Monday, October 2, 2017
Marriage -- And Divorce -- His Girl Style
His Girl Friday charts the marriage and divorce and remarriage of Walter and Hildy and the engagement -- and near marriage -- of Hildy and Bruce. Hildy says she wants domestic bliss in suburban Albany but she chucks it to remarry Walter and relaunch her career. Can someone balance career and marriage? Who is the best kind of spouse? Is happiness possible in marriage? What is this film saying about that state of marriage in the modern world?
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It is very hard to balance career and marriage. The responsibility is very challenging and choosing one over the other can be even harder. The stress of balancing both can be overwhelming, managing both another person’s life, if you have kids, along with trying to maintain a job that earns enough of a salary to support your family. Hildy felt that she does not have the choice to balance the two, so she is conflicted between choosing Bruce, who will give her a chance of a life as a domestic house wife, or Walter, who can give her a chance to continue and expand her career. The best spouse for Hildy is someone who makes her feel comfortable for who she is and doesn’t have to change for that particular spouse. If she would have ended up with Bruce, she would have to conform to situation that she would not fit in. With Walter, she can be more independent and free, free to express herself in her writing, free to talk as fast, and more. As she says so herself, she’s a newspaper woman, so she should not have to change who she is for whichever spouse she chooses. I believe that happiness is possible in her renewed marriage with Walter because now Walter plans to be more supportive to Hildy’s desires for their relationship. His Girl Friday interprets marriage as a choice between career and family and the film revolves around the two choices represented through Bruce and Walter. In the end, the movie shows that you cannot balance the two and it is better to choose where you can be most comfortable.
ReplyDeleteHaving a demanding career and a marriage is definitely difficult to balance. Unless the circumstances are unusually perfect then there is bound to be difficult situations where a person will have to choose one over another. It’s no surprise that Hildy ends up choosing her career over her upcoming marriage with Bruce. She seems too happy as a newspaperwoman to start a brand new life, because she would certainly have nothing but regret on her mind when she is “enjoying” her new suburban life. Bruce doesn’t appear to like Walter, perhaps because he is her ex-husband. Or, it could be because he doesn’t like the way the reporter in front of him was constantly addressing him. Even as Bruce is in Hildy’s presence, he doesn’t appear to support Hildy’s reporter life. He wanted to settle down with her somewhere that she wouldn’t be able to continue her journalism. It was clear in the middle of the crisis in This Girl Friday that Hildy was not going to leave her life as a reporter behind her. Hildy may have been subject to some mischievous convincing at the hands of Walter, but she also happened to enjoy the thrill of hunting for a story. Her marriage was nowhere important to her while she was in the midst of intensely writing an article. Bruce didn’t want her to be a journalist anymore, and by doing so he was preventing Hildy from being truly happy. The best kind of spouse is one that would support the other spouse’s career while maintaining a happy lifestyle. Happiness is possible in marriage if both spouses support each other. Marriage in the modern world and in the past both apply to these prerequisites.
ReplyDeleteHis Girl Friday uses the remarriage of Walter and Hildy to reflect that the individual satisfaction of work erodes the mutual affection of marriage. In the beginning of the film, the viewers understand that Walter and Hildy were divorced as a result of Hildy’s distaste in her career as a journalist, for she was sick of being manipulated by Walter and wanted someone who actually loved her not for her excellent career in journalism. The scene of Hildy and Walter arguing plants an assumption in the viewers mind: people would value love over work, happy marriage over happy career. However, this relationship between marriage and career would quickly be reversed as the film develops. Hildy progressively becomes involved in an intense and almost exhilarating reporting of Earl Williams’s escape. As a result of this “relapse”, she becomes apathetic of what was happening to her fiancé, Bruce. She was barely bothered by the fact that Bruce was jailed multiple times or that his mother potentially being killed. The reason behind such drastic change in emotional investment is because of the personal gains offered by a career. Hildy was brainwashed when she fantasized about the fame and wealth that could be gained with an exclusive story, but that fantasy had no consideration for Bruce, as she did not process a word of Bruce when he said he was leaving her. This shows that many people are often blinded by the personal gains resulted from a successful career, and thus undermine their own care for loved ones. Even at the end when Hildy and Walter decided to remarry, it was only because Walter could feed into Hildy’s unquenchable desire for a successful career—further exemplifying how individualistic careers devour any potential for true loving marriages.
