What is Love…Actually?
After watching the movie Love Actually, I had some insights about what actually is love.
When people mention love, our instant thought is always on the romantic love between lovers. However, love can be of a broader sense. Besides romance, friendship and family love can be regarded as love as well.
Family love is probably the first kind of love we get in our life. Family members are the ones knowing us down to the finest details. They are also those accompanying us for most of the time, no matter we are at ups or downs. We feel free to share our feelings to one another knowing that it is secure to do so. We receive support, care and lot more from them from time to time. That is the way we live together. Sam and Daniel, his stepfather, in Love Actually show family love. Sam felt puzzled as he fell in love with a girl not knowing him, he shared his thoughts to Daniel, Daniel then advised Sam to learn playing drums to attract attention from his secret lover.
We start gaining friendship as we grow a bit older. Friends can be people who stay with us whenever we are happy or sad just like family members. However, the bond between friends are often weaker then that between family members. Friends can be enemies one day, but family members rarely do. Still, friends serve much significance in our life. Peter and Mark in Love Actually demonstrate friendship. Peter and Mark had been close friends since long time ago, but Mark was actually in love with Juliet, the wife of Peter, though Peter knew nothing about that, it had become a blemish in their relationship.
When we get more mature, some get the taste of romance. Romantic love is the attraction between male and female. Lovers are attracted to one another not merely of the understanding of one another like friendship, but can also be related to appearance, etc. Lovers are more likely to have close physical contact and some even have sex. Colin met three American girls in a bar, they fell in love with Colin simply because of his British accent, and they had sex with Colin that very night.
Through comparing the nature of the three kinds of love, family love, friendship and romantic love, different types of love seem to diverge a lot. Indeed, they are of quite some differences. For example, the length of the relationship tends to be, the initiating reasons for the relationships vary. However, there is one significant characteristic that different kinds of love have in common.
No matter it is family love, friendship or romance, people involved are willing to dedicate themselves to the relationships, though their act may seem crazy to others. In Love Actually, Daniel, the stepfather of Sam, illustrates great devotion in their relationship. Sam wanted to say goodbye to his secret girlfriend before she left England. Daniel saw the determination of Sam and tried all means to get Sam to the airport as soon as possible, as well as advised Sam of how to reach her. Daniel was able to observe the wish of Sam and then tried his best to help Sam achieve it. His act showed his love towards Sam. Another person demonstrating selfless devotion is Aurelia in her relationship with Jamie in Love Actually. Aurelia worked as the housekeeper when Jamie was living in a cottage. Once, some part of the writing of Jamie was blown away. Aurelia chased after the paper and jumped into the freezing pond just to get back them. Aurelia did not think of her own when she fried to save the paper, instead she only cared about the good of Jamie. Her act seems to be silly, but it showed her love towards Jamie.
It is hard to define what love actually is. However, it is sure that people show their love towards one another when they devote themselves to the relationship regardless which relationship they are having.