Never meant to be?
March 12, 2012 4:43 PM Subscribe
"If you love something, let it go." Please recommend me positively-themed stories, TV show episodes, movies, and songs dealing with when the something never comes back.
The movie Me Without You touches on this by examining a complicated friendship.
posted by shortyJBot at 4:54 PM on March 12, 2012
posted by shortyJBot at 4:54 PM on March 12, 2012
The movie "Roman Holiday" with Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn.
posted by littlesq at 4:55 PM on March 12, 2012 [5 favorites]
posted by littlesq at 4:55 PM on March 12, 2012 [5 favorites]
That one Adele song "Someone Like You."
posted by kettleoffish at 5:08 PM on March 12, 2012
posted by kettleoffish at 5:08 PM on March 12, 2012
The romance in Cast Away between Tom Hanks and Helen Hunt.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 5:17 PM on March 12, 2012 [5 favorites]
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 5:17 PM on March 12, 2012 [5 favorites]
Neil Young's "Birds" from After the Gold Rush.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:56 PM on March 12, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 5:56 PM on March 12, 2012 [3 favorites]
If You Love Something, Set It Free.
The heartfelt ending.
posted by mazola at 6:00 PM on March 12, 2012 [2 favorites]
The heartfelt ending.
posted by mazola at 6:00 PM on March 12, 2012 [2 favorites]
Add to my previous comment: entire Trailer Park Boys episode here.
posted by mazola at 6:03 PM on March 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by mazola at 6:03 PM on March 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
The movies Annie Hall and Splendor in the Grass.
posted by stopgap at 6:08 PM on March 12, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by stopgap at 6:08 PM on March 12, 2012 [3 favorites]
A.S. Byatt, Possession
Nifenegger's The Time Traveller's Wife
Ishiguro deals with this a lot. The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go are both very good with this, if painful.
(I just realized I'm not sure what you mean by 'deals with the subject positively' - these are all gorgeous, hauntingly sad books. They're positive because they're about adults making adult choices, but you still want them to somehow find a way to come out better. The only wholly positive example I can think of are the book / movie of Born Free .)
posted by Mchelly at 6:09 PM on March 12, 2012 [3 favorites]
Nifenegger's The Time Traveller's Wife
Ishiguro deals with this a lot. The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go are both very good with this, if painful.
(I just realized I'm not sure what you mean by 'deals with the subject positively' - these are all gorgeous, hauntingly sad books. They're positive because they're about adults making adult choices, but you still want them to somehow find a way to come out better. The only wholly positive example I can think of are the book / movie of Born Free .)
posted by Mchelly at 6:09 PM on March 12, 2012 [3 favorites]
The beautiful and funny film Truly Madly Deeply. Bring your hankie, but I promise there is positivity to take away.
posted by Miko at 6:15 PM on March 12, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by Miko at 6:15 PM on March 12, 2012 [3 favorites]
Days by The Kinks
...I bless the light that lights on you, believe me.
And though you're gone
You're with me every single day, believe me...
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 7:10 PM on March 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
...I bless the light that lights on you, believe me.
And though you're gone
You're with me every single day, believe me...
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 7:10 PM on March 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
The
Indian film "Dhobi Ghat"
posted by I'm Brian and so's my wife! at 7:15 PM on March 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
Indian film "Dhobi Ghat"
posted by I'm Brian and so's my wife! at 7:15 PM on March 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
Seconding Dhobi Ghat -- terrific movie.
Another song, somewhat less earnest: Just One of Those Things by Cole Porter
...If we'd thought a bit, of the end of it
When we started painting the town
We'd have been aware that our love affair
Was too hot, not to cool down...
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 7:22 PM on March 12, 2012
Another song, somewhat less earnest: Just One of Those Things by Cole Porter
...If we'd thought a bit, of the end of it
When we started painting the town
We'd have been aware that our love affair
Was too hot, not to cool down...
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 7:22 PM on March 12, 2012
Not very deep, but... While You Were Sleeping is about the Sandra Bullock character realizing that the guy she (thinks) she loves is worth letting go when in the hopes that his brother might actually be the Right One.
posted by BeBoth at 7:33 PM on March 12, 2012
posted by BeBoth at 7:33 PM on March 12, 2012
The Kind of Love You Never Recover From by Christine Lavin.
posted by headnsouth at 7:47 PM on March 12, 2012
posted by headnsouth at 7:47 PM on March 12, 2012
There was a children's movie called 'Duma' about a cheetah being kept as a pet that has to be released into the wild eventually, with the same moral to the story.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 7:54 PM on March 12, 2012
posted by treehorn+bunny at 7:54 PM on March 12, 2012
You and I Both by Jason Mraz
posted by yawper at 8:13 PM on March 12, 2012 [2 favorites]
posted by yawper at 8:13 PM on March 12, 2012 [2 favorites]
Spoiler: H.G. Wells' Time Machine. Wife of inventor dies... inventor tries to keep going back to save the 'lost' love... it not only doesn't work, but is 'impossible' (in the 'what will be will be', some things cannot be changed, and can only come to be accepted as loss), and has worse repercussions (many "time travel" stories get at this concept, with realizations of inevitability of loss, and the idea of "forcing your will on the universe having negative consequences which the beloved would be sad about).
