After you have watched a movie, you should blog your general impressions of the movie (by 5pm on thursdays) and provide 1 example from the movie (scene, character, etc) and how it relates specifically to a theory or construct in Motivation and Emotion.
Your full analyses are due the following Tuesday turned in via eLearning (aka WebCT).
You ever fall asleep in the afternoon then wake up an hour or so later and nothing really makes sense? Is it morning? What day is it? What time is it? Then slowly you start to wake up a little and everything starts making sense. That’s the feeling I got when I watched this movie. There are three stories being told in three different time periods but the one psychological thing they all have in common is autonomy. Reeve (2009) defines autonomy as the psychological need to experience self-direction and personal endorsement in the initiation and regulation of one’s behavior. The author further states that our behaviors are not determined by others and if our sense of choice is taken away it pressures us to think, feel or behave in particular ways. The first time period is the 1920’s and we see Virginia Woolf, an author, writing the book, Mrs. Dalloway, from which this movie is based. Virginia is battling depression and it is revealed she has had problems with depression in the past. Virginia and her husband live outside of London, yet Virginia wants to return to London where she thinks she’ll be happier. She goes to the train station where her husband finds her and they then return to their home. Virginia is finally overtaken by her depression and becomes fish food when she decides to take a dip in the river with her pockets full of stones. In the 1950’s we see Laura in a constant struggle to keep her sanity. On the outside everything is going well but on the inside she’s a train wreck. Laura’s life as a mother and housewife are seemingly not what she had planned for herself. She tries to be close with her husband, son and neighbor, but there is an awkward distance between them. As it is revealed later in the movie, Laura leaves her family when her second child is born. In relation to autonomy, Laura’s choices are being taken away from her and her reaction, or behavior, is to get away from everything. In the early 2000’s time period of the movie there is Richard and Clarrisa who were formerly romantically involved. Richard is Laura’s son from the 1950’s period of the movie and now we see him as a grown man battling AIDS. Clarrisa is somewhat stressed about a party she is throwing in Richards honor and her behaviors seemed to be geared towards other people’s happiness. Richard’s behavior is not self directed as his life is being controlled by his disease and he reveals to Clarrisa the only reason he is living is for her. But, his decision to let AIDS control his life and only live for Clarrisa is soon cut short as he Peter Pan’s it out the window of his upper level apartment.
When this movie came to a close, I sat staring at the screen attempting to make sense of what I had just witnessed. Each of the story lines came together as suspected, but something just didn’t seem right to me. All three women had major issues with depression, and the connection I saw among them despite the variation in time periods was quite riveting. But what was this business with each of them kissing other women at the most inopportune moments (e.g. when a child was in the same room)? It seemed that with the progression of the movie, each element clicked into place until I realized that each of these related back to the author and the suffering she was forced to endure. The root of her problems seem to stem from the fact that she is living a life according to someone else’s desires—not her own. When coming to the realization of her lesbianism and writing her book Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia struggles for autonomy in a world in which she feels she has none. Her husband keeps her under close supervision out of fear of losing her while she detests the life she is obligated to live because of it. She is always being told what is best for her and what she must do rather than be given the choice to do as she pleases. If our sense of choice is taken away from us, we are bound to respond in certain ways given the feelings and attitudes evoked—for Virginia, this would eventually lead to suicide. Laura, a character of the 1950’s in Virginia’s book, seems to be so composed but demonstrates repeatedly odd behaviors. While pregnant, she too attempts suicide, and it is as though her son, Richard, can sense her unhappiness and what she is about to do because of it. Everyone around her seems happy, but Laura is caught in a life she isn’t sure was meant for her. Her friend comes over to pay a visit before going to a doctor’s appointment, and discloses that she has a growth in her uterus that may be what has caused her infertility. She expresses her belief that “a woman is not a woman unless she has had a child,” and tells Laura how lucky she is. Laura apparently doesn’t feel the same as she abandons both of her children after giving birth for the second time. Though each character reacts in a different way, each seems to have a person in their life that is telling them “what is best for them” or what they should be doing as life throws them obstacles to overcome. Richard goes on to develop AIDS and a former flame, Clarissa, is introduced nearly 50 years later. Virginia’s use of Clarissa as a character in her novel symbolizes an individual who seems to be basing her happiness off of another individual (Richard). Richard even tells Clarissa that the only reason he has remained alive as long as he has is because of her. For the length of the movie, Clarissa is preparing a party to honor her friend and the prestigious award Richard has just received for the writing of a new book. Richard has no intention of attending this party because he feels that there is no point of taking part in a “pity party”—the book, he believes, is only receiving so much attention because a man dying of AIDS wrote it. He believes that his disease has taken over his life, and though he could continue on in the state he was in, he would rather die than be trapped in a body that no longer allowed him to write or think as he wished to. As Clarissa comes to get him for the party, Richard plummets himself out the window. His mother, Laura, would be contacted and joins Clarissa before his funeral in which we are given the opportunity to understand further her feelings and why Richard had the character symbolizing her die in his book.
I also found this movie extremely excruciating to watch. I actually had to pause it about half way through and make some cookies to get back into it! Not only was it depressing, but it the plot moved too slowly. The only "high" points of the movie that held my attention were the times when Laura was about to commit suicide, and when Richard was scheming to throw himself out of the window. And those aren't what I'd call "high" points. In addition, I found the movie a little confusing until the very end. The stories of the four people jumped around too much, and it was difficult to connect how their lives intersected at times, especially when Clarissa was at times referred to as "Clarissa Vaughn," and at other times as "Mrs. Dalloway."
The entire movie is based around the lives of Virginia, Richard, Clarissa, and Laura - and around Virginia's book, Mrs. Dalloway.
To me, Virginia's book was a way for her to cope with her depression and own suicidal thoughts. I think that she was extrinsically motivated, as she seemed to only live until she finished her book; once she had finished writing the book, she committed suicide. In this way, also, she was then autonomous. She was intrinsically motivated to write the book to not only help herself, but because it the story interested her and she enjoyed writing.
Suicide is sometimes thought of as a control issue. This is evident through Virginia's story, as by writing the story she could control her characters' behaviors. In the beginning of the movie, and even throughout the movie, we can see that she feels like she isn't in an autonomy-supportive environment, but in a controlling one. Her husband, who is only looking out for her well-being, for example, tells her to eat breakfast, and she even asks his permission to go on a "short walk." Because she feels that she isn't living freely and has been granted the freedom to choose what she wants, her thoughts (and eventual success) of suicide is her way to achieve a sense of autonomy.
Reeve (2005), states that there are three qualities that need to be achieved to experience autonomy. First is the perceived locus of causality. Her internal PLOC would be that suicide is to remove her unhappiness and depression. Her external PLOC for committing suicide would be to gain control of her life in a controlling environment. Second is volition, which Reeve (2005) defines as "an unpressured willingness to engage in an activity" (p. 107). Because she feels as if she is being coerced to do many things in her life, and feels that she has no control over her own life, committing suicide is a way for her to take back control and do something that she is not being pressured to do and something she is willing to do. Third is perceived choice. Committing suicide (or not) is her choice - the decision is hers. This is the one thing that she can decide on her own... Her husband and her environment cannot push her or make her feel obligated to live her life the way that she doesn't want to.
Therefore, I think that Mrs. Dalloway is more of an autobiography than a fictional story. The story is her way to tell her story, but by keeping anonymous by using other characters to do so.
