Divorce in popular culture and Its relationship to the American culture,beliefs and attitude - Essay Example

? Divorce in Popular Culture and Its Relationship to the American Culture, Beliefs and Attitude Outline Introduction Divorce in Popular Culture and Its Relationship to the American Culture, Beliefs and Attitude Conclusion Introduction Despite the growing trend of marital disruption in the United States and how its romantic plot remains to be an accepted theme in the popular culture, it is often the case that the destructive nature of divorce is overlooked especially when its negative consequences on the society, family, man, woman and child are not taken into consideration. Divorce has been an existing theme of popular culture over the years. In 1938, a British comedy romantic comedy movie “The Divorce of Lady X” was released. From the title itself, the film had a main theme of marital disruption. Even up to now, after several decades have already passed, such theme is very much alive like the American romantic comedy film “Le Divorce” which was made available to the public on 2003. Meanwhile, even when bound with marriage, having sexual affairs in both men and women can be observed as a common plot in some popular culture. Both films illustrate the romance that can be found in infidelity in general, not only unfaithfulness within marriage. Likewise, the fun, thrill and excitement in such affairs of this sort are present. Nonetheless, pleasure is not always the side of every story for the reason that despondency can be found on the parts of those people who have been affected and hurt by such relationships. Without a doubt, those people who are hurt in the cases of divorce are often not taken into consideration. It is important to study and understand how the popular culture promotes as a theme the romance in extra – marital affairs that provokes divorce, even if it the case that such marital disruption is of alarming concern in the society. In this regard, my research paper aims to have a critical analysis of how the artifacts of popular culture relate to the American culture and beliefs as well as attitudes. In order for my paper to meet the stated purpose, divorce is identified and described as a theme of popular culture through a critical evaluation of how it relates to the current culture and beliefs as well as attitudes of the Americans. Divorce in Popular Culture and Its Relationship to the American Culture, Beliefs and Attitude According to Stevenson and Wolfers (27), the family as an institution is not stable. This reality is reflected by the artifacts of popular culture as well as different studies on divorce which have a wide array of scopes. As a matter of fact, Chandra, Martinez, Mosher, Abma, and Jones (17 and 90) claimed in 2002 that within a span of 10 years, there are about 29 percent of first marriages among 15 – 44 year old women that used to end their union through separation, annulment or even divorce. In the analysis of how the artifacts of popular culture speak about the American culture, beliefs and attitudes, I have evaluated divorce as the subject matter. In this sense, I have assessed two films coming from different eras. I have first assessed “The Divorce of Lady X” which was released in the year 1938 as well as the other film, “Le Divorce” which was released in 2003. Aside from the fact that it talks about divorce, for me, their point of convergence is that both have promoted the romance in extra – marital affairs as if there are no other people to be affected in set up of this sort. The way I look at it, this is most especially true for “The Divorce of Lady X” because the marital disruption issue including infidelity is managed in a way of comedy. In the first movie, both husband, Everard Logan, and wife, Lady Meere, have cheated on each other but the story has managed to end up happily through remarriage to other partner. Meanwhile, “Le Divorce” has more heart – breaking aspects in a sense that Roxy, a pregnant wife, was cheated by her husband and was asked by her husband to end their marriage even if they have kids to consider. Her husband did not care about their kids they had but would like to end what they had because of his affair. From this brief analysis of popular culture, I have observed that the traditional family structure is no longer the standard family set up in the United States for the growing concerns on divorce. These artifacts have only revealed the reality that marriage is not an assurance of a strong union but in fact, it can be ruined. In my observation, having sexual relations to others even when married is common in this society, which in fact, I can say that this extra – marital affair is the major cause of divorce. This idea is supported by Amato and Preveti in their study on the reasons why people get divorced because for them, infidelity is a strong predictor of divorce (602 – 626). Indeed, having extra – marital affairs is dangerous especially that family life is put at stake. However, I can say that when individuals decide to engage in this kind of activity, they are reasonably aware that what they are doing is an unethical act. For me, the power – relations between couples has involvement on the likelihood of being unfaithful to one’s partner. From the film “Le Divorce,” Charles-Henri de Persand, Roxy’s husband, is more powerful than her because of her situation of being pregnant. Isabel, Roxy’s sister, also had an affair with a married man, Edgar, Charles – Henri’s uncle, who has the means to buy her expensive gifts. Likewise, Everard Logan, a lawyer, has also power, status and wealth in his position. According to Greeley, frequent