some cartoon wisdom
These days its something of a trend in pop culture for the ostensibly wizened older characters to tell meandering anecdotes that have no point to them, or else directly contradict the point they're trying to make. I'm thinking the father in the brilliant British series The Kumars at no. 42. I'm thinking Arnold's grandfather in Hey, Arnold! and the Jim Morrison dream sequence in Wayne's World 2. And today I'm thinking especially of one of my fave lines from one of The Cartoon Network's more oddball cartoons: Yvonn of The Yukon. For neophytes, Yvon is an eighteenth century Frenchman despatched by Louis XVI on a exploratory mission. Somehow he gets lost at sea, frozen and is defrosted in the modern-day Yukon. In the episode in question, Yvon is nowhere to be seen. Our "hero" is a young boy who, spurned by love, is deciding to turn his back on it. The dispenser of wisdom offers these words to our protagonist:
"I knew a guy who thought he could live without love. He spent all his time workin' and hangin' out. Thirty, forty years he never had a meaningful relationship. And you know what happened to him?"
"What?"
"Nothing! Happiest guy you ever met. Turned out he didn't need *anyone*..."
Whaddya think? Can you live without love? I'm not asking if you'd choose to, mind, but if you *could* live a full and happy life without it?
"I knew a guy who thought he could live without love. He spent all his time workin' and hangin' out. Thirty, forty years he never had a meaningful relationship. And you know what happened to him?"
"What?"
"Nothing! Happiest guy you ever met. Turned out he didn't need *anyone*..."
Whaddya think? Can you live without love? I'm not asking if you'd choose to, mind, but if you *could* live a full and happy life without it?
posted by Calaloola at 5:44 pm
4 Comments:
if we were born a blank slate, and love never got the chance to leave its mark, we would probably be happy and whole even without it.
but since humans are preternaturally inclined to pursue love, in a variety of degrees, then i have to say there will still be something missing in us if we don't ever get to build a meaningful relationship.
what an insightful post, calaloola. thanks for writing it.
I think I'd be okay if I loved something, like a good friend, or my career, or some other passion. But a life without any love at all, not so much.
transience: You don't miss what you never had, huh? I can see that. And yeah, I love finding insight (and inspiration for it) in children's cartoons ;)
Jay: Absolutely. Love takes many forms (ahh, I watched Love, Actually again last night: looove that flick :)) and yes, a life without love for anything would be truly bleak. I guess I was wondering how vital romantic love is to our health and happiness.
Thanks for stopping by, guys, I just had an infuriating moment. I wrote a really long-winded post about writerly serendipity and lost cats and was *just* about to sumbit it when my 'puter froze. Now I have to decide whether to grit my teeth and write it again, write a shorter version which I will be unsatisfied with, or give up. Grrrrr.
this is the reason why i type in notepad first.
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