Her characters, however, demonstrate different stages in her life. For example, Laura is a character that feels out of place and in a controlled, coercive environment, but when decides to commit suicide, decides to persevere and realizes that there are bigger, grander things to live for. Clarissa is a woman that has a strong facade, but inside feels as if her life is falling apart. Then, Richard represents the most current stage of Virginia's life. He has decided to give up. He realizes that he has been living to not let down Mrs. Dalloway, but that he can no longer do so.
Although a confusing and agonizing movie, I think that there were some good points that related to the content of our course.
This was by far the hardest movies so far from class to watch. I felt like the movie was moving in slow motion and that nothing was happening. The entire movie had such a sad feeling to it, which for me made it even harder to watch.
This movie was a story of the lives of three different women, Laura, Clarissa and Virginia. All three women are depressed and seem to be battling with having control over their lives. Virginia has little autonomy, her husband makes decisions for her. Writing her book seems to be the only thing that is keeping her going, and it is the only thing that she thinks about. There are numerous scenes in the movie that people are talking to her and she is lost in thoughts about her book. Clarissa seems on the outside that her life is perfect, but on the inside she is falling apart. She seems to be battling depression, just like the other two women. With Laura, she almost commits suicide early in the movie while pregnant with her second child and then decides not to. But later in the movie, once the three women are all tied together we find out that she left her children behind. She could not take the life she had and chose to runaway from it, instead of committing suicide. Overall this movie was really hard for me to get through, but i understand how it relates to class and why we watched it.
As others here have mentioned, I believe this movie had a great deal to do with autonomy. Autonomy is defined as, " the psychological need to experience self-direction and personal endorsement in the initiation and regulation of one’s behavior." I think Richard was probably one of the people who seemed to feel the least autonomy in his life. At a very early age, he was often told what to do by his parents. Of course, being told what to do is nothing surprising for a child, but his case was more extreme. He was probably made to feel unloved when his mother acted harshly towards him, made him go to the sitter's house, and gave him the impression she was never going to come back. Following the birth of Richard's sister his mother left for good. Richard probably felt absolutely powerless to bring her back. As an adult Richard spent 10 years on his novel about his life, almost as if he *had* to get everything out and get it right. He also contracted AIDS and was unable to leave his apartment except for special occasions. His autonomy was extremely limited. He implies that he feels obligated to continue living only for Clarissa's sake.
The character of Laura Brown also seemed to suffer from a lack of autonomy, however I am not sure if the film revealed her actual reasons for leaving her family. If I had to guess, I would say that she probably felt as if she didn't have much freedom in her life. She had a husband to take care of (it was the 50s-60s culture), a son to raise, and a daughter on the way. Her life was cut out for her. Although her husband seemed very kind, it seemed like she was not in love with him. In fact, her act of kissing Kitty may have been an indication that she was not actually even into men. In any case, I think it was very odd that a mother would want to abandon her children because it seems to go against motherly instincts. It makes sense in some ways (evolutionary speaking) for the man to want to abandon his children and procreate as often as possible, but it seems to me that it would be odd and rare for a woman's need for autonomy to be stronger and more dominant than her emotional attachment to her children.
Virginia Woolf seems to be severely depressed and has little motivation to do many daily routines, such as eating meals. She probably feels a bit controlled because her husband tells her that she is to eat supper at a certain time, forbids her from leaving without his permission, and thinks that doctors know what is best for Virginia better than Virginia know what is best for herself. Although she wants to go to London and live a free life, I believe it is because of her love for her husband that she decided to end her life so she wouldn't hold him back from doing whatever he wanted to do with his life.
I am not sure if this was an intended point or not, but I got the sense that the film was trying to convey that women in general need to be made to feel free. There is this expectation of women (moreso in the 50's and 60's) that women must be quiet, submissive, and happy - they "must" put on a good show of happiness even if it is not genuine. I think the theme is that this expectation can be very detrimental to women, and also, ultimately to those around them. I think there is an idea that we each owe it to ourselves to live as we wish, not as others wish us to live. I think it was also implied that this message is timeless - women have this need regardless of the culture, regardless of the time - the human race does not change that drastically over the course of a hundred years. I think this was illustrated by the very similar rituals each woman took at the beginning of the film (washing their face, brushing their hair, etc).
I also feel that the suicides in the movie were the way each character tried to ultimately take back control of their lives - deciding when they would die - what moments, memories, and experiences they wanted to be in there mind at the time of death - almost as if their consciousness at that moment would continue to live on.
As somewhat of a side note, I would say that the importance of reading/writing/books throughout the film was rather interesting. It was almost as if the books were a way of either escaping, coping, or releasing.
So this movie was definitely a pretty unique movie. Before I begin, I must admit that my psychological drive to watch this movie and write this comment was hindered by the fact that UNI's basketball team, ranked in the nation, just lost to Evansville, one of the worst teams in the country...pretty shocking on the psyche to say the least...Anyway, speaking of depressing, this movie was full of depression and a lack of motivation.
All three main characters were fighting to satisfy their psychological need for autonomy and a sense of relatedness. This need to experience self-direction and personal growth in their respective behaviors proved to be an antecedent to their shared symptoms of depression. As a consequence, their lives were led seemingly painstakingly day-by-day. Laura, a wife of the 1950's, and Virginia, the well-documented writer in the early 20th century, each sought a sense of control within their lives. I believe they felt their behaviors weren't autonomous or self-determined as they often felt pressured to behave or feel in a certain way. Virginia especially rebelled against society (for example the doctors), which symbolized the outside force which took away her freedom and sense of choice. She lacked a true understanding of here internal perceived locus of causality. This can be demonstrated through her various writings, not just "Mrs. Dalloway." For instance, Virginia Woolf was famous for her writing method coined "stream of consciousness" in which she penned whatever series of thoughts came to her mind. She was also famous for her development of underlying psychological and emotional motives within her characters. This was her way of manipulating and expressing her psychological needs of not only autonomy within her life, but also relatedness and competence (psychological need to be effective in one's interaction with the environment--as demonstrated by her wanting to move back to London where she "belonged").
Richard, the little boy from the 1950's and later on the man with AIDS in the present day, also battled feelings of worthlessness and lack of affiliation. Richard wasn't motivated to live for himself, only for Clarissa. He fought against his perceived self-schema of incompetence, probably brought on by his perception (and ultimately the reality) of a nonexistent social bond between himself and his mother. This lack of relatedness undoubtedly affected his ability to satisfy his psychological and social needs. As Richard even iterated, the party is fine, but it's the hours after the party that haunt him.
For all three of the individual's, suicide or attempted suicide proved to be there coping mechanism in which they were in control of their destiny, the lone instant where they could look life straight in the eye.
I have no idea what just happened in the last two hours. That movie was so hard to follow; nothing was happening I felt like the entire movie. The story lines came together at the end, but I don't quite know what you wanted us to get from this movie. All three women suffered from depression and were in relationships that seemed good, yet they wanted out of them bad enough to want to be dead. Virginia tries to kill herself three times by the end of it, she is ill but they don't tell us with what. We know that she hears voices. Both Clarissa and Laura are planning parties at the beginning, social events surrounded by food and the need to satisfy hunger. Laura also tries to kill herself instead she plans on leaving her family after her second child is born. I think this has a psychological effect on Richard whom purposely falls out the window towards the end of the movie, leaving Clarissa there feeling alone. Richard just thought he was staying alive for her and nothing was going to come about because he was sick with AIDS. All the women needed to fill the sense of relatedness with others. Clarissa thought she was missing something in the beginning so Richard filled that hole. Laura felt trapped in her marriage, "it was death to her, so she chose life." Virginia was lonely with her real life so she filled it with her characters from her book.