business trips, being present at other social events are making people at a powerful position to make extra – marital partners more easily reached (9 – 13). Also, I think gender – relations has something to do as well since men are perceived more powerful than women. Li, Bailey, Kenrick, and Linsenmeier suggested that men are understood to be motivated to search for multiple partners because of the maximization of their genetic longevity whereas women are more inclined to being faithful to a successful partner given that women have invested a lot in building a family such as internal fertilization, nine – month pregnancy period as well as lactation (947 – 955). Personally, I also think that men think that having sexual affairs with women elevates their masculine status. Kelly suggested that men are too active in keeping their macho image while they ignore how their mate feels when they dwell in such activities that strengthen their masculinity (182). Moreover, in the analysis I can say that both films suggested the attitudes of Western people when it comes to sex. Individuals, regardless of gender, engage to sexual activities. For me, an aspect of the film that has been demonstrated by both stories is the openness of Americans to engaging on sexual relations even on married individuals. Mackay stated that incidence of sex varies depending on the culture (74). Her work on the sexuality and sexual practices around the world claimed that about half of the sexually active Americans aged 16 – 45 years old had confessed to be sexually unfaithful (76). On the other hand, “The Divorce of Lady X” and “Le Divorce” have illustrated the fact that divorce has negative consequences especially on family, men, women and children though the damaging impacts are evident more in “Le Divorce.” In “Le Divorce,” Roxy had even tried to kill herself when her husband Charles – Henri would like to pursue ending their marriage with a divorce. It is also the case that Charles – Henri was killed by the husband of his mistress because of his rage over their infidelity. Basically, I suggest that the negative impacts are not limited to social level but also to the psychological effects such as depression. Bracke, Colman, Symoens, and Praag acknowledged the serious negative effects of marital dissolution in health on their study on the relationship on professional care seeking and marital status (224 – 225). According to Amato, the health consequences of divorce are more focused on the mental health effects (1280) because the divorced spouse used to suffer from low levels of self – esteem and high levels of fear, stress as well as depression (Marks 927; Shapiro 186 – 203; and Davies, Avison, McAlpine 294 - 308). Nevertheless, the incidence of suicidal attempt and killing the other man in “Le Divorce” just goes to show that to get liberated from the effects of divorce are not trouble – free but are indeed critical. The attempt to kill oneself and murder act itself are indications of the graveness that the stress and depression experienced due to the conflict in the family leading to marital dissolution. For me, I can see this aspect of the film as a sign that infidelity and divorce are serious parts of struggle in a family life. Nevertheless, the films both show that a new happy beginning is possible with the right consideration and motivation. In their study on coping resources, perceived stress and adjustment of divorced Israeli women, Kulik and Heine – Cohen claimed that the cognitive resources like the sense of coherence, socio – economic resources such as economic situation and level of education, emotional resources like the condition of relationship with the ex – spouse as well as the presence of another new romantic love are factors on how women perceive stress (Kulik and Heine – Cohen 26). Having positive resources indicates that women who experience divorce are more likely to adjust and recover from the impacts of marital dissolution (Kulik and Heine – Cohen 26 - 27). Also, it is the case that how they accept their divorce is a factor of how they can cope from the marriage split – up (Kulik and Heine – Cohen 28). My other observation that remarriage is also a more probable condition to happen after the instance of divorce. In both films, no one remarries his or her partner after the divorce or would tend to remarry his or her partner after the marriage was dissolved. Well, women, Roxy in particular, would allow to fix marriage for family’s sake even if men have cheated on them. However, the case of Everard, after knowing that his wife also cheated on him, putting their marriage to an end had been his option. I can say that these cases only go to show that women are more accepting than men even if they find out that their husbands have cheated on them. Garret explained that the scripture suggested that when a couple gets married and the husband found ervat davar or uncleanness of some kind about his wife, he can file a divorce because of it (245). In this situation, he suggested that marrying her again is not possible because of the fact that this woman has been degraded (245). The culture of Muslim is quite different since men could marry a number of women as long as the first wife has permitted him and in case of non – permission, the wife could file a divorce (Bernard – Maugiron 356 – 386). Meanwhile, it is the case that since both films ended happily. It could probably suggest that divorce makes people happy in reality but happiness in such divorce issues is only illustrated in the films through the possibility of remarriage. For me, I can see that a new romantic love affair makes the ending of the movie