In the Name of Love: Safety Not Guaranteed Movie and Midsummer Nights Dream Play - Essay Example

In the of Love Love is a key component of the world that every human being if not creature can barely make a living without it. Despite it being an abstract ‘thing’, love is coveted and highly regarded by all. It is in the name of love that couples are joined in marriage while making vows to remain in that state. Love grows from one level to another; when in the most advanced stage, love stirs up an individual to engage in crazy things in the name of love. This does not mean that there is anything wrong with this, but it is quite apparent that lovers can take huge risks for one another. In addition, they also opt to make huge sacrifices besides the high level of creativeness and craziness that a person in love can be. Based on the movie, Safety Not Guaranteed and the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream we shall put into perspective some of the things that a love can make them to happen in the lives of individuals. Love is a multi-faceted abstract thing that is customizable according to the set of individuals in question. It is unimaginable that sometimes love can induce someone to think of going behind time to recapture an ordeal that happened some longtime ago. In the name of love, some of the past thoughts and experiences an individual harbors are retained in their memory lane throughout their lives. Looking at the movie, Safety Not Guaranteed, we find Kenneth Calloway focused on getting behind time. He presents his views through an ad that seeks to have someone accompany him for the journey behind time. However, he is not alone, love is a key aspect that steers many to act. Jeff attempts to investigate this advert but we get to understand that his investigations are not genuine; he does this in the pursuance of her long-lost lover who is said to live among the beach community. He is successful in convincing their boss, Bridget to pursue this mission. He also gets the company of Darius and Arnau who help in accomplishing his mission more that he puts his own efforts (Anders 1). Success of a given mission can be made to happen based on the love-bond between the investigator and the individual bearing the evidence. It is easy to bust a criminal through getting them to engage in a love affair with a person that they like. For example, in the name of love, a woman can lure a man to give out vital information that could bust their criminal activities. Love is a strong force that easily arouses the soft spot of any kind of an individual. In the movie, we find out Jeff using Darius in his investigations towards understanding the whole aspect of going behind time and what Kenneth is up to. He plays a minor role as Darius does her best to get behind time together with Kenneth. Darius and Kenneth become so close to one another and find themselves training in the woods together and sharing their pasts together. Most spectacle incidences among the two relate to the loss of their loved ones; this forms a common basis for the need to go behind time. Darius remembers her mother and wants to go behind time to meet them while Kenneth is enthusiastic about meeting Belinda, her old girlfriend that was killed by a car. Love is a strong force that can easily be misdirected if it does not find its perfect target. People engage in love affairs when they get the opportunities to do so. Sometimes the opportunity may be not there resulting to a situation characterized by despair. Desperation can cause an individual to fall for anybody even if there is no love that exists in the first place. In the name of love a person finds themselves attracted to another person just to fill the void and not to have a genuine love affair. Through the Film, we are able to understand the situation that Jeff confronts. He does his best to get his teenage lover who looks less attractive but his love for her is still strong. Her name is Liz, they get to reconnect but Liz disappoints Jeff by refusing his offer to accompany him to Seattle. This provides a turn of events to the relationship. Desperate that the girl refused his offer, Jeff takes Arnau to town where they get young women (Anders 1). Such a desperate situation is what breaks a former love and makes an individual to get to engage in love affair with people that are not well known to them. This same scenario translates to Kenneth’s case, he gets to become more intimate with Darius by the fact that they will have a common mission and they are together not attached to any love affair. Through love, illusions and dreams are turned into reality. An idea may seem crazy when being spoken about by lovers but hen done one wonders whether any reality could emanate from there. A situation like walking into the past is unimaginable, however, we find that Jeff makes the effort to go investigating and it is something that seems illogical and impractical. We get to understand that the actual motivation to perform this investigation is not based on the need to elucidate what happens but to pursue a former love affair. When Jeff is involving Darius in the investigations, he is not certain whether anything worthwhile could come through. However, to his surprise something had happened. When Jeff receives a call from Bridget, he gets to understand that Belinda is alive. It seems that Kenneth did not clearly understand much about the whereabouts of Belinda since she had not died (Wade 2). Deceived by her interview with Darius, Kenneth believes that they had walked behind time and came back. This is based on the observations that are made by Darius but himself is not able to tell whether they went back based on his time machine. Through this film, we get to understand the lengths to which love can push an individual. Love is sometimes like magic, it can make a person to engage in unbelievable acts either consciously or unconsciously. Love is a great force that has a mega influence on the involved parties, the third parties are sometimes unaware of the actions and the feelings. There is the preposition that ‘love is blind’, this is partially true based on the view that sometimes lovers will get to appreciate aspects of one another that the rest of the world cannot fathom. Sometimes they fail to hear the criticisms that go along but instead ops to focus on themselves instead of the outside forces. Looking at the case of Kenneth in the film, Safety Not Guaranteed, he is focused on getting behind time irrespective of the consequences. In his advert, he is quite categorical that there is likelihood that one can lose their life in the process of rewinding the clock. On the other hand, Jeff is not troubled about the consequences of his mission, whether it succeeds or not his