I saw the movie, Midnight in Paris, last night with my sister. The story follows Gil, played by Owen Wilson. As he walks the streets of Paris he ends up going back into his "golden age," Paris in the 1920's, with the likes of Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald and T. S. Eliot. They pull him into their world, which he finds to be more attractive then the one he lives in. He also meets a girl Adriana, who is Picasso's current mistress, and falls in love with her. The problem, of course, is that Adriana, like Gil, is dissatisfied with her present day Paris in the 1920's. She prefers La Belle Epoque, the turn of the century which had such marvels as Cancan dancers, horse and carriages, and artists like Degas. While walking in 1920's Paris, they are heralded into a horse drawn carriage and brought into La Belle Epoque. After meeting Degas and Gauguin they get into a discussion about the current culture and Gil is surprised to learn that they are as dissatisfied with their time as he is with his. This makes Gil realize that every time has its drawbacks and he returns to 2012 and continues on with his life.
While I agree with this theory, there are further steps we can take when it comes to how we romanticize history. If asked what your favorite time was, what would you answer: WWII, Regency, Turn of the Century, or Biblical times? While there is nothing wrong with these periods, we tend to only see the triumphs and victories, not what kind of problems they had to face. I think it is because we see things more clearly in hindsight then we do in our own lives. We look at people like Hitler, and Stalin and wonder why so many people followed and supported them because "clearly," their ideas were evil. We know people have successfully stood up to Hitler and won. The Berlin wall did come down and we rejoice in those victories. There is nothing that they had that we do not have. We too need to face our present because God put us here for a reason. What evils do we face in this day and age? Abortion, secularization, godlessness, and materialism to name a few. Instead of looking at the past and dreaming of what it would be like to live during those times we need to use the past as a lesson and a promise, to stand for what is right and to follow God's will because Good, always conquers Evil.
Shalom, Nina
