This is a pleasant fiction, is it not?
In the movie Gladiator, Marcus Aurelius tells his daughter "Let us pretend that you are a loving daughter, and I am a good father." Lucilla takes his arm and says "This is a pleasant fiction, is it not?"
History never records that this exchange ever occurred but this is one of my favorite lines in any movie. And it is pertinent to life as well. I wonder how much of this life is purely pretend as it makes a pleasant fiction.
In the past, when life was short, brutish and nasty I suspect that just surviving often required pretending. One had to pretend the fiction that they were safe, warm, well fed and loved just get through the night. During the day they pretended the fiction that the meager fruits of their endless labor would get them through the night. I suspect that pretending a fiction was once a necessary survival skill.
Now we have crooks pretending to be bankers, lumpen sluts pretending to be celebrities and empty suits pretending to be presidents. Basically everyone pretending some fiction until they have no idea who or what they really are.
As a child I pretended that I was a cowboy or a soldier. Later, as a teen, I pretended to be a rock and roll singer and a great lover. As a young man I pretended to be a cinema manager, a construction worker, an autoworker and a husband. Eventually I pretended the fictions of father, engineer, community volunteer and philosopher.
Am I really any of these things? Sometimes. But mostly I'm just faking it, just role playing and hoping the fiction plays well, that someone plays along with the pleasant fiction. Having been married for 37 years I often wonder if our marital success is because I get up every morning and say "Let us pretend that you are my loving wife and I am your good husband" to which my wife replies "This is a pleasant fiction, is it not?" Perhaps this is how successful marriages persist.
In fact, maybe this simple idea is how civilization endures. "Let us pretend that this life is worth living and I am a happy citizen." This is a pleasant fiction, is it not?
History never records that this exchange ever occurred but this is one of my favorite lines in any movie. And it is pertinent to life as well. I wonder how much of this life is purely pretend as it makes a pleasant fiction.
In the past, when life was short, brutish and nasty I suspect that just surviving often required pretending. One had to pretend the fiction that they were safe, warm, well fed and loved just get through the night. During the day they pretended the fiction that the meager fruits of their endless labor would get them through the night. I suspect that pretending a fiction was once a necessary survival skill.
Now we have crooks pretending to be bankers, lumpen sluts pretending to be celebrities and empty suits pretending to be presidents. Basically everyone pretending some fiction until they have no idea who or what they really are.
As a child I pretended that I was a cowboy or a soldier. Later, as a teen, I pretended to be a rock and roll singer and a great lover. As a young man I pretended to be a cinema manager, a construction worker, an autoworker and a husband. Eventually I pretended the fictions of father, engineer, community volunteer and philosopher.
Am I really any of these things? Sometimes. But mostly I'm just faking it, just role playing and hoping the fiction plays well, that someone plays along with the pleasant fiction. Having been married for 37 years I often wonder if our marital success is because I get up every morning and say "Let us pretend that you are my loving wife and I am your good husband" to which my wife replies "This is a pleasant fiction, is it not?" Perhaps this is how successful marriages persist.
In fact, maybe this simple idea is how civilization endures. "Let us pretend that this life is worth living and I am a happy citizen." This is a pleasant fiction, is it not?
posted by lugh lampfhota at 11:51 PM
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