I also think the books were an escape from their real lives for the women in the movie.
Although there was so much death in this movie, I felt like all the flowers in it were a symbol of life and the beauty of living.
I thought that the movie The Hours pretty out of the ordinary. I found it interesting that Virginia Woolf seemed to be writing about the life of Clarissa and that the 1950’s housewife, Laura, was inspired through the book. I thought that the connections that these three women had to one another was intriguing when watching the movie. Another connection that they had with one another was the fact that they are all suffering from depression. Speaking to motivation, I thought that autonomy was a big motivator for these three women, since they didn’t have much autonomy in their lives. These women weren’t able to take control of their actions, when it came to Virginia and Laura; it seemed that their husbands were the ones who decided things for them. Clarissa seemed to be the most put together one, but battling her feelings with Richard, her friend dying of AIDS, and with her partner Sally.
Virginia Woolf has lost her autonomy with the idea that she has to tell her husband where she is going and he decided to move away from London to Richmond, for her mental sanity. Although, she doesn’t seem to like it in Richmond and misses London. Along with battling her autonomy with her husband, she is a lesbian, but is married to a man; she doesn’t express that part of her necessarily throughout the movie, until her sister (?) comes and visits. Her husband seems to have a controlling motivation style when with her, where he says he knows what’s best for her, and tells her when she should eat, and how she should act, where they should live, and how her time should be spent. Although, at the end of the movie, he starts to really listen to what Virginia wants and decides that it would be best for her to move back to London.
Laura, who is suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts, is pregnant, has a husband, and a little boy. Seems to be controlled by the fact that she has these responsibilities to these things, these are what are keeping her from committing suicide and having her autonomy, to do what she wants to do. The book seems to help her escape from the responsibilities she had, but didn’t seem to want, in her life. When reading the book, it looked like she wanted to be more like Mrs. Dalloway, when trying to throw a party for her husband when it was his birthday. Laura doesn’t seem to have much competence as well, like the parts where she can’t seem to make the cake. When she found out that she couldn’t make a cake as well as she had hoped and finding out that it was hard for her, it didn’t support her autonomy, the fact that she couldn’t do it by herself. When her neighbor came over and seemed to talk down to Laura, when saying that she couldn’t make a cake and that it should come easy, and think that Laura needs to be grateful for her son, since she couldn’t have children. Laura doesn’t seem to have the competence to live the life that she feels she is supposed to. So, after her second child is born, she leaves them, which shows that she did take control of her life, to do what was best for her, rather than suicide.
Then Clarissa, although she seems the most put together of the three, and she seems to be living the life that the other two want. She is living the life that she is choosing to live, but is battling with her own demons. She is a lesbian who has a loving partner, who has the job that she wants, has a child that she chose to have, but doesn’t know if she is in love with an ex-boyfriend, Richard, who is dying of AIDS. When the other two women are fighting for the independence and structure that Clarissa has, Clarissa seems to want to break away from the structure, and live life. Although, she has some autonomy, and competence, that the other two seemed to lack, she is still fighting with her relatedness to her environment and what she feels. I think she can relate well to both lives, but doesn’t know which to choose.
I thought it was shocking at the end, when we figure out the connection between the women, the fact that Richard was the little boy that Laura had left behind. They all seemed to have things that the other wanted. The one bond that held them together was that they all felt that they had lost control of their lives, and at one point or another, suicide went though their heads, and the fact that they thought that was the one thing they could control.
I thought this movie was amazing! I did come away with it feeling pretty upset though. This movie encompasses the repression of women throughout history and in life today. From Virginia, we see a woman who is plagued by her mental illnesses. Instead of treating these problems, the solution seems to be locking her in the house and controlling her "hysterics". I feel that the scene where she lays by the dead bird is very moving. Angelica says that the bird looks peaceful, and Virginia sees the death as something to envy. Virginia uses her novel as an outlet to express her feelings of her own life. She sees Mrs.Dalloway as the ideal woman on the surface, however underneath she is slowly slipping lower and lower.
With Laura we see a representation of the American Dream after WWII. When Laura says "I guess they deserved all of this" she was trying to justify her depression by saying that her husband deserved to be happy after serving in the war. Laura goes from being fascinated by suicide to actually considering it to the point of going to a hotel with many pill bottles. I do not think that she was necessarily afraid of dying, I don't think that's why she didn't go through with it. More so I feel that she was worried about her family and hurting them, also killing her baby that she was still carrying.
All of the women are facing the constraints of society. They see the life they are living as separate from themselves. This is where I think the title of the movie comes from because all of the women are constantly faced with the impending hours of their life, they see no escape.
This movie was pretty crazy, and like some of you, I thought it was very difficult to follow. The story line itselft was pretty interesting and I thought it all tied together nicely in the end. It was kind of a depressing movie, but that's probably to be expected when the three main characters appear to be suffering from depression.
I agree with everyone that the autonomy in the women's lives were almost non-existent. They were living their lives as they were expected to be living it, not as they wanted to be living it. They were all unable to completely control their own actions and were living up to others expectations.
Virginia, as previously mentioned, was infact mentally ill. She was aware of this, but still wanted to have some control over her life. Her husband felt she would be best in the peaceful suburbs of London, but this appeared to possibly worsen Virginia's mental health.
Laura was expected to be Betty homemaker and contribute to the ideal "nuclear" family of the 1950's. As Motherhood was clearly not what she wanted, she desired the freedom to to determine her own actions. For example, she appeared to hate the act of making the cake because that was what was expected of her. For most women in those days, making a cake is "so easy, anyone can bake a cake" said her friend Kitty. Laura had no desire to comform to the ways of society at that time. As a result she left her family after the second child was born and started a new life where she had complete control over everything.
I found Clarissa to be the most interesting character in this movie. She was caring for one of her best friends, and former (and most likely present) lover, and he appeared to be the most important thing in her life. She had the need for autonomy because all she had known for the last few years was how to take care of Richard. Although she strives for autonomy, I believe what motivates her behavios is the lacking or personal identity. She was carrying on the role of heterosexual lover, homosexual lover, caretaker, mother, party planner, etc. The textbook states that "once a person inhabits a role, the identity directs the person to pursue some behaviors and to avoid other behaviors." I think that Clarissa was taking on so many roles at one time that they finally got the best of her. Richard saw this and understood how he could help. He knew she was no longer the woman he loved and felt responsible, so he took his own life to relieve her of the heavy burden. Right before he died he said that he was staying alive for her. I think that he died for her as well.
Ok, so this movie may have been holding a lot beneath the surface, but the fact that it did that made it intriguing (and more open to interpretation). We have all three of these women portrayed as the main characters who all harbor deep emotions and are struggling with making meaning out of life. Who doesn't though, right? Although these three women are the main focus of the movie, it seems as though there are really two characters in this movie who are very similar, Richard and Virginia. It is clear that Richard has read the book written by Virginia when he calls Clarissa “Mrs. Dalloway”. Both of them are writers, both are struggling with a personal affliction (Richard's seems to be AIDS and Virginia's depression although that is not made explicitly clear), both apparently hear voices (possibly symptoms of schizophrenia), they both commit suicide, and most importantly they both appear to be staying alive for the sake of another person (Virginia-Leonard and Richard-Clarissa).
