Nothin’ Ain’t Nothin’ Without Love

Love is an emotion that finds its roots much deeper in the human psyche than even the most hopeless romantic could possibly fathom. Through the great maze of life, the most prevalent and recurring theme seems to be the quest to satisfy the human need for love in every one of its forms: a best friend, a tight family, a true love, and so on. Without the care and support of each of these pillars, a person’s life would feel significantly emptier and could potentially lead to a loss of a sense of purpose. In this same way, film is bound to an unwritten cinematic convention stating that love is the greatest motivator and the greatest distraction. The role of romance in a film is rarely an afterthought, but more a major player in the narrative.

In this essay, the role of romance in the film The Notebook (2004, Nick Cassavetes) will be analyzed with respect to form and style, noting specifically the matter of courtship. It should then be noted that without the stylistic depiction (described throughout the remainder of this essay) of romance and courtship in the film, the plot would have lacked the complexity or human interest factor to captivate an audience.

Since the early 1980s, a constant cultural oscillation between the belief that storybook romance can exist and the realization that every day life doesn’t reflect the ideal circumstances under which storybook romances occur1 opens the door for filmmakers to play off of this inner debate to create a forum for viewers to contemplate, in their own mind, the inherent possibilities. This sort of emotional catalyst is just the sort of captivating tool required to capture an audience and keep them interested in a film. It’s not unheard of for a person to compare their own love life or their ideal characteristics of a mate to that of a character in a film1.

The Notebook (2004, Nick Cassavetes) is the quintessential contemporary romance film. The film is set in the 1940s, a time when romance is commonly believed to have been the “real” kind.
Noah, the male protagonist, is a lower class blue-collar worker at a local mill.
Allie, the female protagonist, is an upper-class elite on vacation for the summer in Noah’s small, southern hometown. The two meet at local carnival through a shared friend and Noah instantly knows he has to have to know Allie. Through a series of stunts and borderline stalker-ish badgering, Noah finally gets Allie to agree to a date with him. Throughout their relationship, Allie learns to let her hair down and stop being so uptight and conservative. Meanwhile, Noah realizes that he’s wholeheartedly lost himself in a romance that could never possibly happen. Allie’s departure to New York for school at the end of the summer puts an end to their relationship and before she knows it, she’s moved on to someone of her own class and privilege. Things seem perfect and Noah is all but forgotten until one morning she reads a newspaper article highlighting his restoration project of an old house where the two had first made love. On a whim, she decides to ride out to the house and see what Noah has been up to over the years that they haven’t seen each other. Instantly the deep passion that each had felt for the other is brought to the surface and the couple lives happily ever after.

To the average reader, this sort of cutesy love story may seem a bit of a far reach, even to the point of being sickeningly cute. Yet this film has come to define an entire generation of romantic cinema. In the American market, if a random sample of viewers were asked about whether or not they’d seen the film, an overwhelming majority would reply, “yes.” It seems counterintuitive, then, that such a misleading and overly enthusiastic romance film would be so widely viewed. The answer lies within the psyche of the human mind, and the stylistic tools defining the film’s form.

The narrative in this film can be a bit farfetched at time, but the impeccable use of mis-en-scene in setting the scene and making the characters believable allows the audience to put into place a strong willing suspension of disbelief. This is evident in the candlelit but decaying setting of an old revolutionary’s house where the couple finds refuge from the world together. Allie plays an old piano as Noah talks about their future together. The most striking example of the use of mis-en-scene in painting the story is the stark contrast between the two protagonists’ dwellings. Allie lives in a massive southern plantation house, with white columns framing the front of her house. The interior is decorated ornately in red and gold, frequently colors of the noble in feudal Europe. The house is several stories tall and features a front porch with rocking chairs where her father reads the paper in his robe and pipe. Noah’s place, on the other hand, is a ramshackle little building that seems to be on the verge of being swallowed by the swamp near which he lives. It’s a humble abode, with a small wooden front porch for friendly gatherings.

