Genevieve King
patreon
"Past Lives" is polyamory by another name...
🕑 Added 2024-03-03 13:49:53 +0000 UTCThe Oscars are next week, and a polyamorous film is nominated for Best Picture.
Technically, Past Lives is a very polyamorous coded film, but, hear me out. Our protagonist explores concurrent love with mutual consent, shares how she's validated by different relationships in very different ways, and the metamours even meet and build their own connection with each other. Let's explore all the ways I think Past Lives is a not-so-secret example of polyamorous love on screen.
Timecode:
- 0.00 - Intro
- 1.52 - Synopsis
- 06.08 - Visual metaphor (cinematic language, subtext, how the film speaks when no one is talking)
- 12.22 - Multiple selves (In-Yun and reincarnated love; holding multiple truths at the same time, and multiple loves that are not contradictory nor in competition with each other)
- 14.00 - Monogamous normativity (the cultural relativity of relationship structures, the ways we may justify norms without curiosity)
- 15.00 - Metamour relationship (navigating a dynamic without social scripts, independently exploring a connection with the partner of your partner)
- 17.15 - When monogamy breaks your heart (returning to compulsory monogamy out of fear; comforting a partner during their heartbreak; challenging the supposed inevitability of that grief)
- 19.00 - Outro
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Captions auto generated by Patreon; Transcript at the bottom of this post via Otter AI
Warmly,
Morgan
Comments
Morgan
I love that your mono friends could see that too! I hope more examples like this can help people view our real-world relationships with more nuance and understanding 🤞💛
Briana Garelli
Looove that you made an analysis of this one! I absolutely read the polyamory subtext in it too. When discussing this film with others, I was at least pleasantly surprised that even monogamous peers were able to see the beauty and possibility in the two men coming together in support of each other and not following the typical love-triangle structure that we see so much. That said, I was also sad about the ending :'(
Morgan
I could see that! ☀️
Sndrccc
I loved that movie. For me, it was really soothing to see the two men trying to know each other and to share their love for Nora. And the fact that shw was able to explore what was left with Hae Sung. But for me, it wasn't monogamy who made the love between Nora and Hae Sung impossible. I felt like there wasn't enough "past Nora" left to be with Hae Sung. And I feel like they both know it. And maybe that's why Nora's boyfriend doesn't feel threathened even if he seems to understand what she is passing through