Both Leonard and Clarissa are trying to care for Virginia and Richard, but their proscriptions on their behavior are squelching Richard and Virginia’s sense of autonomy. It is out of their need for autonomy that they at times reject assistance (perception of an external locus of control) and advice in favor of their own free will (volition). The need for autonomy is most clearly expressed by Laura who felt like she had no choice but to leave her family because she felt so trapped by her situation that she already felt dead. She obviously lacked volition in her role as a housewife.
There also appears to be another evident need of relatedness. It appeared that most of the main characters were lonely. Not that they were necessarily alone, but lacking relationships that met their need for relatedness. This is evident in Richard, Virginia, and Laura as all of them seem depressed, sad, and lonely. Richard seems to fare the worst form this failure to meet his relatedness need, as he has lacked it most of his life as was apparent in his interactions (or lack thereof) with his mother. It seemed to me that both Richard and Victoria’s apparent sadness might have been a barrier to them actually achieving their relatedness need, as they are both largely abandoned by most of their friends (except for Leonard and Clarissa). The most telling similarity between Richard and Victoria concerns the end of the book where Mrs. Dalloway lives and the poet dies “so that others may value life more.”
I enjoyed this movie, but I was confused about change of time period and actresses/actors. I had to read a summary of "The Hours" online to understand the overall point of the movie. The movie addresses the lives of three women, Virginia, Laura, and Clarissa. Each women is living in a different time period; however, their lives entertwine together.
Each woman suffered from depression and lack of autonomy in her life. Also, each woman was involved in an romantic relationship; however, they each wanted something more to fulfill their lives. Each of the lead female characters were low in voilition; they felt pressured and coerced into living their current lives. They felt obligated to live in their rigid environment. This obligation and low volition may have led to the suicidal thoughts by Clarissa and Laura and suicidal attempt by Virginia.
Virginia's life intrigued me the most. In the movie, her sister, I believe, stated Virginia was leading two lives -- the one she is living and the one she is writing. Virginia is able to place some of her pain into her writing, even though she has attempted suicide twice. While Virginia's sister and children are visiting, the children discover a dying bird in the woods. Virginia proceeds to lay down next to the dying bird stating, "It is possible to die". Her husband, Leonard, tries to prevent her thoughts of suicide but may have inadvertantly increased Virginia's suicidal thought by decreasing her perceived locus of causality.
Overall, I found the movie to be very intriguing. At times, especially at the beginning, I did find the movie to be confusing, but as the story continued and I got to know the different characters things began to make more sense. I thought that it was a creative way to create a story by using similar women in different time periods and to tie them all together throughout the movie. Throughout the movie the characters are connected through the book that Virginia is writing, Laura is reading, and Clarissa is living.
I think that autonomy, control, motivation, and depression were all covered in this movie. During the movie we are introduced to three different women in three different time periods. Virginia, a writer from the 1920's, Laura, a stay-at-home mother and wife of a veteran, and Clarrisa, a New York modern day woman. All of the characters are suffering from depression and possibly other mental illnesses.
For Virgina, her depression led to her moving away from london and being forced to stay at home all the time. This affected her motivation and led her to do a lot of writing by herself. She tries to gain some sense of contol and autonomy by trying to control her staff at her home and how her party is to turn out for her sister and her niece and nephews. This doesn't lead her out of depression, though, and we see multiple times how she feels alone, through her writings and actions throughout the movie.
We see problems with Laura throughout the movie, as well. She's depressed and feels as though nothing she does is good enough for her family. She has little control or her life and the pressure of feeling that her husband only deserves the best after being at war is constantly on her mind. We see this in the beginning where the cake and party planning for her husband's birthday isn't ever good enough for her. Her pregnancy doesn't help the matter and she doesn't think she can be an adequate mother for her son or her daughter to be. She takes it to the limit where she tries to gain the only control she thinks she has by going to a hotel and contemplating the idea of suicide. In the end she tries to gain autonomy and control of her life, when she leaves her family behind and flees the country.
Clarissa's depression is a tad more concealed, bbut we still see it. She's so focused on taking care of Richard and it consumes her life. She seeks control through Richard, but is never quite satisfied with her life. She needs autonomy but is so involved with taking care of Richard that she doesn't do anything for herself, and I don't think she quite knows who she is exactly. I think that both Richard and Clarissa realize that he's staying alive for her, and in the end he decides to try and give Clarissa her life back by taking his own life.
Overall, the movie did a great job of focusing on different key componets of the chapter, and I enjoyed watching this one quite a bit more than the previous one.
When watching this movie, I realized that all women severely suffered from depression, and Clarissa I think suffered from anxiety as well, because of her break down when getting everything ready for the party that night in her kitchen. The women were from all different time periods but all the pieces fit nicely together in the end. I could not believe that Virginia had no regret or showed any remorse or any type of feelings for that matter when she was older at the end of the movie talking to Clarissa how she abandoned her two childre, I just don't know how a mother could do that.
In addition to depression, I think all the women were a tad confused, beacuse they all ended up kissing other women, and Clarissa is bi-sexual while the other two have lesbian tendencies. Who in there right mind who make out with their own sister...that was disturbing.
Futhermore, in the textbook Reeve talks about fear and anxiety which related to Clarissa in the movie. On page 193 it says "under conditions of isolation and fear, people report being jittery and tense, feeling as if they are suffering and aer in pain and seeing themselves as going to pieces." Clarissa is taking a lot on in the movie, and she deeply cared so much for Richard who ends up committing suicide, which would damage a person forever you would think, but she doesn't have a mental break down then like earlier in the movie before going to pick Richard up and get him dressed for the party. In addition Clarissa is slowly falling to pieces, by caring to much, not pleasing herself and taking on a little more then she can handle sometimes.
When it comes to Virginia and Laura they both face loss of autonomy. According to Reeve, autonomy is the psychological need to experience self-direction and personal endorsement in the initiation and regulation of one's behavior. Neither are able to do this because Laura is a stay at home mother, has to look after her son and do the wifely chores around the house while her husband is at work. Meanwhile, Virginia has no self-direction because she is constantly under the watchful eye of her husband and maids due to the fact that she hated life and wanted to end her life from the very beginning of the movie. Plus, she and her husband moved to London to get away from the busy life in which Virginia wants back. She states that if she had a choice of going back to their home in London or death she would choice death.
Overall, I thought this movie was good, and I loved all the major actresses in it, they did a great job.
I began the movie & quickly realized that I was completely confused by it. So I stopped it, looked up the synopsis online & started it over. This helped immensely.
Each of the three main characters, Virginia, Laura & Clarissa portray each of the three main psychological needs, autonomy, relatedness & competence through their behaviors and expressions.
Competence, I believe, is the most blatant of the three because there are very tangible situations referring to this need. Laura & the birthday cake. Clarissa & the party, and Virginia & her doctors.
Relatedness was interestingly given a red indicator flag in every example in the film, an awkward kiss identified with the need to relate to the person attached to the other pair of lips. Richard & Clarissa, Laura & Kitty, Virginia & her sister, and Clarissa & Sally. I also feel that Virginia's intense desire to move back to London has to do with her need to relate to a community, to civilization and not just to her husband and maids.
Autonomy was the strongest need portrayed in the film, Virginia's disease controls her, her husband and maids attempt to control her, her doctors and medications control her. Laura takes control of her life when she abandons her family and moves to Canada. Clarissa feels the need to organize the party for Richard because she knows she can't control his illness. She longs to give him reasons to continue living.
