I recently gifted one of my good friends a book by an author i really like. Love in the time of cholera by gabriel garcia marquez. He then told me oh this is just serendipity! I was like, why? He was surprised that me, being a girl hadnt watched serendipity, one of those ultimate of ultimate romantic movies. The kind girls base all their dreams and hopes of the "One" on (well i think for me that was personified by before sunrise but more on that another time) and then badger their husbands or boyfriends to be more romantic or hopefully fantasise of finding one who will be. So ever the practical sort, i promptly downloaded the movie and just let it lie in the downloads section of my laptop saving it for a sad hopeless day, we all know the kind. Today wasnt one of those but when my initial ide of watching a bollywood movie with my folks didnt pan out, i just decided to watch this.
As this isnt a review of the movie ( i would be 13 years too late in any case) i will just jump into the topic at hand. Of course the hopeless romantic girl in me loved the movie. Even the most practical hard boiled jaded girl will not be able to honestly swear on her "One" (as no one wants to jinx true love, whether you have found it or not) and tell me that something in tht movie didnt appeal to her. I was trying to figure out if a concept like this, however far fetched and hollywoodish it may be can ever work in todays day and age with all the multifarious communication devices that we have (Bbm, facebook, twitter, whatsapp blah blah- together generalised as whatsapp (and yep thats the lawyer in me, be happy i didnt capitalise)). I am going to loosely re-create the basic plot but in 2014:
Jon meets sara during sales on christmas eve (there are possibilities here that they wouldnt even be physically shopping but just logging on via their tablet or laptop precisely to beat the crowds and out of stock items which brought them together in the first place but as the movie and consequently this post is about destiny, i am going to discard that train of thought). So they met and in the midst of whatsapping their respective soon to be forgotten loves, they reached for the gloves. Then we know what happened, lets not change anything till we get serendipity the cafe. Half the magic is lost because though they are undeniably attracted to each other, they are still distracted by the numerous sounds that their smartphones are making every second. And however destiny and serendipity focussed sara is we know that when they do tear themselves away from those phones, the ice skating rink works its charm and she agrees to give him her number. But who writes numbers on pieces of paper anymore? Jonathon of course types it onto his phone and immediately adds her on whatsapp. No question of the paper just flying away then right? They part but keep in touch on whatsapp and maybe they are soulmates and they start dating and get married and live happily ever after. More likeky it jyst becomes another mundane whatsapp flirtationship with some occasional sexting. No 5 dollar note, no waldorf astoria and no marquez. No magic. No serendipity.
Because dont you see its not only who you meet, its how you meet and the image that creates in your mind and soul. Whatsapp has made things easier but it has also taken chance away from the equation. There can be serendipity, no alignment of events and no im not in anyway saying that serendipity the movie is anything but fiction but i do still believe in magic, because ive felt it bfore and hope to on e again.
Now if only that smartphone had been out of charge....
As this isnt a review of the movie ( i would be 13 years too late in any case) i will just jump into the topic at hand. Of course the hopeless romantic girl in me loved the movie. Even the most practical hard boiled jaded girl will not be able to honestly swear on her "One" (as no one wants to jinx true love, whether you have found it or not) and tell me that something in tht movie didnt appeal to her. I was trying to figure out if a concept like this, however far fetched and hollywoodish it may be can ever work in todays day and age with all the multifarious communication devices that we have (Bbm, facebook, twitter, whatsapp blah blah- together generalised as whatsapp (and yep thats the lawyer in me, be happy i didnt capitalise)). I am going to loosely re-create the basic plot but in 2014:
Jon meets sara during sales on christmas eve (there are possibilities here that they wouldnt even be physically shopping but just logging on via their tablet or laptop precisely to beat the crowds and out of stock items which brought them together in the first place but as the movie and consequently this post is about destiny, i am going to discard that train of thought). So they met and in the midst of whatsapping their respective soon to be forgotten loves, they reached for the gloves. Then we know what happened, lets not change anything till we get serendipity the cafe. Half the magic is lost because though they are undeniably attracted to each other, they are still distracted by the numerous sounds that their smartphones are making every second. And however destiny and serendipity focussed sara is we know that when they do tear themselves away from those phones, the ice skating rink works its charm and she agrees to give him her number. But who writes numbers on pieces of paper anymore? Jonathon of course types it onto his phone and immediately adds her on whatsapp. No question of the paper just flying away then right? They part but keep in touch on whatsapp and maybe they are soulmates and they start dating and get married and live happily ever after. More likeky it jyst becomes another mundane whatsapp flirtationship with some occasional sexting. No 5 dollar note, no waldorf astoria and no marquez. No magic. No serendipity.
Because dont you see its not only who you meet, its how you meet and the image that creates in your mind and soul. Whatsapp has made things easier but it has also taken chance away from the equation. There can be serendipity, no alignment of events and no im not in anyway saying that serendipity the movie is anything but fiction but i do still believe in magic, because ive felt it bfore and hope to on e again.
Now if only that smartphone had been out of charge....
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