Jerry Maguire ♥ Dorothy Boyd

Recently in class we watched clips of the movie Jerry Maguire. I admit, I haven't seen this movie before and understand that this likely puts me in the minority. Of course, I do know of the famous quotes: “Show me the money!” “Did you know the human head weighs 8 pounds?” and “You complete me”/“You had me at hello.” I am, after all, in a pop culture class.

Anyway, we were directed to discuss how Jerry defines love, what he feels love to be. As we jumped around from scene to scene, I noticed something, something that Jerry himself plainly stated when, later in the film, Rod Tidwell asks why he married Dorothy Boyd:

                                  TIDWELL
                        Then why'd you get married?  I'm
                        asking you as a friend.
 
                                  JERRY
                               (shaking his head)
                        You're jabbing at me.

                                  TIDWELL
                        I'm sorry I asked.
 
                                  JERRY
                        No, I'm going to answer you.  You
                        want an answer?  I'll give it to
                        you.
                               (beat)
                        Loyalty.  She was loyal.
                               (unconvincing)
                        Everything grew from there.
 
                                  TIDWELL
                        That's an answer.
 
                                  JERRY
                        Damn right.
 
                                  TIDWELL
                               (jab)
                        For loyalty, you buy a dog.  For
                        love, you get married.

Earlier, when Jerry is speaking to his soon-to-be ex-fiancee Avery, he foreshadows his decision:

                                  AVERY
                        So honesty is outlawed here, I
                        can't be honest?
 
              She turns and exits again.  He follows.
 
                                  JERRY
                        Tell you what -- I'd prefer
                        loyalty..

So to Jerry, love is defined as loyalty, hence his decision to marry Dorothy after he breaks up with his fiancee, Avery. During Jerry and Dorothy's marriage, Jerry is highly affectionate to Dorothy's son, Ray, but is fairly distant and aloof to her. The two begin to fight and eventually wind up separating, as Dorothy loves Jerry but feels as though he doesn't return her feelings. Jerry's conversation with Tidwell however, eventually makes him reassess how he feels about Dorothy and what it means to really love someone. Jerry's business relationship with Tidwell eventually blossoms into a full-blown friendship after Tidwell's breakout football game and Jerry comes to the realization that he truly does love Dorothy and that his romantic feelings, while initially developing from loyalty (especially after she stayed loyal to him by going out on a limb and leaving Sports Management International with him after he had been fired) eventually grew into something beyond loyalty and into love.

Jerry's concept of “love” stemmed from the relationship he had with his fiancee, who was materialistic and brutally honest (though she added the “brutality”). His concept of love was certainly given shape with an influence from his line of work, where people back-stab and gossip and double-cross on a daily basis. Jerry certainly did have feelings for Dorothy and married her as a sign of loyalty in return for hers. He viewed the marriage almost as just another business deal, though obviously with more attachment. Luckily, though, Jerry was able to discover, with the help of Tidwell, that love is not just loyalty, and that it goes beyond just sticking by someone.

Blog, James Blog

The group project that I’m involved in for class covers James Bond, in particular Casino Royale, Ian Fleming’s first novel featuring the spy. I’ve been well acquainted with Bond for many years now and have likely seen every film at least once at some point or another whether it was on TV or in the theaters. When I think “spy”, I immediately think of “James Bond” and all that comes along with him – fast cars, gorgeous women, super villains, guns, Q, pithy one-liners, awesome technology, martinis, misogyny, tuxedos, and so on. James Bond IS spydom.

  Admit it -- you're humming the theme right now

After reading the book, I started to wonder how much of an impact Bond has really had on the concept of secret agents and such.  After some searching (some credit goes to Wiki here), I found some pretty amazing facts. Here are some that caught my attention. Per Wikipedia:

• It is estimated that since Dr. No, a quarter of the world's population have seen at least one James Bond film.
• "Bond ... James Bond", became a catch phrase that entered the lexicon of Western popular culture: writers Cork and Scivally said of the introduction in Dr. No that the "signature introduction would become the most famous and loved film line ever". In 2001 it was voted as the "best-loved one-liner in cinema" by British cinema goers and in 2005, it was honored as the 22nd greatest quotation in cinema history by the American Film Institute as part of their 100 Years Series.
• The twenty two James Bond films produced by Eon Productions have grossed $4,910,000,000 in box office returns alone.
• Sean Connery is, far and away, the best of the Bonds. Then follows Roger Moore, Pierce, Brosnan, Daniel Craig, Timothy Dalton/George Lazenby, Peter Sellers, and then the rest. This hierarchy is non-negotiable, you fools.

Perhaps not all of the information on Wikipedia is factual (*ahem*…), but the major fact that stood out to me was that it is estimated that a quarter of the world’s population has seen at least one Bond film. As of today, the estimated world’s population is estimated to be at or above 7 billion people. That would mean that at least 1.75 BILLION people have seen at least one Bond movie. Considering the franchise has lasted multiple decades, gone through numerous incarnations (radio, TV, novel, film, and has been revived by Daniel Craig in the last few years with the next film Skyfall  due out this year, Bond has certainly made a global impact and changed the way people view spies, espionage, secret organizations, super villains, and maybe even challenged female naming conventions. There have been parodies, such as the Austin Powers and Johnny English films. But Bond has also inspired numerous other spy films and television shows such as The Man from U.N.C.L.E. and I Spy. With over 20 films made so far and no apparent sign of stopping, Bond will continue to drink his vodka martinis, sleep with women, and stop world domination all while keeping a cool head.