There is also a need for achievement in Richards character. Sally mentions at one point that he will certainly not miss the party, as it is another opportunity to talk about his work as a writer/poet. Richard also expresses the need for achievement to Clarissa when she arrives at his apartment the first time, he says he wanted to write about the moments, how the flowers looked in her arms when she brought them in the door, etc. We know from a few characters, including the florist, that the one novel he did complete was less than brilliant to most readers.
I enjoyed the film and really appreciated the cinematography and direction, it is extremely difficult to shoot a film that simultaneously takes place at three different places in three different time periods and make them all fit into each others story. Also I found the film much more interesting once I learned that Virginia Wolf's character was based very closely on the true story of her life.
This movie is about three women from different decades that all seem to be connected in two ways: they are all living a lie and are dealing with suicide in one way or another. Virginia Woolf is the main character and known in reality as a famous author. Virginia has been battling depression for several years when she begins to write her new book, Mrs. Dalloway. This book influences each woman in the movie and ignites their need for autonomy in life. "Insanity" has stolen Virginia's sense autonomy away from her after several fits, blackouts, mood swings, and even suicide attempts. She is sentenced by her doctor to live in surburbia town Richmond but longs to live in London near her sister. She cannot find motivation to do anything but write and even that comes as a struggle. It appears that affiliation with her sister is one of the only motivators in her life. You can tell this when her sister tells her she had a party but didn't invite Virginia. She's hurt and insists that the "crazy" want to be invited too.
Laura Brown was the most confusing character for me to understand. She was always internally thinking to herself about her plans and feelings. I felt like I never knew what she was going to do. At first, I thought she was planning on killing her husband by poisoning his cake. In actuality, Laura is wishing to escape her life by killing herself. She feels like she's living a life that was not meant for her and doesn't know if she's prepared to become a mother to a second child in a few months. I think she refrains from taking her own life in the hotel, because she wants her second baby to live. That's why she ends up just running away after the baby is born. She's motivated to by autonomy and competence. Starting a life of her own where she can meet her full potential is what drives her to leave her family.
Clarissa seems to have to bottle up a lot of her emotions while dealing with the illness her close friend, Richard, is living with. In chapter 6, the text talks about special bonds people have with each other. Richard and Clarissa have a very intimate and special bond. This is what makes it so hard for her to let him go. She spends years caring for Richard and making sure he is staying alive for her sake. Relatedness is motivating her to selfishly do so. Clarissa is battling depression and only feels alive with Richard because of the intimacy of their past and the present. Clarissa is different from the other female characters because she could be autonomous but chooses not to by choosing to value relatedness far more.
Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. It had a good, but depressing, message of whether it's better to live the life you want to live or live your life for others. There are consequences for both.
Overall, I thought this movie was really interesting. Some parts really kind of confused me and freaked me out, but then everything sort of came together in the end. I thought it was really interesting how these three women could be having the same types of emotions and confusions when all of them were in such different environments. Although all of the women were completely different personalities and in totally different worlds, all of them samed to be struggling with the same types of delemmas and emotional situations.
It starts to get confusting when you try to separate the three worlds, because it gets complex when thinking about who is actually writing the story (Richard or Virginia). I think it was Virginia who was writing about Laura and her son Richard, but later in the movie Richard is also a writer of 'Mrs. Dalloway,'and it gets confusing on how Virginia could write about something taking place in the future. I think that Virginia is one of the most interesting characters in the story, because of the fact that she has been diagnosed with some sort of mental disorder. However, it seems as though Virginia is more sane than her docters give her credit for. I think that many times she becomes frustrated with her doctors (when she leaves the house to try and go to London and when she is talking to her sister). It would be very frustrating to live in a situation where every move is controled or observed, especially when you might not really be as crazy as your doctors think you are. This is what Virginia was expressing to her doctor at the train station. I think that many times Virginias social need aren't met, as well as her psychological need for autonomy. Her lack of freedom is causing her more stress than the disorder that her doctors have diagnosed her with.
Another character in the movie, Clarissa, seems to be suffering from some sort of depression/anxiety disorder. She also seems to be clinging onto her past relationship with Richard. Although these feelings are probably confusing to her, she needs to deal with them rather than trying to push them away by being with another person. Clarissa was motivating Richard to stay alive, even when he didn't really want to stay alive. He felt as though he owed it to her, even though he also felt as though he was a burden on Clarissa. Clarrisa's sense of incentives, consequences, and rewards kept her visiting Richard in fear that he would one day die. When Richard did end up committing suicide, I think that Clarissa was more confused by it than anything else. Her sense of autonomy had been drastically changed at that point, something when she had never had while Richard was sick and alive (this is also described when Richard's ex explains how he felt when he left Richard).
The most confusing character to me was Richard mother, Laura. She was constantly depressed and even was planning to commit suicide, but she also seemed to really love her family. I didn't really understand why she felt she needed to leave her family if they were the only things in her life that she was living for (thats why she didn't end up commiting suicide). Although she may have been under alot of stress (women often had a lot of pressure to be the perfect woman durring that time period) it seemed that her son and her husband were supportive and proud of her. In the end of the movie, when we find out that she had left her family, I really didn't understand why leaving would make her happier. I don't really understand Laura's intrinsic motivations at that time, beside from the fact that she was obviously depressed. I guess possibly her psychological need for happiness may have been the reason for her leaving, although you would think that the people she obvoiusly loved (especially her son) would be the ones to bring her happiness.
I thought this movie was interesting in how all three stories came together. This movie is about three different women, Clarissa, Laura, and Virginia. All three women seem very sad, depressed, and distant. Even though they are all depressed each seem to be in relatively good relationships. However, each of the women feels trapped in their lives and do not have very much autonomy.
Virginia comes from the 1920’s she is writing a book out of her house in a small town outside of London. As the movie goes on we come to find out that the reason Virginia and her husband are living outside of London is because of the recommendations of Virginia’s doctors. We find out that she has tried to commit suicide when they used to live in London. Eventually Virginia tries to go back to London and her husband is able to stop her at the train station, while there Virginia tells him she wants to go back to London as she is not happy where they are currently living. Her husband finally agrees to move back, but before they moved back Virginia commits suicide in the river.
Next we have Laura who lives in the 1950s. She is a housewife who has a husband that loves her very much. Laura is currently pregnant with her second child, and is reading the book written by Virginia. Laura too feels trapped as a housewife, and eventually after her second child is born she abandons her family.
Finally there is Clarissa. Clarissa is planning a party for her ex Richard. Richard is currently dying from AIDs. Clarissa feels trapped because of having to care for Richard, but she also still loves him dearly. Clarissa believes that her life is very trivial. When she goes to help Richard get ready for the party he commits suicide right in front of her. Before Richard kills himself he says that he has been staying alive for Clarissa, and that she needs to let him go. Richard mother then comes to visit Clarissa; this is when we find out that Richard’s mother is Laura.
I think that if these women had more autonomy or felt that they had more autonomy, there outcomes in life would have been very different. Virginia could still be alive, Laura would have stayed with her family that loved her, and Clarissa would just be happy with the life that she has.
I found The Hours kind of exhausting to watch. There were three separate stories being told, but the common theme between them was the need to autonomy. Reeve (2009) defines autonomy: the psychological need to experience self-direction and personal endorsement in the initiation and regulation of one’s behavior.
