Noah asks Allie out in the Notebook

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8ldUWIruvs

I provided the link to this scene just in case you are unfamiliar with how it goes. Here is the scene in short, Noah a poor working man goes to the fair and sees Allie an upper class girl. He then proceeds to climb the ferris wheel she is riding to ask her out. He climbs all the way to the top and somewhat cons her into going out with him. This scene uses many of the concepts from “the romantic” including feelings over reason, poor over rich, and feminine over masculine. Throughout the movie other concepts of the romantic are seen such as heads (intellectual labor) over hand (manual labor) and urban over rural. In the scene I am discussing the romantic is Noah and he uses a variety of mechanisms to get Allie to agree to going on a date with him but also to get the audience to fall in love with him too. Noah is constructed as a working man, somewhat grubby, but also strong and forward. He decides to climb up the ferris wheel to ask Allie out. This shows his masculine character and uses these characteristics to prove to Allie and the audience that he deserving and will do anything for her love. He then proceeds to threaten to let go of the ferric wheel if she won’t go on a date with him, this once again shows his commitment to getting her attention and getting her to say yes. He then proceeds to request that Allie not only says yes but he makes her say she wants to go out with him. This is Noah using his masculinity to actually control Allie and make her submit to him. Following this someone on the ferris wheel ride actually pulls Noah’s pants down, in a sense this act puts Noah back in his place and actually demasculinizes him. This romance scene as well as many other romance scenes in the body play with intelligible bodies a lot. This movie is enthused with culture a poor working rural man tries to get the rich educated urban women. In this movie it is necessary for Noah to convince everyone, audience included that he deserves Allie. Of course her parents are never convinced but love wins all and they end up together. In other romance scenes in the movie there are many things being played around with such as running away into a remote place, the rain, candles, a piano, Allie talking to much (of course the girl is talking to much), etc. This movie also uses the past to show its romance, it is set in a time that we never lived causing us to need to make the link between fantasy and reality and at the same time wish we were Allie or Noah. We want a love where letter writing rather than text messaging is the form of communication, or where 2 people are just so perfect for each other they can defy all else, or where the poor guy gets the rich girl but he himself ends up successful (with this large house). What plays with our emotions in this movie? It is the fact that this guy would do anything, absolutely anything, to be with the girl of his dreams (Allie) and in fact one day one of us could be that girl that some guy wants that badly.