motivation seems to be based on finding his teenage lover. Shifting gears toward the play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, we find another spectacular case where a love affair traverses the natural. Through the use of love potions and mistaking of lovers, Titania finds herself in a love affair with an ass (Shakespeare 2). Some of these magical powers or views make love seem extraordinary in certain situations. Love is well known for breaking traditions and cultures that existed. In the name of love, people get to disregard their ancestral cultural beliefs just to conform to the pattern those love affairs. For example, in most of the traditional and cultural setups, the man was the one that was supposed to approach a woman for marriage. In addition, some cultures also provided that the parents were to find suitors for their children. This scenario has completely changed; it is never the case. People make their choices based on their discretions and their desires. Cultural and traditional barriers have been broken. Cross-cultural, interethnic, interracial, and other diverse love affairs that were not there initially have been brought in through modernization. Shakespeare brings out this aspect clearly in his comic play, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In this scenario, we find a father who wants her daughter to adhere to culture by pointing out a man that should marry them. Hernia is adamant to adhere to culture by refusing to give his hand in marriage to Demetrius, who was the man that he had chosen for her. Her choice, who is a man by the name Lysander whom she had made her personal decision to love and marry. The father’s decision is founded on the provisions of an ancient Athenian law (Theseus) (Shakespeare 2). In the name of love, people engage in various activities that facilitate their expression of love. Love is a powerful thing, it makes people get to the heights and lengths of giving their best especially when the relationship is at stake and at the verge of going to the drain. It is also apparent that however the time difference or distance, the force of love is too much to contain them. In the film, we find that Jeff is persuaded to go and meet his lover while disguising that he is on a mission to investigate the issues surrounding the advert. On the other hand, in the play we find Titania having a romantic time in the forest in Athens with Oberon. A situation arises that makes them to disagree; she refuses to give the changeling to Oberon who opts to punish her ‘in the name of love’. Oberon plans for a concoction to be applied to her eyelids that would make her fall in love with the first living organism in their sight. For Titania’s case, it is an ass (Cliffsnotes 2). This love affair presents the dark side of love. This presents the extent to which love can go. Ultimately, the love between the couple is demonstrated through their deeds. Love can trigger hate to the extent that one may be prompted to kill another person. Love is a strong force that sometimes is inconsiderate of the second thought. It stimulates an individual to make an instant decision that sometimes they can live to regret why they made such a decision in the first place. Hate can easily emanate from a love affair if there are third parties that are involved. This results to the so-called ‘love-triangle’, which can be a source of dissension and hatred among the individuals. To prevent against such a scenario, we find Shakespeare in his play bringing forth the lovers that opt to run away from their residence to prevent the effect of third parties that spring up. Hermia and Lysander elope to prevent the wrath of the father’s proposed lover, Demetrius. On the other hand, Demetrius is so focused to have hand in marriage to Hermia and this makes him follow them in the forest where they run to. He is determined to eliminate Lysander so that he can regain he love. Helena’s love for Demetrius provokes her to reveals the news on the elopement scheme to Demetrius at least so that she gets to capture his love. This is not the case for he does not seem intrigued to have a love affair with her. However, Puck’s charm does the magic. Both Lysander and Demetrius are applied the charm in their r eyelids and hence get attracted to Helena. They get to the extent of competing for the lady till Oberon orders that Lysander be uncharmed and he reverts back to his lover, Hermia (Cliffsnotes 3). Sometimes love can seem like a dream, an individual may take time before they awake and get out of the dreamland. Both the play and the movie have supernatural comical expressions of how a love can be to individuals. They seem to be occupied with the affair such that sometimes their senses are subdued. Jeff’s former love makes him to take the risk of being away from his normal duties while he engages in activities that are geared towards regaining his former love. On the other hand, the desperation that sets in his life after she refuses to accompany him makes him to make the decision to engage other girls without a second thought. His advices to Arnau are also not the best, he advices him to enjoy his youth by having an affair with one of the girls they meet irrespective of the fact that they never knew each other much. The other scenario presented in the play we find the life in a forest where lovers are charmed and they are realigned according to their love for one another. Oberon is a crazy man who goes to the length of doing his best to secure what he wants from her lover without harming her. In conclusion, there is much that love offers. It is a strong force that has the capacity to blind individuals as well shut their mind so that they are not able to have much reasoning beyond the romance. It is a magical force and is mainly between two parties. The involvement of a third party usually brings strife, hate, and dissension. Therefore, through the play and the film analyzed in this essay we find that there is nothing that is impossible in the name of love. Love can stir up precarious engagements. Works Cited Anders, Charlie, Jane. Safety not Guaranteed: You owe it to yourself to see this movie. 2012. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. http://io9.com/5916954/safety-not-guaranteed-you-owe-it-to-yourself-to-see-this-movie Cliffsnotes. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/m/a-midsummer-nights-dream/play-summary Shakespeare. A Midsummer Night’s Dream. n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. http://shakespeare.mit.edu/midsummer/full.html Wade, Sam. ‘Safety Not Guaranteed’ offers comedy with more serious themes. 2012. Web. 30 Apr. 2014. http://www.calvin.edu/chimes/2012/09/10/safety-not-guaranteed-offers-comedy-with-more-serious-themes/ Read More