Beginning with Laura Brown-- This character took some time for me to figure out. She seemed to have it all, the husband, house, friends and especially the super cute kid! It was obvious something was wrong with her from the beginning because she just seemed 'out of it'. The happiness she tried to convey was only a smile, no real emotions involved. While talking with her friend Kitty, Laura brown mentions her marriage to her husband was only because 'he deserved it' (from going to war and coming back). This made me wonder if she truly was happy with her life. In a sense, she had one child with one on the way and a life that would be hard for her leave. This may have made Laura Brown feel as if she were trapped and didnt have any choices to make for her self. While talking with Clarissa Vaughan near the end of the movie, she made it clear that 'it was the only option' to leave her children. I believed she realized suicide wasn't goiing to solve things and wanted to live her life-- but just without the things bringing her down (her family).
Virginia Woolf had been depressed for a while so her family was trying to protect her by moving out of London. Virginia started to feel trapped, as if her life was being controlled; the only way out was suicide. Insanity had taken Virginia' life to a whole new level where she felt trapped-- lacking autonomy. Virginia's need and want to move back to London may have made her feel there would be more options if she did so, but also letting her feel as if she were affiliated with the community in London.
For Clarissa, I feel as if there are two conflict of motivations happening. She wants to stay with Richard and help him continue living. She desires to have the relatedness with Richard because of their past together. At the same time, I feel as if CLarissa is craving autonomy-- which is extremely hard to do in her case because she still wants to take care of Richard.
This movie makes you think and in some parts it was even a little bit confusing. I might have to watch it again to get a better grasp on the movie, but overall I thought it was pretty good.
I had seen The Hours before, so I knew going in what to expect from the movie. But since I hadn't seen it in years, I couldn't remember the details of the story line. I especially liked the prosthetic nose that Nicole Kidman wore to play Virginia Woolf. Looking at pictures of Virginia Woolf, the makeup that was done of Nicole was amazing.
The Hours was a bit of a downer. I think that it accurately portrayed human emotion, but since most of those emotions were on the negative side it was hard to really enjoy the movie. I thought that out of all of the movies that we watched to date, The Hours was the hardest to understand the motives behind their behaviors. I felt like they may have been clinically depressed, which makes things a bit murkier.
My favorite story line was Laura Brown's story line. I thought that Julianne Moore did a terrific job portraying Laura Brown. You could tell from the beginning that she was unhappy, but trying to hide it behind being kind and smiling. She seemed to be on the edge of a break down all of the time. The scene where Laura bakes a cake and then has to make a new cake because her first was not good enough was very interesting. She seemed to be motivated in throwing out her first cake by a need for competence. She wanted to be able to leave something behind that was a success. She was planning on killing herself that afternoon and she wanted to show that she could at least do one thing right.
It was also, interesting that in that same time frame her son, Richie, was demonstrating a need for competence. When he was unable to control his environment - he was dropped off at the babysitters and was very upset that his mother left- he decided to very methodically build a log cabin. He was unable to satisfy his need for autonomy because he was not allowed to make a choice in where he was going, so he moved onto his need for competence.
Laura also had a need for autonomy that was not being satisfied by her home life. She made a comment to Kitty about how the men deserved the life that they were provided because of the things that they had seen/done in the war. She felt trapped into marrying her husband and providing the life that he expected. She was unable to do the things that she needed or wanted to do. Her need for autonomy was what eventually lead her to leave her family after her daughter was born. She said at the end of the movie that she did all she could bear. She had to choose between life (away from her family) or death (the end of her autonomy with her family) and she choose life.
Even though it was a bit of a downer, I thought that it was a wonderful movie. I especially enjoyed that it featured at really strong female cast!
In this movie you can see that each woman has a internal drive, each character has their physiological needs met and their psychological needs met, but the underlying acquired needs are not being fulfilled. Their depressive state can be seen as quasi need, because their thought processes are taken over by their wants, for Virginia it is socialization, for Laura it is freedom and self-esteem and for Clarissa it is acceptance. These quasi needs take the place and feel like actual biological, psychological needs that interfere like true needs and hold a sense of urgency. I think that each woman lacks power and intimacy, they are not close to anyone and their need for physical attention is seen in each of their kiss to an undeserving character that demines them. To me it was like they wished they had their courage, their powerful nature to come in and say whatever it may be that is on their minds and actually hurt someone else’s feelings, because I got the impression that they did things for others and not themselves. Each women has a level of achievement, but what is achievement if they feel like it is nothing, like being a well know author, a mother, and a great friend, but their cognitive influences create a feeling of self worth and pity.
This movie was really sad for me, because there are times when I feel that the hours just drag on. It struck a chord within myself, that how I see my life is not how others see my life. In looking at the autonomy of each of the women I feel that they all have great appreciation for their own self worth and that they understood that they meant something to someone. I feel that their depressive nature and quasi needs interfered and placed a lot of emphasis on their actions and socialization. Each had the right reasons to carry on, but the strength to not care. It in the end all of the women have a choice to choice freedom and what that looks like to them whether it be death, leaving a new family, or losing a former lover/friend who monopolized majority of your life and emotions.
As others have already noted, this movie was a bit of a challenge. While I did enjoy it, I'm still not sure I understand it. I did find the overall themes of depression and feminism particularly interesting. The motivation to commit suicide for Virgina was both an assertion of control as well as freeing her husband from caring for her. For Richard, it was about taking back what control he could and choosing to no longer suffer. For Laura, the choice not to go through with it showed her ability to see another way out. This makes me wonder why some people can see the other options and others can't. What are the emotions that lead them there? I'm not sure I understand the motivations behind the kisses. While I understand that it speaks to feminism, I feel I am missing the characters' thoughts and emotions leading us there.
Overall, I thought the movie was interesting, but I'm still pretty lost. I'm excited to discuss this with the class.
This movie, though very good, was rather depressing. I liked the way the movie tied together the thee time periods. I will admit, there were twists and turns that surprised me, however I did think that it was a good movie.
It was clear that all of the women were severely depressed. They each suffered from very little autonomy. The book defines autonomy as " the psychological need to experience self-direction and personal endorsement in the initiation and regulation of one’s behavior." The women were all stuck in lives that were less than satisfying. Clarissa and Richard both intended to live the lives that were expected of them, raising a family and growing old together. However, the movie depicts the true wants they had were actually quite different. Both Clarissa and Richard had lovers of the same sex. Virginia was also bisexual, and with a number of mental problems about the only autonomy that she had was writing her book. The movie seems very scandalous as I'm reflecting on the details of it. But in the end I still feel as though it was rather moving. It was about the struggle a person can face when they do not have autonomy. It makes be realize how important is it to do things for your own individual needs.
In this movie it seems like all three women have very little choice or volition. Volition is the “willingness to engage in an activity” (Reeve, 2009). All three women do not really have a choice in what they want to do, especially Virginia and Laura. The restrictions of women in the eras in which they lived did not give them many choices in what were acceptable activities for them to engage in. Laura was expected to be a stay-at-home mother, cook dinner, and keep the house clean (all of the stereotypical behaviors of the era), she was bound by societal pressures.
Virginia also seemed to have no voice in what she wanted to do. When she did make a choice about what she wanted the maids to make for when her sister comes over, they tell her no. It seems that even when she wants to make a decision, she is unheard. However, it does seem like she has some volition when she is writing. It may be a place for her to escape to from her real life.
