Back at it again with a blog post!
I fail to see with every lais that we've read so far what love has to do with anything. To me, and this shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who knows me, it seems like the word love is just a more respectable and accepted way to say sex back in these good ol' days.
For most of us general plebeians, love doesn't hit us with a glance or with a rumor of perfection. It happens usually over time and grows throughout the wonderful and romantic dating process. Sure, there's some sexy times thrown in there for some added excitement and fun. But love doesn't come straight from looks or renown.
What has been irritating me about these lais is that it just seems like love is interchangeable with sex. Or maybe, not even sex. How about lust?
When Lanval looks upon his Lady Lurve (<-- alliteration, kids!) it seems like he is just so happy that a hot girl noticed him and wants to offer up her Magic Hoo-Hah that he just goes with it. Duh. That's not surprising. But to go so far as to call his sexual urges for this chick love? Nah, brah.
There's a term for this type of love in young adult novels and even romance novels (my personal fave!) and that is insta-love. Let me tell you, that crap is ANNOYING. That does not happen in real life. I want to see the push/pull dynamic. The struggle to come to terms with each other's real feelings. I want some emotion, dammit! I don't want some fluffy, cheesy, sickly-sweet romance that isn't believable. Make me believe in your love!
It's to the point where if I see a woman say, "I love him so much!" All I think about is what she's providing him in between the sheets. Yeah, honey, you "loved" him all right!
Lanval, himself, even says "If it pleased you, if such joy might be mine that you would love me, there is nothing you might command within my power, that I would not do." He wants the Magic Hoo-Hah and he'll do anything to get it. Typical. Further along, the poem even states, "He lay beside her on the bed; now Lanval is well cared for." YES. HE. IS. Get it, Lanval!
Maybe I'm missing a key element here or I'm just thinking too much into it. But with all of these stories, I'm not seeing what I think of love. I'm seeing this knock-off version liked by people who want to talk about the sexy-times but are too scared.
All hail the powers of the Magic Hoo-Hah! I find it hard to believe that any of these lais depict love as we would too. And I agree that it's slowly becoming this weird Twilight-like teen fiction (minus some angst and add some gore/potential life threatening trials). The men are too dramatic saying they'll "die" if they don't have the gorgeous girls of their dreams.
ReplyDelete~They can all rot~
Men are beyond dramatic and more needy than any woman I know, and seemingly they haven't changed since the 12th century...lame.
But alas, the magic hoo-hah shall maintain power until the end of time.
HOOP LA THE MAGIC HOO-HAH! The magic hoo-hah almost always prevails in all of these stories. I totally agree with you that lust is something that overrides love. These men are literately BEGGING for these women to have sex with them. They want to be pleased first and then loved and cared for which is totally backwards but hey they have to do what they have to do, to get what they want to get (which it to get it on *cues Marvin Gaye*)!
ReplyDeleteLoving the Magic Hoo-Hah! I feel like the interchangeability of love and lust in these stories really has to do with the way the period handled sex in general. These stories seem to act like the idea of casual sex without love doesn't exist, and as a result, you just get all these people claiming that they're in love just so they can bone. This also, I guess, helps people justify affairs, i.e. I'm with this person not cause I'm horny, but because I loveeeeeee them. It's all very weird and overly dramatic, and if they could just accept that they're sexual beings outside of love, their lives would be a lot easier (but also less dramatic... so less fun for us!)
ReplyDeleteI'm not surprised at all by your thoughts on these lais.
ReplyDeleteTHANK YOU for pointing out the obvious use of lust in place of love. It didn't appear in Lanval, as far as I can see and remember, but in more than two lais we read that when a man heard of a woman, he was immediately "in love" with her and just had to be with her. Come on, no one falls in love just because they heard about someone's beauty. Personality isn't even mentioned! Yeah, I'd say it would be more accurate to say that the sudden onset of love is really just a primal need to give up the magical hoo-hah.
I'm going to need Lanval's lady, and all the other ladies, to stop giving it up and "caring for" the men in their lives so easily.