ReplyDeleteOver 50% of Americans are married, it is an age-old institution that people take part in. It is very difficult to balance work and career, both being time-consuming and emotionally draining. That said, it is not impossible, the key is to have a relationship and career that mesh well together and are conducive to one’s life and goals. Happiness is possible in many things, which do not exclude marriage, if you are in love and in a healthy relationship, there is generally no reason for the relationship to end. In the film a big theme is that marriage and divorce are not binding contracts. Hildy and Walter get divorced, she nearly marries Bruce, and then she and Walter get back together. The film is making the point that marriage is not end all be all, it is something that can start and end and start once more. The focus is primarily on her feelings and she realizes that she wants to be with Walter again, so in the end she chooses to be. It shows the viewer that marriage and relationships are not always black and white, they are roller-coasters, so it is in most all relationships. If she had ended up with Bruce, she would eventually grow unhappy in the marriage, if she was not already unhappy. Had their relationship been great, she would not fall for Walter once again. The movie stresses the fact that one must do what makes them happy, no matter what has happened in the past. It is possible for her and Walter to be happy because they both realize what they are to each other again.
ReplyDeleteIt is possible to balance work and marriage but, it depends on the type of relationship that people have with their work and spouse. In His Girl Friday Hildy is not able to balance her work and marriage with Bruce. This is because the lifestyle that Bruce wants is different than the lifestyle Hildy wants. Hildy, although she says she wants to raise a family in the suburbs, is not able to stay away from the newspaper. This is why Walter is a better partner for Hildy because he shares the same passion for news. Walter and Hildy both put work above all else and are both willing to do anything to get ahead. This makes them a good match because they both know what each other’s priorities are. Bruce and Hildy are not on the same wavelength, and Bruce was often out of the loop as to what Hildy was doing. A good example is when she told him to put the check in his hat. Hildy does not trust Bruce with essential information, and this leads to the eventual fall of their relationship. If they were able to trust each other, then they may have been to stay together. Unlike Bruce, Walter is able to understand and appreciate many of Hildy’s strengths as a reporter. This leads to a stronger relationship between them. A good spouse should be able to understand what makes their partner tick. Bruce does not seem to really get why Hildy is doing everything that she does and he does not care about Hildy capturing the murderer. This film makes it seem that a happy marriage is only possible between people who allow each other to follow their passions. This why Walter and Hildy end up back together because they both respect one another’s goals both domestically and professionally.
ReplyDeleteIn His Girl Friday the portrayal of Hildy and Walter reflects the current state of marriages in the modern age, which is marriages are less meaningful and often shorter. Marriages have become less about the collective family unit and more about the personal satisfaction, which means that each partner must be free to pursue their own career. We see Bruce being completely deceived by everyone in the newspaper business, including Hildy, and the hindrance that this created for Hildy. She was unable to pursue her passion with Bruce’s misadventures, forcing her to choose between Bruce and her career. We see Hildy become less invested in Bruce’s life as the movie progresses leading to her choice of her career over Bruce. Hildy choosing her career over Bruce, and a quiet house-wife life, marks her as a modern women, one who will choice her own life over the will of her spouse. This means that marriage has less value in the modern age, as expressed by Walter, this shifting of the career-marriage balance favors spouses with similar interests and career options. Walter and Hildy are attracted to each other through their love of Journalism and their charm. Long-standing happiness in such a relationship isn’t usual in these relationships, because the individual is encourage to think of themselves first; However, modern marriage have short-term happiness because the partners are physically attracted and charming, marriage simply isn’t a great model for these relationships. Walter’s statement that marriage means nothing affirms that modern men and women would prefer less committal relations, yet they are stuck with marriage as the only legitimately recognized relationship. The film’s ending of Hildy returning to Walter demonstrates the changing values of marriage, that attractions are more temporary and based on similarities. Marriage in the modern world has lost meaning, as people focus more on their desires.