I found this movie to be a little confusing and I kept getting confused on who was who. It had three different stories of three different women at different time periods who each were battling and suffering from depression in their lives. In the end, the stories all interconnected with each other, but I found it kind of confusing up until that point. It starts with Virginia Woolf in the 1920's time period who is writing a novel"Mrs. Dalloway" in which the movie is based around. Virginia is fighting severe depression and attempts to run away back to London where she is convinced she will be happier, but at the train station her husband brings her back home. It then goes to the 1950's where Laura Brown, a housewife with one child and pregnant with her second child is planning a party for her husband but is preoccupied reading "Mrs. Dalloway" I got the impression that Laura seemed to have a very happy life on the outside, and seemed to have a nice life but was suffering on the inside that nobody else could see. She had fears of being an inadequate mother to her children. The third story takes place in 2001 with a woman named Clarissa Vaughn who seems to actually be living the story of "Mrs Dalloway" She was involved with a man named Richard who is now dying of AIDS and she spends her time planning an award party for him. All three stories ended up being interwined, one woman wrote a novel, one was reading the novel and the third was living it in present times. At the end of this movie I think the main message related to the text was about autonomy and the psychological need to experience self-direction. All these women were suffering on the inside and lacking autonomy which lead each one to their own form of depression in their own lives.
I truly enjoyed this movie and did not find it confusing in the least. I find it really strange that the majority of the class was confused by it and/or disliked it so much. Some things that people need to be set straight on are: Virginia Woolf wrote Mrs. Dalloway in 1923 but didn't kill herself until 1941; therefore, the book was not her only motivation to stay alive seeing as it was published in 1925. Furthermore, the movie is an adaptation of Michael Cunningham's book, The Hours. The film uses Woolf's life and the work Mrs. Dalloway to develop the lives of the other characters. The book, Mrs. Dalloway, is influential in these women's lives because of the parallels one can see between Clarissa Dalloway, Clarissa Vaughn and Laura Brown.
This movie was beautiful. The characters all have such emotional depth. The movie only encompasses a day for Laura and Clarissa and for them it turns out to be a bad day but a mile-marker nonetheless. It is day filled with wishes and promises that are as fragile as tiny bubbles. Laura wishes to be the housewife and mom that is expected of her in 1951. Why can't she? Doesn't her husband deserve it? For Laura, alone time does not come unless she makes it happen so she drops her son off at the sitter with a plan, a plan to kill herself. Laura cannot go through with it, however, we find out later that she abandoned her children after the birth of her second child. Laura simply feels trapped in her life, she has done what was expected of her, what was socially acceptable until she runs away. She finally decided that she needed to be in control of her life and she could not do that with two kids and a husband. Clarissa wants to throw a party to honor Richard and the lifetime achievement award he was won yet he is wasting away. Her attempt to be the hostess and continue to take care of Richard is met with a walk down memory lane and his suicide. She is no longer tied to him, like he wanted and must think about what she wants. She has been granted some freedom in her life, some level of autonomy she has not known in years yet he deprived her of his love, his companionship no matter how ill it may have been in the end.
Virginia Woolf is a very interesting person. Apparently, she is isolated in the country to reduce her psychotic episodes and help maintain her depression away from the metropolitan area. It seems that most of my classmates feel she is lacking her autonomy. I, however, do not necessarily see this as the case in its entirety. Virginia may ask for permission to do certain things but it seems more out of courtesy than necessity. In the beginning of the film, she refuses to eat breakfast and will not take lunch with her husband for she has the first sentence of her novel which he understands. Writing seems to be her escape, a way in which she can achieve a state of flow. It does not matter if she is suffocated by the country air or deafened by the voices in her head, writing is her peace, it is what gives her a sense of competence at the end of the day which inevitably will have a greater impact on her mental state than other mind-numbing activities. Virginia eventually does kill herself but it is almost as if it is selfless on some level, wanting her husband to move beyond her, beyond her pain and suffering. She did not want to drag anyone else into the darkness she knew she was entering so she spared them and herself from that hell.
At one point, I was a creative writing minor. I enjoy reading books / watching movies. But it gets kind of annoying because a lot of them are similar, I know what is going to happen. I have to restrain myself from saying, "door" five seconds before you discover the person is hiding behind the door or fake scream just before the movie gets "scary". I pride myself on discovering what is happening in the plot before it happens, but this movie was complex!
Three little subplots lead to a larger, inclusive one. This is one of those movies that you can watch a hundred times and still catch something new each time, I feel. And I would like to take a minute to say that that did not look like Nicole Kidman at all! I know her face because I love Moulin Rouge. She kept bugging me throughout the movie because she looked familiar and her style had a familiarity to it, but I couldn’t place it.
Virginia, Laura, and Clarissa are the three main characters of this movie. They’re all middle-aged women who share depressive traits. Virginia is a writer in the early twentieth century. She writes the book, “Mrs. Dalloway,” and it is considered to be her best book. She drowns herself, possibly because her husband is so controlling – to avoid anther suicide attempt – that she has little to no autonomy. Laura is a housewife in the 1950’s and read “Mrs. Dalloway.” She almost committed suicide while pregnant with her second child. I think this might be part of the structured roles that society enforced during that time. It permitted almost no autonomy, too. Clarissa, the last woman, is actually a good friend of Laura’s son – but in his later life. He has AIDs and admits to Clarissa that it is controlling his life and that she is the only reason he is staying alive. He, too, commits suicide because of a lack of autonomy.
I feel like I’m still missing a lot of the movie’s purpose and meaning, so I’m going to watch it again before the review is due on Tuesday, so I can have a better understanding of it.
I found this movie interesting. It was not what i expected it to be and the opening scene took me by surprise. This is the type of movie where you think you know what is happening, you think you understand what the person is feeling and all of the sudden you see the outcome and it is similar to your thoughts but not quite.
This movie was good compared to Wall street. There were still some confusing scene where I was very unsure of what the women were doing. There is one point where Clarissa is crying in the kitchen when she gets an early visit from a friend. The type of emotions is going through catches you a bit off guard. I feel like I got most of the story and plot line but this is def one I am going to have to watch at least one more time to get the exact details before I write my HW 8.
I agree with EmilyM when she said that she will have to re-watch the movie. It´s one I found very interesting, but slightly confusing. As it has been said by many other people in the class, Clarissa, Virginia, and Laura, but these women obvious suffer from depression and a need to feel affiliated. Affiliation strivings have two aspects - need for affiliation (rejection anxiety) and need for intimacy (affiliation interest). Clarissa has a fear of being rejected and failing other people. She has lets other people lean on her, but can't reciprocate the feelings of connection. At one point, she breaks down in her kitchen in front of her ex because she realizes that it is all catching up to her, and that she has to involve herself in what's going on. Virginia is so deep in her book, that she no longer feels like she's affiliated with just one life. Her sister did say in the garden that she has two lives, one real life and one book life. It's sad to see her in front of her family in the garden, but is not really paying attention to what is really going on. Laura, I feel has a need for affiliation interest, she is no longer interested in her life that she has. She proves that by running away to the hotel and leaving her son behind, and a time later actually leaving her whole family forever.
Lastly, the kissing really confused me, hopefully everything that I am unclear about will start to make more sense when I watch it again this weekend.
