{"id":1559,"date":"2020-02-10T19:32:39","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T19:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/?p=1559"},"modified":"2021-07-10T19:50:40","modified_gmt":"2021-07-10T19:50:40","slug":"the-love-story-lie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/2020\/02\/10\/the-love-story-lie\/","title":{"rendered":"The Love Story Lie"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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With Valentine’s Day on the way, some folks will probably go out to dinner and then take in a romantic or maybe even a nostalgic film. Although it\u2019s hard to believe it\u2019s been 50 years since the classic movie, \u201cLove Story\u201d first hit the silver screen in 1970. If you\u2019re a boomer or beyond, you are probably familiar with the film\u2019s storyline. \u201cOliver Barrett IV (Ryan O\u2019Neal) the heir of an American upper-class East Coast family is attending Harvard College where he plays hockey. He meets Jennifer \u201cJenny\u201d Cavilleri, (Ali McGraw), a quick-witted, working-class Radcliffe College student of classical music, they quickly fall in love despite their differences,\u201d according to Wikepedia.org.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Huge spoiler alert, viewers know from the\nbeginning that the ending will be heartbreaking. This is revealed in the film\u2019s\nopening when the audience is presented with the poignant line: \u201cWhat can you\nsay about a girl who was 25 and died?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tragic romantic drama was written by author, Erich Segal, and based on his best-selling novel, \u201cLove Story.\u201d The American Film Institute lists the movie as number nine (#9) on its list of most romantic movies and was the highest-grossing film of 1970 taking in $106.4 million at the box office. But did this seemingly harmless heartbreaker of a movie negatively affect the romantic relationships of the countless then young, impressionable theater-goers who watched it? Sadly, for some individuals, I personally believe that it did. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You see, hosts of impressionable youth might have embraced Jenny Cavilleri\u2019s (McGraw\u2019s) famous line, \u201cLove means never having to say you\u2019re sorry,\u201d to Oliver (O\u2019Neal) when he apologizes for an angry outburst. Later, Oliver repeats the famous line to his millionaire father (Ray Milland) after Jenny dies. With Valentine\u2019s Day rapidly approaching, some theaters nationwide will host a special viewing of the film during February in celebration of its 50th<\/sup> anniversary this year. When I saw the advertisements, I wondered if a whole new generation of movie-goers might fall for this faulty philosophy. \u201cAm I the only one who thinks that \u2018Love means never having to say you\u2019re sorry\u2019 is just plain wrong?\u201d one individual asks the Internet website, www.Quora.com<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apparently not, \u201cErich Segal\u2019s classic is no friend to love,\u201d writes www.DailyMail.com<\/a> columnist, Amanda Craig in an archived post. \u201cIt is quite possibly, one of the worst philosophical guides by which to conduct your life ever to have been offered\u2026Whatever love means saying sorry is a huge part of it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, it\u2019s not easy to learn the art of apology. Admittedly, after being married for almost two decades, it\u2019s still a challenge to acknowledge when I\u2019m in the wrong. Yet I\u2019m grateful I quickly grew to disbelieve the quotation\u2019s dangerous message that when true love exists between two people in a relationship, it can be unconditional, no explanations necessary for bad behavior, and no apologies expected for negative actions or unkind words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If human beings were perfect, never having\nto say you\u2019re sorry could work. But we are flawed, and sadly our less than\nperfect natures can result in the unwanted outcome of hurting the ones we love\nthe most. Dr. Gary Chapman and Dr. Jennifer Thomas believe\nso strongly that learning to apologize in a meaningful way is necessary to the\nhealth of a relationship, they co-wrote the book, \u201cThe Five Languages of\nApology\u201d in 2006. The book\u2019s theme supports the theory that a sincere request\nfor forgiveness can be an influential tool in mending a relational rift. Chapman\nis well-known for the New York Times bestseller, \u201cThe Five Love Languages.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In \u201cLove Story,\u201d no apologies are\nnecessary for anything ever, if you love the one you have wounded. The iconic\nfilm both won and was nominated for all kinds of 1971 industry awards winning\none Oscar for Best Music, the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture (Drama) along\nwith another eight wins and 16 nominations in various awards and categories. Ryan\nO\u2019Neal was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role. He was a\nyoung, handsome heartthrob who undoubtedly sold us a bill of goods with his\ninfamous line.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ironically in the last scene of his 1972\nfilm \u201cWhat\u2019s Up, Doc\u201d co-starring Barbara Streisand. Streisand\u2019s character\n(Judy) tells love interest (Howard) Ryan O\u2019Neal, \u201cLet me tell you something, love\nmeans never having to say you\u2019re sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the dumbest thing I ever heard,\u201d\nreplies Howard (O\u2019Neal).  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truthfully, I couldn\u2019t agree more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Christina Ryan Claypool is a national Amy and Ohio AP award-winning freelance journalist and inspirational speaker. She has been featured on CBN’s 700 Club and on Joyce Meyer Enjoying Everyday Life TV show. Her latest book, “Secrets of the Pastor’s Wife: A Novel” is available through all major online outlets. Contact her through her website at www.christinaryanclapool.com<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With Valentine’s Day on the way, some folks will probably go out to dinner and then take in a romantic or maybe even a nostalgic film. Although it\u2019s hard to believe it\u2019s been 50 years since the classic movie, \u201cLove … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1560,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1055,681,1052,372,1056,253,176,1053,680,1054,232],"class_list":["post-1559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aplogy","tag-dr-gary-chapman","tag-film","tag-happy-valentines-day","tag-love-means-never-having-to-say-you-are-sorry","tag-love-story","tag-movie","tag-romantic-movie","tag-the-five-languages-of-apology","tag-theater","tag-valentines-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1559"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1736,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1559\/revisions\/1736"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christinaryanclaypool.com\/blog1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}