out of wedlock, that little life is shunned both by family, church, and society. Even towards the end she makes choices that condemn her further, but she does it out of concern for her family and loyalty to her heart.

Alec is an interesting character, he defiles her innocence and symbolically gives her knowledge (serpent gives Eve the fruit from the tree of knowledge-he even gives her fruit in the movie to symbolize this) Throughout the movie he tempts her, pesters her, continuously tries to wear away her goodness and destroy her purity. He even uses the deception of righteousness and a repentant heart for a time. In the end he gains some control over her, but as the viewer you still feel her purity is intact in her heart, she gives up that control for a higher cause: to save her family. Like Eve, she makes a "condemning choice" for the greater good of her family. It's also interesting to note society and everyone else had shunned her, she literally had no where else to turn but to Alec. To me this is a message of warning: the terrible consequences of what we do to true virtue and purity when we automatically label and condemn. In the end we (english society, church of england, etc.) are the ones who destroy the purity, in the end we are the real sinners. And the ones we labeled "sinner" are the true saints. If everyone had given her love instead of condemnation she would have lived the beautiful life that she always deserved. In this story the Adam figure (Angel) follows that same path of unfair judgement, but becomes repentant and sorrowful in the end for his judgement-but the warning is clear because the consequences were already set. The last scene is a day dream Angel has about going back in time and how he would show her love from the start-oh how the outcome would have been different.

Anyways I could probably go on and on, I love motifs and connections, I found this movie very thought provoking. It's definitely a very sad story and I think personally I would prefer to read the book next time rather than watch the movie since some of the context is so dark. I would also love to further research Thomas Hardy's personal religious beliefs based on some of the conclusions of human existence he makes in the end.