Fat-shaming - "Love Actually...": Why almost every storyline is subterranean - and yet everyone loves the movie
When "Love Actually..." was released in German cinemas 20 years ago, it quickly became clear that the romantic comedy from star director Richard Curtis had the potential to become a cult classic. The feeling was confirmed in 2023. Every Christmas season, fans of the film look forward to watching it snuggled up on the sofa at home. And this despite the fact that Curtis himself has since apologized for parts of the storyline.
"Love Actually...": cult film with subterranean storylines
When asked by his own daughter, author Scarlett Curtis, the filmmaker admitted a few months ago that he had sometimes made sexist jokes in his films. In "Love Actually..." there are several examples of storylines that would probably not survive acceptance today.
Firstly, there is the role of Hugh Grant, who plays the British Prime Minister and falls in love with his employee, who is described as fat shortly beforehand. Or the character of star actor Colin Firth. Firth's character is cheated on by his partner and therefore spends the holidays abroad. There he falls in love with the domestic help working in the vacation home, who doesn't speak a word of English. At the end of the movie, he proposes to her in broken Portuguese. The relationship between boss and employee is a recurring theme throughout the cult film. Alan Rickman's character also has a crush on his much younger employee - played by Heike Makatsch - and betrays his wife (Emma Thompson) just like that.
Meanwhile, Liam Neeson's character mourns the loss of the love of his life. In one scene, he is comforted by Emma Thompson's character with the words: "Get a grip, people hate sissies. No one will ever fuck you if you're crying all the time" - that's Christmas spirit right there.
Discussions on the net
And then there's the character of Andrew Lincoln, who is madly in love with his best friend's wife. In one of the most legendary scenes in the movie, he confesses his love to her(Keira Knightley) while her husband (i.e. his best friend!) is also in the house. What bothers many critics of the movie is that Knightley was just 17 years old when "Love Actually..." was filmed.
Numerous users have been making fun of the various storylines of the cult film on social networks for some time now. And while some are outraged that the movie was ever able to achieve cult status, others are trying to explain their ambivalent feelings. "Every single storyline is absolutely unacceptable. And I still love 'Actually...Love'," writes one user on TikTok. "Maybe it's the most realistic romantic movie ever," said another user. "I feel like the movie is self-aware and has that feeling of bittersweetness. We're not supposed to approve of everything we see," another tries to explain. Still others argue that the humor in "Love Actually..." is simply very British and therefore difficult for other people to understand.
What makes "Love Actually..." still so popular and successful is probably one thing above all else, apart from the top-class cast: the feeling of nostalgia. For many people, the movie is part of the contemplative Christmas season. The music and festive atmosphere put you straight into the Christmas spirit. It's quite possible that not much attention is paid to the storylines themselves.
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- Scarlett Curtis, the daughter of director Richard Curtis, recently prompted him to admit that he included sexist jokes in some of his films, including "Love Actually."
- One example from "Love Actually" is the character played by Hugh Grant, who falls in love with his employee, who was described as fat beforehand.
- Another controversial storyline involves Colin Firth's character, who finds love with a foreign domestic help while on vacation and proposes to her at the end of the movie.
- Despite these problematic elements, Emma Thompson's character comforts Liam Neeson's character with a harsh comment about crying men during a part of the film, which represents the "Christmas spirit" according to some viewers.
Source: www.stern.de
