When the God of Love Becomes a Curious Journalist
I’ll start without trying to define love. We all know that love isn’t just a sweet emotional cocktail created by a few chemical reactions in the human body, accompanied by little fireworks, right? If that’s the case, I think I’d like one: “Shaken, but not stirred, please!”
Love is not only a feeling that can be felt all over the body, but also a feeling that leads one to their breaking points in an abstract sense, isn’t it? It’s a feeling that breaks, heals, questions, inspires, gives meaning, or even assigns a sacred purpose…
Perhaps its millions of connections are what make it so fascinating. From a broader perspective, “Love” could equal “Affection.” The universality of affection must be hidden somewhere much deeper. Speaking of these things, I’ll transition to the cliché of November, “Love in November is different,” because November isn’t over yet.
Now, You, Think of Yourself…
Have you ever experienced such love, but in November? In this modern world of love? What are the chances of finding love in a world where minds work like algorithms? We should ask about artificial intelligence. Does it have a formula for the roads leading to love? What’s the logic behind this? What should one sacrifice?
Or should we just keep sipping our cocktails alone?
Modern Love
We’ll examine my favorite episode from the mini-series based on real-life stories featured in the Modern Love column of The New York Times. Who knows, maybe later, both you and I will find “that person” to accompany us in our sweet emotional cocktails of November. Why not? There is always hope.
When the God of Love Becomes a Curious Journalist (S1.B2)
This episode is divided into two separate stories: one features Julie, a middle-aged, intelligent journalist, and the other, is Joshua, a young, handsome CEO of a dating app. Their paths cross when Julie interviews him. At the end of the interview, Julie asks, “Have you ever fallen in love?” which completely stuns Joshua.
This question brings to light a sad story from his past.
One notable aspect of the episode is that you never know where or when you’ll meet the one. Joshua meets Emma in the waiting area of a job interview, and to not lose her, he decides to take a “risk” that day, triggering a secret emotional cocktail alarm!
Later, at the zoo, they reflect together on the universality of love, and their romance begins somehow. However, the breaking point of their relationship comes when Emma, during a time when Joshua is focused on his career, cheats on him with someone from her past. The result? Separation.
After years without seeing each other, they unexpectedly run into each other on a street. Sparks of a familiar yet different feeling bring them together again. Joshua confesses to Julie, the journalist, that despite meeting many wonderful people over the past two years, no one could compare to Emma, and that she was irreplaceable.
This confession makes Julie reflect on her own story. She asks Joshua, “Do you have time?” and begins to tell her story.
Julie’s Story
Julie tells the story of a love that began when she was 22 and studying in Paris, after meeting a man at a bar in the Caribbean. She spent every day thinking of him, but there was a twist: this man never came to visit her in Paris, no matter how much she hoped he would. “Didn’t we have the perfect beginning?” Julie says. She admits that the pain of his not visiting her devastated her, and for years, she lived with that feeling.
The only memory of their time together is a single youth photo they took, which Julie has secretly kept between the pages of a book as she moved from city to city, a silent reminder of the things in life we long for but can never fully grasp.
However, one day, at a book signing event outside the city, who should appear before her? The same person who lost the book with Julie’s address on it 17 years ago—her other lost love.
After this, the past redefines itself, helping the couple complete the feelings that were never fully experienced. What I’m saying is, we never know the right timing…
The Weight of the Unbearable Lightness of Loving
I won’t spoil the ending for those who want to watch it!
Now we get to the real subject of the title: The weight of unbearable lightness. Thank you, Milan Kundera, for inspiring this wordplay, which makes us think: We can question how the rare emotions Julie and Joshua experience in their story affect their lives, characters, marriages, and emotional sensitivities. Feeling the weight of happy memories once they’ve passed or remaining stuck in the weight of 17 long years spent without knowing why…
Since we all have different stories, I think we can conclude this by saying, as we mentioned earlier, emotional cocktails are only truly special if you’re sure of them, and no matter the timing, they deserve a step forward. One last read of the God of Love! After watching, don’t forget to think or take action!
Note: Of course, November is just the fun part of this whole thing…