Like I had to say goodbye as soon as I said hello, "*sniff*; What a stupid world"... (via a list of 17 stories like this, mostly about 'learning to accept loss'... but, like fly away home, also dealing with the 'if you love it set it free' theme).
This video is bits from a bunch of movies and tv that feature this theme.
Dizmas- if you love someone... (seems to be about this).
Oh! The Water Horse!
Grissom warns the consequences of imposing one's will, or hopes on 'the evidence' in a season one episode of CSI, called 'friends and lovers' (a way of thinking about imposing hopes, or will on 'potential love' [actually, that is one of the things his character emphasizes often, in many ways]) -
posted by infinite intimation at 8:59 PM on March 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
Like I had to say goodbye as soon as I said hello, "*sniff*; What a stupid world"... (via a list of 17 stories like this, mostly about 'learning to accept loss'... but, like fly away home, also dealing with the 'if you love it set it free' theme).
This video is bits from a bunch of movies and tv that feature this theme.
Dizmas- if you love someone... (seems to be about this).
Oh! The Water Horse!
Grissom warns the consequences of imposing one's will, or hopes on 'the evidence' in a season one episode of CSI, called 'friends and lovers' (a way of thinking about imposing hopes, or will on 'potential love' [actually, that is one of the things his character emphasizes often, in many ways]) -
Grissom -'I was flying to a seminar in New Hampshire a couple of summers ago. I was sitting in the plane next to a Philosophy Professor from Harvard. He told me this story about how every morning he takes a leak right after his three-hour philosophy class. He flushed the toilet there'd be this tiny brown spider fighting for its life against the swirling water. He came back the next day, flush. Same spider, clawing its way back from oblivion. A week goes by, he decides to liberate the spider. Grabs a paper towel, Scoops him up and sets him on the floor in the corner of the stall. Comes back the next day and what do you think happened to the spider?Also, a corollary (or do I mean corroborating quote?) here may be something like: 'tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all'.
Warrick -' Dead'.
Grissom -'On his back, eight legs up. Why? Because one life imposed itself on another. Right then I realized, where we stand. For the first time I understood our role. We don't impose our will. We don't impose our hopes on the evidence'.
posted by infinite intimation at 8:59 PM on March 12, 2012 [1 favorite]
The book/movie "One Day" is sort of what you want.
Patty Griffin's "Long Ride Home" and "Rain"
Casablanca, the classic
posted by elizeh at 9:11 PM on March 12, 2012
Patty Griffin's "Long Ride Home" and "Rain"
Casablanca, the classic
posted by elizeh at 9:11 PM on March 12, 2012
Brandi Carlile, That Year
An amazing song abou looking back ata friend's suicide a decade after, grief and healing.
posted by elizeh at 9:12 PM on March 12, 2012
An amazing song abou looking back ata friend's suicide a decade after, grief and healing.
posted by elizeh at 9:12 PM on March 12, 2012
White Flag by Dido (lyrics) most specifically in the song,
"And when we meet
Which I'm sure we will
All that was there
Will be there still
I'll let it pass
And hold my tongue
And you will think
That I've moved on.... "
The movie Against All Odds.
posted by Sassyfras at 9:27 PM on March 12, 2012 [3 favorites]
"And when we meet
Which I'm sure we will
All that was there
Will be there still
I'll let it pass
And hold my tongue
And you will think
That I've moved on.... "
The movie Against All Odds.
posted by Sassyfras at 9:27 PM on March 12, 2012 [3 favorites]
Dar Williams - "It Happens Every Day"
posted by easy, lucky, free at 10:53 PM on March 12, 2012
posted by easy, lucky, free at 10:53 PM on March 12, 2012
Not about people, but close to perfect about loss and moving on: Colson Whitehead's essay Lost And Found (about 9/11)
posted by Mchelly at 8:06 AM on March 13, 2012
posted by Mchelly at 8:06 AM on March 13, 2012
Seconding (500) Days of Summer & Casablanca
posted by manny_calavera at 9:20 AM on March 13, 2012
posted by manny_calavera at 9:20 AM on March 13, 2012
The Electric Grandmother, based on a story by Ray Bradbury, is a classsic from my childhood.
posted by Quonab at 9:46 AM on March 13, 2012
posted by Quonab at 9:46 AM on March 13, 2012
Harold & Maude
posted by missjenny at 1:59 PM on March 13, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by missjenny at 1:59 PM on March 13, 2012 [1 favorite]
Linda Grant's The Clothes On Their Backs deals with this theme in part, though I'd be spoilering you if I told you exactly how.
posted by mippy at 7:22 AM on March 14, 2012
posted by mippy at 7:22 AM on March 14, 2012
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posted by straw at 4:46 PM on March 12, 2012