Reflection+on+the+Fruits+of+Love

Reflection on the Fruits of Passion
For my final wall, I have chosen to focus on the American depictions of pastoral quality of the sensual instinct. The items displayed all attempt to approximate, after a fashion, the American conception of Love. Countee Cullen's poem " The Loss of Love" articulates with romantic flourishes, the tragic and empty existence of a life without a loved one. The poster for the popular 1970's film //Love Story// is a model of simplicity, but the expressions on the faces of the two leads, as well as the iconic tagline, "Love means never having to say you're sorry," reveal the quiet poetry even of a depiction of love designed for the mass consumption. Two quotes from F. Scott Fitzgerald's //The Great Gatsby// describe the unescapable American attraction to love, both to covet that which has been coveted by others, and of the feeling of that even the universe itself buzzes with the pleasures of the flesh. The painting by pop artist Roy Lichtenstein, "The Kiss," is a startilingly frank, but nonetheless hypnotic glimpse into the act of love. Nathaniel Hawthorne's characterization of love as scintillating natural force, in tune with the passions of the earth, supports a similar claim. The opening to the televison series //Love, American Style// may be both vulgar and gaudy, but it captures well the infectious, celebratory nature that love inspires in the mind, and is perhaps the most uniquely American of all the depictions presented.