Pedestalizing?

Texas Monthly: "How to Be Southern" --

How to Be a Southern Belle
A Southern belle is born, not made. (Some of them can be made, too, but we’ll get to that later.) And the place where she is born is in the mind of the Southern man.
Down through the tangled thickets of Southern chivalry, there was one figure who stood for everything that was pure—spiritually, culturally, racially, and sex­ually. That was the belle, and she was a great comfort to the Southern gentleman who had a hard time sticking to the high­road. When he was out dueling, he knew she was home embroidering. When he was succumbing to base desires in the bawdy house she was in raptures over the romances of Sir Walter Scott. When he was cheating his neighbor in business she was tending her sick mammy. And when he came home she loved him still. The belle worked the same magic as the Catholic church in Italy. After you got so dirty, it felt wonderful just to be around someone who seemed so clean.
Well, things are more complicated now, and everyone has trouble sticking to the highroad—as the young lady here sug­gests. But here are a few simple hints. Southern belles are usually smart, but they musn’t seem to be—that was Scar­lett O’Hara’s big mistake. Be tough on the inside and soft on the outside. Avoid excess in all things. You should speak in a low voice, keep your legs primly crossed, and dress in clothes that are tastefully seductive. But in a pinch, don’t worry about taste.

A Good Love Story?

Or 19th ce romance geared for women and blue-pill men? Seems like the heroine is engaging in a bit of 'alpha f- beta bux' in her life choices, even though it is not so bad as she does have some attraction to her "true" love. There is definitely some hypergamy in play, though she does not marry the wealthy second choice -- there is no chemistry, and wealth does not make up for the lack of game. All things being equal, she would pick the alpha with wealth over the one without, but if it's a choice between the alpha with no wealth and the beta with wealth, she chooses the former.





Love and Marriage in “The Madding Crowd” by Gracy Olmstead

Even if it is a step above today's trashy romance novels (and worthy of being in a Brit Lit course), it is still their progenitor, appealing to emotion and erroneous views of love, and it is not clear to me that good sense actually prevails at the end of the story. (And then there is the feminism in the story; funny how the portrayal of such cognitive dissonance is acceptable to the masses of women. The NPR review is a howler.)

Still, the movie does look gorgeous and the work done for the costumes seems high quality. (Historically accurate?) If men would dress like the first choice, Gabriel.

Mode.com goes behind the scenes of FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD with costume designer Janet Patterson to take a look at the gorgeous clothes that bring an authentic Victorian look to the production!

Posted by Far From The Madding Crowd on Saturday, May 16, 2015

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More Bubblegum Country

Taylor Swift, "Ours"

Seems like there's always someone who disapproves
They'll judge it like they know about me and you
And the verdict comes from those with nothing else to do
The jury's out, but my choice is you.

So don't you worry your pretty little mind
People throw rocks at things that shine
And life makes love look hard
The stakes are high, the water's rough, but this love is ours

That is, "people gonna hate."

'Cause I love the gap between your teeth
And I love the riddles that you speak
And any snide remarks from my father about your tattoos will be ignored
'Cause my heart is yours

So is she writing about a bad boy and not heeding the advice of those warning her about him?



She hasn't released any new songs recently, guess she's working on a new album?

"Literary Catfights"

Why Charlotte Bronte Hated Jane Austen by Susan Ostrov Weisser
In her new book 'The Glass Slipper,' Susan Ostrov Weisser looks at the rivalry between two of England's most famous female novelists.

(via Tea at Trianon)

Should those in secondary school be required to read the Romantics without some prior form of moral training? And what benefit is there to having young men read Brontë?

A French Movie

So it is suitable for all audiences or is it unrated for a reason? The Well-Digger's Daughter.

UK trailer:


French trailer:


Does a good [secular?] love story with a happy ending (just a guess) excuse the fornication that takes place during it (probably not shown, as the movie seems rather "innocent" for a French movie)?

Roger Ebert's review

Glamorizing Sin?

I have not read Tolstoy's novel, but commentors in the androsphere have claimed that the main character is clearly regarded as an immoral woman in the novel, and is a prototypical attention wh*re. Is the scriptwriter and Joe Wright trying to turn her into a Romantic heroine? Or was Tolstoy a big Romantic after all, decrying the social restraints of Russian society that prevented true love from being fulfilled? Or, was he just a an observer of Russian high society and just crafting a tale around certain personalities?

Regardless, guess which version of the character Anna would be more attractive to Uhmerican audiences.

Apple

The Feminization of Language?

Begun on February 7, at 4:38 P.M.

This criticism has been made that people now say, "I feel," instead of, "I think," when expressing their opinion. Feel has become a synonym for think, while retaining its original meaning (experiencing an emotion). The point may have even been made in my philosophy program, of all places. I recall the complaint being made by someone older... was it the department chair, during one of our teaching seminars? Was this change concomitant with the admission of women into higher education and their attaining of positions within academia? Or is it more a result of Uhmerican mass media, especially those in broadcast news and others charged with providing commentary,  hiring people not on the basis of the sharpness of intellect?

It may be that this usage does not reflect a difference in understanding, but just laziness and the lack of definitions. Or just unthinking habits that have been passed down -- people don't learn the meanings of words before using them, they use them almost haphazardly, following the example of others and how they speak. A linguist could even interpret it as an even softer (or more severe?) form of verbal hedging than beginning every statement with "I think."

I note that "feel" can refer both to feelings/emotions but also to sense perception, in particular the sense of touch. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, feel was first used with reference to sense perception. I think many are ignorant of the distinction between intellect and sense, but it is unclear to me whether this contributes to people using "feel" for "think."

It is the case that in the young and the immature, emotions dominate reason/thinking. With this new usage are we seeing that this is true not just of moral agency and moral reasoning, but of our understanding of our behavior and how we explain it?