Trying to watch The Hours, I had to make several attempts. The first attempt, I was overwhelmed with the many characters I was introduced to in the first 10-15 minutes. The second attempt, I had to stop and start just to make sure I had the information I needed to continue on watching the movie. The third and final attempt, I was able to watch the movie, however when it came to an end I was left struggling to figure out everything I had just seen in the movie. From what I gathered, there is Virginia Wolf, who is a writer, currently in the process of writing "Mrs. Dalloway." Virginia has already tried to commit suicide before, and is constantly being watched over by her doctors and her husband. Then there is Laura, a housewife/mother who seems to be overwhelmed and depressed by the idea of making a birthday cake for her husband. Laura seems to be detached from her son, and has fears of her baby that is on the way. All the while, Laura is reading Mrs. Dalloway rather than puting together a birthday dinner and cake for her husband. Later we meet Clarissa, who is also known as Mrs. Dalloway from her poet friend Richard. Clarissa is so involved in Richard's life work, that she is consumed with the notion of throwing Richard a party for his award.
The interesting thing to note is that each of the characters are linked by the book "Mrs. Dalloway." And all of these characters seemed to be depressed on some aspects of their lives. Virginia doesn't like being locked up in her own home as if it were a prison. Laura feels imprisoned by her responsibilities as a mother. Clarissa feels imprisoned by her love for her dear friend Richard who is dying. Because of the imprisonment that is felt through each of these three women, I feel like there is a strong need of power through each of them. According to our textbook the need for power is the desire to make the physical and social world conform to one's personal image or plan for it. Now based on this definition, Virginia need for power strives from her desire to write and create the book "Mrs. Dalloway." Virginia's need for power also comes out when she runs from her home, and tells her husband she needs to return to London. Another example of Virginia's need for power comes from her multiple attempts of suicide. Virginia felt she needed to have control over her life which led her to her suicide attempts, along with some other things.
Laura's need for power is a little different from Virginia, yet is similar in fashion. Laura strives to be a good mother, and wife, yet the simplest task of baking a cake is hard for her to do, which then leads her a suicide attempt, and eventually leads to her leaving her kids and husband after her second child is born.
Clarissa's need for power is influenced by her dear friend Richard. Clarissa seems to need to have control over Richard's life, and seems to fall apart at the thought of not having that control over Richard once he has passed.
This need of power is just a theory that I am continuing to develop, and not quite certain if that is how the movie was intended. I will probably have to watch The Hours at least two more times if not more to fully understand where the director/producers were aiming to go towards.
I agree with many of the other posts that say that this was a rather confusing movie. I am generally a lover of movies, but this one was very difficult to get into. I found myself having to take several mental notes about which characters go with which and what era they belonged to. Jumping between the different years was difficult for me to keep tabs on, when normally I don't generally find that difficult in films. The three women who were the main character of this movie were very interesting and I would agree with others when they say that they are obviously depressed and in need of autonomy. It is apparent that this need is so great that one killed herself because that seemed to be the only thing that she could actually control in her life because her husband controlled everything else for her. Another main character attempted to kill herself but in the end decided to leave her family because that was the only way she felt she could live, her life with her family was like death to her. And the third main character seemed like she had her life in control from the outside but she was dying on the inside and felt like her life was spinning out of control.
Overall, I really did not like this movie. I, like other people, found it to be very confusing at times. I thought the idea was interesting that a book could touch so many people even years after it was written, but I thought the movie was choppy in parts and did not really keep my attention. I didn't even care about what happened to some of the characters because I didn't feel much of a connection with them. I thought the 50’s housewife was selfish and ungrateful towards her life. I understand that she felt trapped and depressed in her life, but I feel like she could have gotten out sooner. She waited until she had one child and another on the way to decide that she couldn’t take it anymore, and then just deserted her family completely after the baby was born. I felt like she only cared about her own well-being and didn’t think about the repercussions her children might feel. As for Clarissa, I was confused at what connection she had to the story. At first I thought she was Mrs. Dalloway because her friend kept calling her that, but eventually I realize that Richard was just calling her that because he saw her as the character. Clarissa says she doesn’t really care for her partner, and in the end they show them kissing, but nothing is really answered about their relationship. Overall I thought the movie was just a story about a bunch of people that are depressed and think their lives suck. I was not impressed with the storyline and didn’t feel like I made any emotional connections with the characters.
For the most part, I enjoyed this movie, but it wasn't nearly as captivating as some movies I've seen. I thought it was creative concept to tie in these women together and illustrate their distant relationship, based off a book. Now that I think about it, devoting a two hour movie to this idea left the character development to all three of them a bit meager. The overall message was poignant and it struck me in an emotional fashion. In order for someone to reach complete happiness and peace, you have to let go of things in your life, no matter how much you love them. This movie portrayed the emotions of the characters more so than motivation. However, Clarissa did exhibit autonomy deficiency up until Richard's death. Richard knew his illness was restricting her pursuit of independence and peace of mind. Clarissa finally came to grips with that right before Richard committed suicide. From what I gathered, Richard and Clarissa were once in love or something, and she felt constricted so constricted by their past relationship that she blinded herself of her current relationship with her partner of ten years and daughter. The entire movie revolved around the principle of choice. Laura Brown yearned to fulfill her social needs, experience and development. She only provided herself with two choices: either move back to London or kill herself; obviously she had others, but her social needs would not be met if she chose any other path. I agree with Bschuler in that Virginia Woolf approached her situation through an overly selfish and narrow window. But back in the 50s, there weren't too many socially appropriate choices for her to seek. I did have trouble with the general portrayal of artistic writers. Given there were only two, but the writers in the movie were terminally depressed. It's as if they perpetuated the stereotype that all creative and artistic people are dark and depressed.
This movie seems like one I might enjoy (in a sense) watching if it wouldn't have been for a class. I was trying really hard throughout the movie to figure out why Kim MacLin would have us watch this movie. Toward the end I kind of realized with Virginia's shpeel at the train station that it was about autonomy. None of the women in this movie seemed to really like the life they were leading. Virginia was under rule of her husband because he was too worried about her. He moved her into a nice house to a nice town but she didn't like it. She didn't want to be there but was not able to control her situation. Laura was a strange character which intrigued me because I wanted to figure out what her deal was. I was somewhat let down that all it was was that she didn't really feel like she deserved her children and didnt want them. I thought it would be deeper (which maybe it was and I just didn’t find it). Carissa (I believe) seemed to come off as one to enjoy her life and have things in order but we find out differently. She is a lesbian and is throwing a party for Richard who is only staying alive for her. I believe they loved each other and maybe Carissa really did want to be with him. We find that Carissa has a break down with her daughter and expresses how she doesn’t like how things are right now. They all had a strong need for autonomy but that need was being suppressed by other people and their own needs.
From what I gathered Virginia was writing a book, Mrs.Dalloway. Laura was reading it and Carissa was “Mrs. Dalloway”.
This movie was trippy, depressing, weird, and full of mid-life crisis. It was based on three generations of women plagued by depression and or other mental illness. The movie was based in three distinct time periods and each woman’s story is told in a single day. They are all affected by a book called Mrs. Dalloway, which is actually being written by one of the women being focused on Virginia Woolf. The main theme of the movie seems to be autonomy, or more appropriately lack thereof, with a little splash of relatedness. Not only is each woman tied together by the book, they suffer from similar problems. While all of them have a decent life, what others would probably be envious of, none of them are content, they all harbor sexual feelings towards the same sex that need expressed, and are just generally unhappy with their situations. They have feelings that they can’t help but also have no ability to control their destiny to fix these feelings, they also suffer from lack of relatedness because no one understands them, nor do they really attempt to get anyone too.
A bit confusing to watch, since all the names are connected, finally all made sense when Laura visited Clarissa in the end.