ReplyDeleteIt is possible yet very difficult to balance a job and marriage. When one is committed to their job it can be very challenging and overwhelming trying to find time to spend with your partner. The stress of work and trying to maintain a perfect relationship is far from easy. It takes hard work and dedication. You have to be truly in love and happy where you are and what you’re doing to be able to handle both a demanding career and relationship. In Hildy’s situation it is too hard for her to be able to balance her job and relationships. It is proven when Hildy breaks off her marriage with Walter because work started taking over. Even when she was with Bruce she could not handle both work and her new fiancée. Hildy ended up choosing work over Bruce which resulted in her whole life being taken over by her job. In the heat of the moment Hildy fell in love with Walter again and even though they are divorced they decided to remarry. Although Hildy and Walters’s relationship will probably not last, the best kind of spouse is someone that makes them happy. The best kind of partner is one that will support your decisions and career choices. The movie His Girl Friday sees marriage as a choice between lover and career and it is impossible to have both. However, in the real world no matter how hard balancing an occupation and companionship is no one must choose between the two.
ReplyDeleteUnhappiness in His Girl Friday is not caused by marital relationships as much as it is caused by general dissatisfaction with life itself. Relationships in life have their vicissitudes and in Hildy and Walter’s case there is no exception. Their divorce is at first caused by Hildy wanting a different life style than having to live through an emotionally abusive relationship with Walter. In a response to dissatisfaction with her current situation, she leaves her independent and ambitious life for a more stereotypical cooking and cleaning job compared to her previous life of hustle and bustle. This change to the slower paced Bruce, her fiancé, was the solution to having this new life that Hildy believed she wanted. As observed by not only the audience but also Hildy’s former coworkers that she would not be able to stay away from the journalism career for long. Hints that she would not be capable of turning off the reporter side of her appears as early as when she walks into the newsroom inquiring about a recent event surrounding a school that happened that day. Though the actual event is not important, what is important it is the fact that it was on her radar and that she was already trying to get as much information about it as she could shows that the journalist in her was still going strong and not showing any signs of slowing down. The problem with Hildy and Walter’s marriage is not that Hildy’s dissatisfaction with Walter’s lack of attention to Hildy, but the fact that they each give one hundred percent to their jobs leaving little room for their relationship. Hildy wanted the fast pace life of a reporter along with a significant other that not only cared for her but was on her level in terms of speed. In the end marriage with Walter is the lesser of two evils for Hildy, Walter, though he is not the most ideal man was still able live at the same pace as Hildy, while Bruce was much slower and less exciting than Hildy. The film is not saying to be happy in a marriage one must give up their ambitions for the other, but what the film is saying is that to be happy in a marriage compromises are necessary. Though it never explicitly says that it does suggest it towards the end where Walter agrees to go on a proper honeymoon with Hildy to show his new dedication to their relationship. Yes, Walter then hears about a story in Albany and Hildy knows he wants to go investigate that instead so as a compromise Hildy agrees they can go to Albany for their honeymoon most likely to investigate the lead they got as well as go on their honeymoon.
ReplyDeleteHis Girl Friday portrays marriage as a commitment between two people that will never work. The relationship between Bruce and Hildy was built to end badly due to the type of people they are. Hildy is a newspaperman who does not know what she wants and Bruce is an insurance person who wants to live in Albany with his mother. Even though Hildy thinks she wants to go to Albany, when she is faced with leaving or staying, she chooses her job. This movie shows that people choose what they personally want, rather than thinking about others. This makes marriage nearly impossible because people are selfish and do not think about others. This movie also shows the progressiveness of women due to the fact Hildy is choosing to be a newspaperman rather than being a housewife. Marriage rarely ever lasts because people change. Even though Hildy and Walter are very similar people, they will never stay together forever due to the fact they are attached more to their work than each other. Work will always be constant contrary to people who will change. This allows people to be dependent on work instead of their spouse. In a modern world, marriage is nearly impossible due to the high commitment. A version of marriage would be possible. A version with less commitment and more freedom would be more possible, but that is not even a marriage. In the end, Marriage would have to change so much that it would just be a low obligation relationship between to people.
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