Hi everyone! I know that you are all feverishly writing your papers so I do not expect this to be a really in depth response. However, I would still like it to be a short and thoughtful one. Please choose one of the following topics and write a 100 word response based on the parts of the film we saw. Try to relate this to our conversations about realism.
- Convention
- Conformity
- The “Double Vision” of Edith Wharton as a writer (her inside/outside perspective)
- What does each character represent: Archer, the Countess, May
- Family
- The Status of Work (and progress)
- The aesthetic of wealth
- morality and society
- Scorsese’s (the director) insertion of art and theatre into the film..why is this interesting or important?
(Morality & Society)
Morality is most commonly known as doing what’s right. Although it sounds rather simple, the complication comes from what people define as right. In Mays’ case, doing what’s right would be leaving her husband for the sake of her own happiness. However, society would view the divorce as bad, so for the sake of society, May should stay in her faulty marriage. The problem is that there is a huge gray area in morality. No one can really say what’s right. And besides, what’s right for one can be wrong for someone else. Morality in this film is construed because society views morality in a utilitarianism view. They want actions to satisfy the wants of the greater good. In this case, the families want May to stay together to protect their reputation. Although it isn’t right to bound a woman to an unhappy marriage, society doesn’t see it from that perspective. The importance of maintaining their reputation causes them to have a different view of morality.
Conformity is the behavior in relation to society’s standards. In the film “The Age of Innocence”, the viewers got to see the importance of the theme through the character Ellen Olenska’s situation with her marriage. Ellen is from a high society family and with that, there are unspoken rules that come with this wealth. Ellen’s marriage is looked down upon and he came back to New York in order to be free from her husband’s cruelty. However, she finds that she cannot be “free” because her actions would cause talk in her group. Although Ellen tries to go out of the circle’s boundaries to become her own person, Newland persuades her to behave in accordance to save her from gossip. We can see realism in this movie by seeing high society’s world and with Ellen’s choice to choose to stay married, realizing the consequences if she chose to get a divorce.
In “Age of Innocence”, the belief of conventionalism is a driving factor in New York’s upper class society. It’s important that those of a higher class act in a certain manner among certain people. Their was of living is completely based on rules and regulations, and Archer seems to go against this ideology when he pursues Countess Olenska. Regardless of the way they feel about each other, New York’s upper echelon will never accept their relationship considering the circumstances. With Archer currently engaged and Countess Olenska recently divorced, their relationship would be unacceptable in the eyes of “New York’s finest”.
In The Age of Innocence, family is a big theme. Everyone knows everybody else and the society is viewed as a one large family. Each family oversees the behavior of its family members and each family has its own identity. Families are dedicated to keep the line going by being with or marrying someone equally or more high-status. It is a dishonor and a shame to the whole family when someone in the family is doing something against the norm and what society is expecting from them. Countess is going through divorce which breaks the family unit and that is why she has difficulties to do so because she knows that it will bring shame to the family. Archer is also bringing shame to the family by having an affair with Countess and betraying his fiancé May.
Two themes that come into conflict in “The Age of Innocence” are morality and society. The three main characters in this story Newland, May and Ellen are all met with this dilemma. Newland must decide between leaving or staying with his fiance, May, for a woman he truly desires and is in love with, Ellen. According to societal standards, Newland would be looked down upon because of the shame he would bring to his family name. However, what makes his choices complicated is the idea that morality is subjective. Many may view choosing to be with the one you love to be the correct choice because who would want to live with someone they do not fully love. May is faced with the moral dilemma of allowing her fiance to be with someone he truly loves and dealing with the societal shame of being a women not being able to hold down a husband. Ellen must deal with the moral dilemma of involuntarily stealing the heart of another woman’s love and the societal dilemma of divorcing, a very heavy topic during this time. In all these instances, I feel that morality overrules societal laws and standards because morality is something that can stay consistent. However, society is constantly changing.
As I was not in class on Wednesday, I had watched the film, The Age of Innocence” online. Morality is the separation of what is right vs what is wrong. Morality is viewed as a set of concepts or ideas which is viewed as rightfulness or goodness. In the film, I believe May would better her situation by divocing her husband. On the other hand, the separation of a marriage, also known as a divorce, is viewed poorly from society. In spite of the fact that it is viewed as unethical to force a woman into an unhappy marriage, it is not viewed the same from the community which May lives in. The significance of keeping up their superiority causes them to have an alternative perspective of ethical quality.
Conformity is a huge theme in the story of The Age of Innoccence. These theme of conformity is seen to affect characters like May and Ellen. When watching the movie directing by Martin Scorsece it becomes very clear to see that the character May is extremly influenced by the desires of others and what she think her family will approve. It becomes very hard to view her as her own individual. This becomes clear in the conversation Archer has with her about getting married. Archer who is trying to speed up the date of the engagement is boggled that May gets scared because she fears its because he doesnt love her like he said he does. When reassuring May of his devotion to her she all of a sudden becomes passive and even says “But why should we change what is already settled?”. This qoute displays that she is complacent with the way not only society views her but with herself. Ellen on the other hand can be seen as a foil to May. She is much older, more opionated, and is more worldly. She’s from Europe and has been involved with scandal. Ellen is seen as an induvidual instead of conforming to society in her actions to actually divorce her husband. During this time it is the relationship that a woman had with a man that ultimately determined their value. However Ellen didn’t even care about the image she just followed her instinct. This is what makes her very appealing to Archer.
The movie” The age of innocence ” is set in upper-class New York City in 1870. The movie is about a wealthy lawyer named Newland. He is engaged to May a woman born into an upper class family, and in the same time he is also in love with May’ s cousin.
