Long Lost Poly Movie

[trickykitty]

Way back in junior high I didn't subject myself to soap operas as some other students did when they stayed home ill with the dreaded Anti-Test Disease. Instead I would watch AMC. This of course was back when AMC meant pre-70's, pre-colorization, actual fucking classics, much like TCM is still showing today. I was a B&W (that stands for black and white, folks) junkie, even if I didn't remember half of the movies I watched. I had heard the name Don Ameche and seen him in Cocoon in which he played some old fart amongst a bunch of other old farts, but go back 40 some odd years and the man was Casanova in the flesh, and I really fell in love with a little trifle he made called Heaven Can Wait.

Anyway, the point to mentioning AMC was that during those tumultuous teen years I watched a movie that really hit the nail on the head with my view on love. The idea that you can love two people for all different reasons and that society's norms don't cover the full range of relational possibilities. The strangest thing about this movie though is that it was filmed in 1933 and actually portrays a polyamorous relationship in not only a positive light, but in a manner that makes you think that a poly relationship is the only correct course of action. Polyamorous wasn't even a term back then, not to mention how strong the OMGWTFBBQ!1! taboo reaction to a poly relationship would have been like at the time.

The name of the movie is Design For Living and I highly recommend it not only for its poly theme, but also because it's just a damn good classic movie and you people need to be exposed to more B&W (versus just being exposed).

PS - I am always actively searching for a copy of it in case anyone happens to comes across one.

Comments

[mobobocita.livejournal.com]

http://www.amazon.com/Cooper-Collection-Design-Ibbetson-General/dp/B0007RTB9M

[trickykitty.livejournal.com]

Heehee - oh yeah, I know I can always try to order it. ;)

[corsetsnpearls.livejournal.com]

cool!

[lizziethered.livejournal.com]

Bandits, with Billy Bob Thorton, Bruce Willis and Cate Blanchet, also has a underlaying poly themed romance involved and is just an all around damn good movie. For the record I'm personally monogamous to a fault and even I thought the set up was pretty damn sane.

[trickykitty.livejournal.com]

I don't really define myself, but I have always been in monogamous relationships simply because that's what was there. I think that's why I've always been scared to make a full life-long commitment in a monogamous relationship. The fact that I could easily relate to Design For Living back in junior high because I had a huge crush on two guys at the same time just goes to show that I'm not closed minded to the possibility. I remember thinking that there's no way in the world something as amazing as that could happen to me in the real world and I could barely see it happening to someone else. At the time I chalked it up to "something you only see in the movies" and Utah.