These settings are crucial plot elements throughout the courtship of Noah and Allie. The stark contrast between the circumstances of their lives is the driving antagonist to their relationship throughout the film. In one scene, Noah is invited to dinner with Allie’s family and guests at the mansion. The first difference that viewers notice is the fact that every one of the upper class participants at the dinner is dressed in classy white clothing. Noah, on the other hand, is dressed in black. As the dinner proceeds, the topic of conversation hovers consistently on money, culminating in Noah being asked how much money he makes at the mill. His response is clearly discouraging to Allie’s family, but Noah’s sense of pride doesn’t allow him to feel inferior to the others.

Through all of the antagonism, however, Noah and Allie still fight for true love. The narrative follows a path where Noah consistently gets Allie to step outside of the box of the social norms in her upper class society to let the wild, carefree girl Noah sees inside her out. In one pivotal plot moment, Noah convinces Allie to lay down in the street with him and watch the streetlights turn from red to green to yellow. Allowing herself to overcome the strict social barriers employed by her parents signifies to Noah that she truly is the fun-loving carefree girl that he sees in her. This key moment signifies the transition of the sophisticated Allie into the Noah’s Allie. Noah takes this opportunity to really open up himself, and asks Allie to dance slowly in the street with him. The only musical accompaniment is Noah singing softly to her while they hold each other.
Throughout the entirety of this scene, the audience is captivated by the strong connection between the two characters. It solidifies the willing suspension of disbelief for the remainder of the movie because the viewers themselves have become so engrossed in the emotions through well-done mis-en-scene and a strongly emotional narrative.

Throughout the film, as is typical in traditional dating beliefs, Noah is the driving force in the relationship. Right from the beginning he has to beg Allie for a first date through a series of stunts at the carnival where they met. He teaches Allie how to drive, he gets her to go swimming in the lake with her clothes on, and he reads her his favorite poems. Only once does Allie step outside the role as the one being courted and makes an advance on Noah.

Inside the old house that Noah has vowed to restore (to Allie’s specifications) Allie asks Noah to make love to her. Traditionally, the men are supposed to be the initiators of this sort of contact. But the reversal in roles in this moment is the final blow in validating the story up to this point. The audience in this moment is lost in the strength of their love.
Without the use of mis-en-scene to create an empathetic connection with the protagonists, the extreme circumstances of this film may seem unbelievable to the vast majority of viewers. The narrative is strong and stylized, and this requires a much more present willing suspension of disbelief in the audience than is typical for a romance film. Yet it is that very reason that this film has come to so strongly represent true love. Overcoming the odds and beating antagonistic circumstances to find the one true love is the reason people watch romance films in the first place. The Notebook accomplishes that without leaving something to be desired. In my own personal experience watching the film with women, I have yet to see a dry eye at the end of the film. This is due in no small part to the use of mis-en-scene to make the story believable, and a strong narrative to move an audience to contemplate their own love lives.

Schreiber, Michele Joanne. "You don't want to be in love...you want to be in love in a movie": Romance and post-feminism in contemporary film and television. Diss. University of California, Los Angeles, 2006. Dissertations & Theses: A&I. ProQuest. Georgia Tech Library, Atlanta, GA. 16 Apr. 2009 http://www.proquest.com/

Walker, Susan. "It was a fine romance with no surprises." Toronto Star 25 June 2004, sec. D: 3.

Gelman, David, and Paul Kandell. "Isn't it romantic?" Newsweek 18 Jan. 1993: 60-61.

McCormack, Louisa. "The one: does he really exist? Louisa mcCormack uncovers the truth about Mr Right." Flare [Toronto, Canada] Sept. 2004, Vol. 26, Iss. 9 ed.: 174.

McCarthy, Ellen. "Sparks's Love Affair With Romance." The Washington Post 26 Sept. 2008, Every ed., Weekend sec.: 31.