Love and Money

So I watched a lot of movies in the plane when I traveled from KL to HK, then from HK to Seoul, and Seoul to HK, finally HK to KL.

The journey to HK and Seoul I watched cartoons like Hotel Transylvania 2. Hahaha. So it helped in lighten my mood.

But the way back to KL I ran out of cartoons to watch.

So I watched Western movies like Joy (an entrepreneur movie featuring Jennifer Lawrence) and classics like Becoming Jane.

Jane Austen is an author born in 1775. I've heard of her name but never read her books. Now I'm fairly interested to read her Pride and Prejudice, because it's said that she adapted her love life into this book.

The main point of the story of Jane Austen in this movie Becoming Jane (featuring Anne Hathaway, which is the reason I watched this movie), is that, she didn't get to be with her lover, Tom Lefroy at the end.

Their story began with some hatred, Jane didn't have a good impression with Tom when they first met. But slowly their love developed.

And that's when the reality struck.

Jane's family was hoping that she can marry to a rich man who can take care of her and her family. Tom at the other hand was a guy who's under the care of his uncle who gave him allowance. He was a lawyer and his uncle was a judge. Tom couldn't get his uncle's blessings for his relationship with Jane and he had no choice but to break up with Jane, although at first she didn't know why.

After some time, Tom realised that he couldn't forget Jane and came to find her back. He decided to elope with her and she agreed. Halfway the journey Jane realised that Tom has a lot of siblings and his huge family was depending fully on him to take care of them. The allowance that he got from his uncle he will send back to his family who needed it more than him. In short, he had huge responsibility.

Jane told Tom that they cannot elope. What will happen to his family members if the one they're depending on is gone? How are they going to survive? Yes Tom is determined to earn money but it'll never be enough.

And Tom asked Jane a question: Do you love me?

Jane said "Yes, but if our love destroys your family, then it will destroy itself, in a long, slow degradation of guilt and regret and blame."


20 years later, Jane became a successful author, Tom became a judge, and married with kids.

At the end of the movie, the end credits revealed that Jane had never married and died early at the age of 41.

At that point I just feel so sad for them. The ultimate reason that the relationship never work is because of money.

And make me wonder: IF, they don't care anything about money, and decided to elope, will they live happily ever after? IF, they made the decision to be with together, will Jane be a successful author? Will Tom manage to be a judge? IF, they truly love each other, will they able to get the blessings from Tom's uncle and Tom's family won't be destroyed due to their relationship?

Or they will lose everything they have and won't be successful author and judge because of the love that exists between them.

Perhaps, Jane made a wise decision by letting him go. And Tom did not pursue after Jane anymore. They went on and live their lives.

The last scene, where Tom brought his daughter to meet Jane, and it can be seen that Jane wasn't wearing a wedding ring signifying that she never get married made me sadder.

People say that if it's true love, you can conquer any mountains and seas. But sometimes it just seems that love alone doesn't carry any meaning if it influences other people's lives in a bad way.

It goes back to the same question that I thought earlier on.

The one that you marry is the one you love the most, or the one who lives in your heart is the one you love the most?

Tom married another woman at the end, but his heart still belongs to Jane. Does it mean that Jane at the end still win because she had his love? I had much thought about it, but still don't have an answer for it.

You think that situations like this happen only in these days because it seems that girls nowadays are very realistic. You no money, then you no honey. Lol. But really, it happens over the decades, over the centuries.

Another drama that I watched is a HK drama, A Time of Love 2, featuring Charmaine Sheh and Kenneth Ma. I didn't manage to finish the first episode, but it had similar plot.

Charmaine is Kenneth's boss. And when they traveled Kenneth discovered that he's not as rich as Charmaine and couldn't afford to give her the life she wants. When she saw a nice watch that she really love, she put it back down and settled with a simple bracelet because she knows it'll be a burden for Kenneth. When they reached a hotel she immediately fall in love with a room with fantastic view, but Kenneth was shocked with the price of the room so Charmaine decided to choose another cheaper room. Charmaine told Kenneth that her dream is to build a school in 2 years time when she reached her targeted savings. Which is a lot.

All of this makes Kenneth felt that he's the reason Charmaine couldn't go any further with her dreams. And he purposely be a super romantic guy, bought her flowers, picnic at a nice place, and even bought her the watch that she liked, ended with a romantic dinner just to... break up with her. Super lame I know. -.- She thought he likes another girl and he didn't deny that, probably his ego telling him is better to have a false affair than telling her the truth that he couldn't afford to give her the life she wants, because at the end of a day, there's a reason why she's his boss.

Then we reached KLIA. Hahahahaha.

These two movies have similar points. Sacrificing their love so that the other party can live a better life. Tom and Jane did it, they became successful. But they lost their love. Perhaps this is real love? I don't know.

I feel like I should watch Becoming Jane again because at the beginning it's too deep for me to understand what was going on. Felt confused why the things are changing so fast. Now that I understand the main story line, I shall watch again. Hehe.