When Joey first tells her mother that she has fallen in love, she begins by saying that his name is John Wade Prentice and "isn't that a beautiful name." What is so beautiful about a Waspy name? Why wouldn't a Hispanic, Jewish or other "ethnic" name be just as beautiful? Or better, what is "beautiful" about any name? Why would anyone other than a racist find a Waspy name "beautiful"?
shareI'm not sure how Joey liking his name is prejudice. She was a young girl in love. If she were a real person she would probably have already had samples of her married name written somewhere.
If the characters name were John Humperdink Prentiss she would have still said it was a beautiful name.
Nope, can't buy it. I'm aware of girls (not women) like that but Joey is not one. She's 23 and mature enough to appeal to a 37 year old man with a raft of worldly accomplishments that it's hard to imagine of someone twice his age. And neither of her parents even hints at believing she's not old or mature enough. So, all that's left is that the name is beautiful to her because it's Waspy. And the middle name you use, "Humperdink," is just odd, not ethnic. I don't think she would have found his name beautiful if it were "Chaim Stanislaus Morales."
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I tried to think how I might respond to this question as if it were posed by a visitor from another planet who had no background information about the subject matter. Perhaps this could do it: The notion of a "beautiful" name implies that there are relatively ugly names. In the context of the social history of this country, a name like "John Wade Prentiss" would be seen as a "beautiful" name only in contrast with an nonwaspy name such as the "ethnic" names I cited. Of course, it is only an artificial character such as Joey who would harbor the idea of waspy names as beautiful while at the same time falling in love with an obviously non wasp (the first letter stands for "white"). But whoever wrote the part of the screenplay having Joey call his name "beautiful" created a contradiction.
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What word would you use to describe someone who thought that white anglo-saxon protestants are more beautiful than people who are not?
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I'm sure any Martian would find that perfectly credible. But as to earthlings, I'm not at all sure. People who find waspy names beautiful usually, if not always, find their bearers more beautiful than those who do not bear such names. As to the character of Joey, I've already pointed out that her expressed view of his name is at odds with her falling in love with a black man.
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Are you not aware that you have seven toes on each foot? We earthlings have only five.
shareIt was just a movie line to show that she loves everything about him. That is all. Id on't know where you get the racist from. She's obviously not a racist, she's marrying a black guy!
shareJoey is an artificial character, that's why she can love a black man and at the same time find an obviously waspy name "lovely" (I said before "beautiful" but I watched the movie again last night and saw that she used the word "lovely"). I think that anyone who thinks she would have found the name "rumplestitzkin" just as "lovely" is not firmly planted on this planet. In the real world, the perceived loveliness of the name "John Wade Prentice" stems from its waspiness.
shareHer interracial marriage proves nothing regarding whether she is racist. There are plenty of other ethnic groups existing that she easily think less of.
Take John Wayne for example. Married outside of his color yet still had pretty awful things to say about native americans and blacks.
Back in the '60's very few blacks had African names. It was quite a shock when Cassius Clay became Muhammad Ali.
shareMuhammad isn't an African name, it's Arabian. In addition, Africa does not share a common language, so it's really not an accurate way to categorize someone's name. The name "Muhammad" is certainly religious, and in 2002, it was estimated that Muslims made up close to 45% of the population of Africa. It's one of the most common names in the world, not necessarily Africa.
The name Cassius comes from ancient Rome. The controversy, as I recall, was about him joining The Nation of Islam. Cassius Clay, the boxer who changed his name to Muhammad Ali, was named for his Dad, who was named after the famous abolitionist Cassius Marcellus Clay.
Young women (regardless of their education) carry a romantic notion of love with them from childhood. When they finally do fall in love for the first time, everything about their love interest is beautiful. His name could have been “Attila the Hun” and Joey would have called it a beautiful name.
shareSorry, don't buy it. In fact I doubt that you do either. Can you imagine Joey saying, "Mom, his name is Attila the Hun. Isn't that a lovely name?" If you can tell me you can easily imagine that, the next thing you can tell me is that you have a certain bridge between Brooklyn and Manhattan that I can buy for a reasonable sum.
shareDude, you are forgetting something – Joey is a female! I was married before, have since dated a lot of women (of various ethnicities, ages and backgrounds) and they are all just like Joey in the beginning. They initially treat me like I was a king and brag about me to all their friends and family. Later when we break up, they methodically try to, “destroy all the evidence” as though I never existed at all (LMAO):
“Let the name of Fred be stricken from every book and tablet, stricken from all pylons and obelisks, stricken from every monument of Egypt” (lol)! Can there be any greater denial than that?
