I'm reminded of Bedazzled that I saw quite a while ago.
Brenden Fraser sells his soul to Elizabeth Hurley's devil for seven wishes and he proceeds to use the first six wishes selfishly to try and win over the object of his desire to disastrous effects as the devil plays evil genie and gives him what he asks for with a twist.
He's only free from the nightmare and the devil when he uses his final wish to wish the woman he's been objectifying live a happy life.
Crushes aren't love. They objectify a person into something that isn't really them. We're obsessed with the idea of the person in our heads. An idea they can never really live up to. When we objectify a person, we've taken the first step into sin. And when a person is reduced to an object without a voice, why then we justify anything.
Excellent post, SER! I've always liked the "Monkey's Paw"-type stories because they've always carried what has seemed (to me) to be relatively good advice: "be careful what you wish for." No matter what it is, the result always has the potential to be infinitely worse.
I have to agree, though, when it comes to people wishing for someone they're obsessed with to suddenly love them, it's creepy. I'm sure there have been plenty of people who have had to deal with someone like that—the would-be suitor driving past your house multiple times a day, "accidentally" bumping into you no matter where you go, going out with friends and catching a glimpse of them through the crowd, etc. (Yes, I've been in that situation.) To be coerced against your will to suddenly and mindlessly love them back makes me shudder.
Notable that in these cases the guy never wishes for a potion to change himself to become a more desirable person, or even better to be able to find attractiveness in those who could equally desire him (wait I might have just described “Shallow Hal”). One reason the guy in that Twilight Zone episode wanted out was that the potion made his target woman a different person than the one he had been attracted to—he liked her when she didn’t like him, perhaps because she didn’t like him.
That is weird. I've been initially attracted to men, but when it was clear that it didn't go both ways, my attraction cooled very quickly. In some cases, we ended up platonic friends. I don't understand people obsessing over someone who clearly doesn't like them in a romantic sense.
That's because most guys think that they aren't the problem, it's the woman being too stupid to like them. Good point that the guy in the Twilight Zone episode stopped liking Leila when she started liking him. Sometimes we want things simply because they are unattainable.
Incels blame women for not liking them because the only other person who could be at fault is themselves. Introspection, and taking personal responsibility is not their strong suit.
Bit of a tangent, but I always assumed the 1983 Animotion song was inspired by the 1963 novel "The Collector" by John Fowles, which I read for a literature class in 1982. A male butterfly collector kidnaps and imprisons a female art student that he's obsessed with. Written in first person, like the song, it gives the perspectives of both the kidnapper and the captive.
Great song.
I'm reminded of Bedazzled that I saw quite a while ago.
Brenden Fraser sells his soul to Elizabeth Hurley's devil for seven wishes and he proceeds to use the first six wishes selfishly to try and win over the object of his desire to disastrous effects as the devil plays evil genie and gives him what he asks for with a twist.
He's only free from the nightmare and the devil when he uses his final wish to wish the woman he's been objectifying live a happy life.
Crushes aren't love. They objectify a person into something that isn't really them. We're obsessed with the idea of the person in our heads. An idea they can never really live up to. When we objectify a person, we've taken the first step into sin. And when a person is reduced to an object without a voice, why then we justify anything.
Excellent post, SER! I've always liked the "Monkey's Paw"-type stories because they've always carried what has seemed (to me) to be relatively good advice: "be careful what you wish for." No matter what it is, the result always has the potential to be infinitely worse.
I have to agree, though, when it comes to people wishing for someone they're obsessed with to suddenly love them, it's creepy. I'm sure there have been plenty of people who have had to deal with someone like that—the would-be suitor driving past your house multiple times a day, "accidentally" bumping into you no matter where you go, going out with friends and catching a glimpse of them through the crowd, etc. (Yes, I've been in that situation.) To be coerced against your will to suddenly and mindlessly love them back makes me shudder.
Notable that in these cases the guy never wishes for a potion to change himself to become a more desirable person, or even better to be able to find attractiveness in those who could equally desire him (wait I might have just described “Shallow Hal”). One reason the guy in that Twilight Zone episode wanted out was that the potion made his target woman a different person than the one he had been attracted to—he liked her when she didn’t like him, perhaps because she didn’t like him.
So true. I’ve known women who seem to be intensely attracted to someone that is indifferent to them. To me it’s pretty weird.
That is weird. I've been initially attracted to men, but when it was clear that it didn't go both ways, my attraction cooled very quickly. In some cases, we ended up platonic friends. I don't understand people obsessing over someone who clearly doesn't like them in a romantic sense.
That's because most guys think that they aren't the problem, it's the woman being too stupid to like them. Good point that the guy in the Twilight Zone episode stopped liking Leila when she started liking him. Sometimes we want things simply because they are unattainable.
Incels blame women for not liking them because the only other person who could be at fault is themselves. Introspection, and taking personal responsibility is not their strong suit.
Bit of a tangent, but I always assumed the 1983 Animotion song was inspired by the 1963 novel "The Collector" by John Fowles, which I read for a literature class in 1982. A male butterfly collector kidnaps and imprisons a female art student that he's obsessed with. Written in first person, like the song, it gives the perspectives of both the kidnapper and the captive.