happy. The presence of new romantic relationship makes the divorce less stressful (Kulik and Heine – Cohen 26). Nevertheless, according to Waite, Browning, Doherty, Gallagher, Luo and Stanley from the findings of their study of unhappy marriages, marriages that ended in divorce ended up to be much worse than those marriages who did not because of the fact that divorced unhappy spouses had reported more conflict and more domestic violence in their marriage than those unhappy spouses who had chosen to be married. On the one hand, Cowen suggested that what is good about divorce is that unilateral divorce is advantageous and beneficial for victims as well as potential victims. Furthermore, with the kind of romance that is promoted in such films on divorce, I can say that what like both movies imply, what are often overlooked in the issues of marital dissolution are the impacts on children. From the movie “The Divorce of Lady X,” issues on children is not deep – seated because of its plot. This suggests, though, that the concern on the effects on children is overlooked. On the one hand, “Le Divorce” has showed such more damaging effects of divorce on family, especially on the children. From my point of view, I can perceive this aspect of the film that the children could not do anything to save the relationship of their parents. Even if they could voice out what they feel about the issue, they could not do anything to protect the family they belong to be whole and complete. However, in my analysis, what are left in these kids are the effects of their parents’ divorce. In spite of the consequences of marital disruption on children, the popular culture does not elaborate this but just give a hint on this. There are wide array of studies on effects of divorce on kids. Impacts are varied. According to Gindes, an effect of divorce of children is that it weakens their sense of security as well as stability because of the fact that parents of children are no accessible unlike before (119). Majority of children can adapt to the divorce of their parents positively whereas there are a few who experience long – term negative psychological effects (Gindes 131). Another effect is diminished social relationship among children (Gindes 125). Divorce Source asserted that the effects of divorce on children are varied such as feeling of loneliness, guilt, fear, depression, sleeplessness, and other. The consequences are not limited to emotional and psychological but have also social effects like loss of friends, loss of family since family structure has differed, difficulty of celebrating holidays including birthdays, and presence of stepfamilies (Divorce Source). However, there are some who claim that divorce is good for the children. Smiley stated that divorce is positive among children in a sense that there is no united front, the possibility of more siblings, conflict management, more love practice, and more homes. Conclusion In the critical analysis of how popular culture relates to the current culture, beliefs and attitudes of American, I articulate that regardless of damaging effects of divorce on family life, they have very liberated attitudes when it comes to their sexual practices. In this case, marriage does not indicate a strong union but is prone to disruption because of infidelity issues. Family as an institution is indeed not stable, especially in the case of America where divorce rates are prevalent. Also, it is the case that the popular culture only restates the fact that Americans have high chances of remarriage but not on their former spouses. Though this, I can say that the popular culture reveals to the public how weak the traditional family – set up in America. Meanwhile, from my observation, I can say that its part of the beliefs and attitudes of Americans to cope from the stress of divorce positively through the presence of another romantic affair. Americans are much liberated than any other culture as suggested by the popular culture for it is the case that China has six times low divorce rate as compared to United States because of the fact that it is part of the Chinese culture, beliefs and attitude to have a strong social stigma on divorce (Chyi 283 – 312). On the one hand, just like how the romance in such divorce stories are promoted, taking into consideration the negative effects of divorce are not strong enough when couple come to agree ending their marriage. For me, the suicidal attempt and the incidence of killing the other man only show the fact that even if divorce is prevalent in the country, it is still not fully accepted in the society. In my evaluation, likewise, it is the fact that the effects of divorce on children are not a priority concern of the parent who chooses to have divorce. Just like how the popular culture has shown, the effects of divorce may be serious but not totally given attention in the event of divorce. Thus, despite the growing trend of marital disruption in the United States and how its romantic plot remains to be an accepted theme in the popular culture, it is often the case that the destructive nature of divorce is overlooked especially when its negative consequences on the society, family, man, woman and child are not taken into consideration. Works Cited: Scholarly: Amato, P., & Previti, D. “People’s Reasons for Divorcing: Gender, Social Class, The Life Course, and Adjustment.” Journal of Family Issues 24 (2003): 602–626. Web. 21 March 2012. Amato. P. “The Consequences of Divorce for Adults and Children.” Journal of Marriage and Family 62 (2000): 1269-1287. Web. 21 March 2012. Bernard-Maugiron, Nathalie. 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