Stephen Hawking was not always been paralyzed and had/has a wife. Regardless of that, he said he is clueless when it comes to women. Guess what? So am I (lol). So are you!
So you have a great day because February 26, 2013 only comes once in a lifetime!
I cannot deny you make a powerful argument, but I still don't buy it.
shareI'm surprised you found that line "racist" and not the line where she said along the lines of, "I would have never thought I'd be in love with a negro." Evidently she wasn't a racist if she married a black man and came from a liberal family.
You love me more than sunny summer days.
Joey's character is not written in consistent fashion. Anyone raised and habituated in a left-of-center environment would not say that a name obviously waspy is "lovely." However, merely coming from a liberal family does not render one not a racist in regard to black people. To the contrary, they are usually dyed-in-the-wool racists in that they consider blacks to be incapable of competing with others and therefore needing preferences in employment,education, etc. It's that "soft" racism of low expectations.
shareirvberg2002, you are a hopeless twit. Your point is stupid and wrong. Get over it. Perhaps only a nitwit like you would actually have to check your "left-of-center environment" upbringing to see whether it is permissible to like a "waspy" name. You call her an artificial character, but it strikes me that you are artificial: you base your attitudes and what you believe is permissible to think on a very shallow set of notions. I'm sure you will respond that I have attacked you with ad hominems (no doubt that is one of the big words you have learned in whatever environment you have been conditioned in), so have at it, I could give a *beep* You are just an arrogant schmuck who thinks you know everything better than everyone else.
shareYou sure paint with an awfully broad brush, irv. "Anyone" would, huh? So, irv, if you're white and truly not racist you can't find a "waspy" name lovely? Why is that, irv? Go take your right wing trolling somewhere else and shove it, irv.
shareThe OP's comment is simply ridiculous. She likes the name; she did not say that Jerome Robinson (that sounds more like an African-American name I suppose, but even that is a total stereo-type; I wonder if the OP realizes that African Americans who were brought here in bondage were stripped of their ancestral names and given "waspy" names by their masters) or Juan Valdez would be ugly names. You have ZIPPO reason to draw that conclusion. You could just as easily say that if she found a white man handsome, she must consider blacks, asians and hispanics (as well as any other group I have omitted) to be ugly, therefore she is a racist. You can't be serious. And what are you suggesting, that she has chosen a black man because subconsciously she wants to compensate for her racism.
shareI'm glad I'm not alone in finding the OP beyond ridiculous. Times have changed since the 1960s. But even today, some names are more euphonious (sound harmonious) than others. Women even now often assume their husband's surname uopon marriage, so they might appreciate a nice sounding last name.
http://vincentandmorticiasspeakeasy14846.yuku.com/directory
My wife's name is LaCruncha Konkleberry. I find her name lovely. Liking someone's name has nothing to do with race.
shareMaybe there are planets where that is true, but on Planet Earth it isn't. On this planet nobody, at least in the english speaking part of it, including you, would find the made-up name you came up with "lovely." Weird, yes. Funny, maybe. But "lovely", not.
shareYou are absolutely, positively wrong. Think. Think of the people who give their children "weird" names. Are they doing this to punish their children? Of course not. They give their child a unique name because they "like" that name. Just as beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is the beauty in a given name.
shareirvberg is a tedious troll and must be a total bore in his day to day life. What kind of name is irv berg anyway...it sounds Jewish.
shareIt's a common occurrence in life, and a film cliché, that a person in love expresses how wonderful their object of affection's name sounds, sometimes repeating it lovingly or writing it and admiring the written name. Sometimes instead of the name, the affection is expressed toward some inanimate object or other seemingly arbitrary item, because they now identify that otherwise meaningless thing with the person they now love.
shareDude!! Well said. Sounds like you made him give up. If you are in love anything and everything is beautiful, something a few people in this world have no experience with.
sharePardon me; my what a lovely name!
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