This weekend I saw the school's play "Thoroughly Modern Millie", twice. Millie has come to New York, ready for a new "modern" life. After learning about the 20's in class, it was interesting to see the play and recognize things. The younger girls in the play all wear flapper-type dresses and go out to party at speak-easies. Millie also has this "plan" in mind. What she swears is the "modern way". She plans to marry her boss, so to marry rich, claiming love comes later. She claims a "modern girl takes charge of her life". In the end she is persuaded by love, but she spoke so strongly of the plan, even referring back to "Vogue" where she read about it.
I found it interesting once again how view points and life changed so rapidly around the 20s for women. The 1920s was a decade starting to be run by business and then Millie refers to marriage as a "business arrangement". So as the nation changed, viewpoints changed. This made me think of how women see marriage today. I found myself debating against myself. I'd like to think that people are more romantic and marry for love but then I thought about "gold diggers" and "cougars" and those sorts.
How do you see marriage today? What you'd like it to be, or what it is in reality? How has it changed?
Interesting connection. I saw a version of Thoroughly Modern Millie when I was in, like, 4th grade, so I'd forgotten/hadn't really realized what the 'modern' bit referred to.
ReplyDeleteI think marriage has definitely changed to be more about romantic love today, I'd say it's our ideal for love/marriage, although there are some who wouldn't quite see or use it that way (cougars, gold diggers, cons). Romance is a very popular aspect of a lot of our media (ex. disney movies), and more arranged sorts of marriages probably are looked down upon by our society as being less free. Perhaps our romantic ideal also contributes to our high divorce rate (I have no idea), as people in the past were less willing to end marriages if there was abuse or a lack of emotional fulfillment (reminds me of Daisy in Gatsby).
In the past, marriage was, literally, a business arrangement. Marriage was all about property, as people in Europe used to live in family units where wealth was determined by a family's possessions (farmland, cattle, other possessions), and it couldn't be earned through a salary like today, which allows for more independence from family. As a result, whoever was allowed to enter the family through marriage had to be approved of by the family collectively, as there would be some sort of property exchange, and the family's welfare (net gain/loss in wealth) in the future was affected by it. The love aspect of marriage arrangements was thought of as less-than-optimal, and instead it was thought best if a wedded couple developed friendship later than life, as their duties to family came first.