Family norms play a big role in the upper class society during this era. Society impose that everything should be done a certain way. What they wear, how they eat, and what they say all needs to follow a certain manner that high class society imposes. When one refuses to follow these rules their family name drops in the status. When Mays cousin the Countess Ellen decides to leave her husband she is gossiped and talked about by the neighbors and family friends. Every body need to follow the family rules, and when the lawyer falls in love with the countless he knew that the family will shame on him that’s why he found that’s the only solution to his problem is to urge the weeding so he can flee from Elen. That’s show how family was a priority in all aspect of life.
The Age of Innocence, where morality and society connect and the surrender of forbidden love fulfilled. Under the umbrella of wealth, where living a life of double standards are the norm and to speak of injustices of another is frowned upon. The Countess, having been given all that she desired except the respect of her husband who openly committed affairs and showed her no value, had to swallow her pride if she intended to remain and keep her elitist high society lifestyle. Under this pretense of wealth and happiness, the battle of acceptance is lost if one speaks and thinks for themselves. Social norms outweighed the transgressions, Courage was lost, hidden love concealed and true happiness is but a dream.
I think that some big themes in “Age of Innocence” are morality and society. Morality is the distinction between the right and wrong behaviors. The theme of morality connects with the society because people have to act a certain way in order to be accepted into the society, especially in the upper class societies, where the main characters are from in the film. The film showed that there are higher expectations if you are in the upper class society and should behave in such ways. An example of this is when Ellen decides to get a divorce because during this time period, people did not think it was morally right to get a divorce and it brought down your family’s name in society.
In the movie “The Age of Innocence” I found that morality and society were two major themes that played an important part on how the story flows. The plot was set in the 1870s and focused on the wealthiest and most influential families in New York. Many of the characters in the movie were preoccupied with social status, and how they were viewed in the community. Moreover, I found it very interesting that the two female protagonists Ellen Olenska and May Archer were depicted to be flawless and bland. During this time period, women were often dependent on the men around them being that men were thought to be smarter and the financial providers.
After watching the film at home, one thing that stood out in the film and our talks about realism was conformity. The characters were the elites of New York society during the time and yet, I could not help but feel a sense of pity for them. The New York in the film is not much different from present New York, appearance, regardless of what else is said, is crucial. The unspoken social rules of who you can talk to, families you can marry into, and how you dress and behave all matter. In the film, Ellen was unable to do what she wanted because of the shackles she was bounded by.
In The Age of Innocence the aesthetic of wealth is a very important role. The purpose of Realism is to show the world from different perspectives and in this film we are shown the behavior of the upper class and how important wealth was to them. There’s a lot of great focus on paintings that look from the era of Romanticism as they are all very pastoral, I assume also very expensive and whenever the upper class threw a dinner party, there was also a lot of focus on the Fine China that was used to serve food not normally accessible to the poor, like lobster, oysters, turkey, etc… It’s also interesting to see how Newland Archer sends flowers to his fiancé May Welland everyday and it shows how easily the upper class didn’t think twice on how their wealth was spent. It was also very important in New York Society in the 1870’s to always look presentable otherwise you would face being secluded from the upper class if you didn’t meet the standards on how you’re supposed to be dress, there’s a scene in which May tells Newland Archer about someone who came to the party they were at, but then left because she was afraid her dress wasn’t proper enough for the party.
In the movie “The Age of Innocence” family is a central theme. All of the characters are held to higher standards because of the families they come from and especially because of the social class they pertain to. I think that is part of the reason May did not want to marry so quickly. It had to do with her family and since she was expected to have a long term engagement she insisted on having one with Archer. Another aspect of family that is hi lighted is that family is not always loyal. The Countess was May’s cousin and she was trying to seduce May’s fiancé. I think Edith Wharton did this to show that this is something that happens at any societal level. This was something meant to represent something more than the infidelity, it had more to do with how the Countess was very disloyal to her cousin. This something that I would think is very taboo especially at that high level of society, but Edith Wharton exposes that in upper class society each family is double sided. They are the perfect family that everyone sees and then they are among each other with all their problems.
In ‘The Age of Innocence’ Newland Archer is engaged to May Welland, whose cousin Countess Ellen Olenska enters the picture only to disfigure it. May, being the perfect daughter of the ‘New York’ society, innocent, charming and beautiful, is the example of boring high standards, the dull perfection without fire or the spirit of adventure, May represents the safest, sweetest way to a higher class. In complete contrast, Ellen is a rebel. She catches Archer’s eye because she is a different type of woman, rather than the princess in a fairy-tail she is the knight. Because she longs passion and seeks something other than the respect of her society and parents, she gets a divorce and leaves Europe, she represents Archer’s temptation. Archer, on the other hand, is a weasel. He chooses to “love” May and betray her with Ellen, who knows of her cousin’s engagement. I guess you can’t fight true love, but knowing of May’s naivity, Ellen refuses Archer for a brief moment. Archer here represents the failure of society to maintain morals in “high class”. Archer is the “perfect” fiancee, respected and wealthy, yet he is the most flawed of all characters because he is the biggest liar of all.
In the Age of Innocence, the idea of conformity is depicted through certain characters. Ellen as a character is unconventional to other female characters in the movie. Ellen is flirty, sensuous, and confident. She does not seem to be afraid or try to watch what she says. She is opinionated. Some characters like Archer might have been to afraid to challenge the ideas of society. The idea that one should question conformity but only in private was evident. Although at times he may have wanted to not care about what people had to say about him, he was still concerned with other people.
In the Age of Innocence, an upper class movie of the 1870, family plays an important role. After all everything is about family in this film. Everyone in the film knows each other or is some how related to each other. In the film the family of one has to approve the decision that one memeber of their family is going to make such a marriage and it has to be someone of the upper class because of their high standard. Everything has to go the way the family wants it to go and if a memeber of the family doesn’t follow the norm they will not be consider part of the family.