A Review of the Film "The Way We Were"

Watching movies has always been an essential part of the American culture thus providing the mass society with a release from the everyday reality and in some way or another, a form of entertainment. The genre of the movie "The way we were"took not only the American, but the global world by storm. It has occupied every facet of people’s lives and with its wake, has had an impact on our civilization that possibly could shape the way the future is unfolding.

"The way we Were" film is one of those classical melodramatic love movies. The story follows the unanticipated connection and closely turbulent love affair between Katie and Hubbell. The story talks about Katie Morosky and Hubbell Gardiner, who on one occasion met at school in early 1930s and fell in affection for each other. The two characters have huge dissimilarities as Katie is piercingly vocal Marxist Jew with a strong anti-war opinion while Hubbell on the other hand is carefree wasp with no particular political bent. Katie is attracted to Hubbell because of his boyish good looks and his ordinary writing skills as Katie finds them so captivating though Hubbell doesn’t work hard on this matter. Hubbell is intrigued by her conviction and her determination to influence others to take up social causes.

These comrades had met during the end of the second world war as Katie was working at a Radio station while Hubbell having served as a naval officer in the south pacific, is trying to return to his civilian life. The two later marry regardless of the disparities in their background and personality.

Katie is incensed by the cynical jokes Hubbell friend make thus making it hard for her to comprehend his acceptance of their insensitivity and shallow dismal of political engagement. When later Hubbell seeks for a job as a Hollywood screenwriter, Katie believes he’s wasting his own talent thus cheering him to pursue writing as a serious confront instead. Despite her growing aggravation, they later moved to California, where he later becomes a victorious albeit desultory screen writer and the couple enjoys a wealthy lifestyle.

In the film’s final scene, both Katie and Hubbell had actually met coincidentally at Plaza Hotel in New York. Remaining faithful to her political standing, she continues to advocate for her political interests. Though being remarried, she invites Hubbell to come for a drink with his lady pal but confesses he can’t. Katie however does not show prejudice towards this response and continue to treat him a good pal. This is because Hubbell had actually done him no wrong and she had strong believed he had ill intention. There relationship history did not show any ill or prejudice committed at each other, but all the two shares now, besides their daughter whom they named as Rachael, is a reminiscence of the way they were.

The theme of sarcasm stems from a different aspect of the plot that seemingly pervades the distance between the two key characters in the film. While the whole film is presented in flashback, we first see Katie and Hubbell together in college. Katie is vehemently passionate about political issues and voices her Marxist opinions openly to the whole campus with protest. Hubbell on the other hand comes from a preppy, conservative background and was notoriously popular and handsome but Katie was isolated and scorned for being a Marxist Jew. Katie’s character is consistently anti-war protester as we can see in the last scene with protesters protesting production of the atomic bomb. This is the direct connection to the topic of cynicism regarding the political climate of the time.

Relating the above movie on contemporary society today, the point of views are damaging because it blurs the line between fact and fiction. Movies impact contestants too. Contestants in movies shows are living a double life with more than one personality. It also affects their family and their personal life. They loose the right to have a personal life by their first appearance on the show. Divorces, depression, disintegration of the family and drug addiction are some of the damages caused by these movies. Movies affect both gender females and males equally. They are both affected by the body and money image.

Majority of women can easily be influenced than men though different issues, such as environmental, cultural and media. They can get jealous and tempted from each other quickly. Females would like to be famous and pretty as much as actors do. For example, they would like to have a sexy and attractive body in order to draw attention like Hubell. This goes the opposite, because trying to get the same identification that actors do, will cause some sickness like eating disorders, which is a group that consists of many conditions related with each other owing to the mental state or physically recovery. As Pollack shows, as an example, some people see that being a wealthy person without any effort and having a luxurious life without studying, working, or even doing ordinary people’s daily work causes colossal disappointment for female viewers along with depression and frustration. Therefore, they will have low self-esteem and emotional sensitivity. This may cause a perception that such people do not care about their self or their husband.