Joss Whedon’s Much Ado about Nothing Skirts the Line Between Comedy and Tragedy

This is the first post in a new series discussing my 40 favorite films.

 

Groups can so easily turn against a single person, as I learned at the end of my freshman year in college 10 years ago this month.

Skyler* and I had met on the first morning of orientation, and for much of the year we were inseparable. Our friends said we were like twins. We listened to the same obscure bands, treated Shakespeare like a religious text, and, ultimately, fell in love with the same girl, Mary Ann*.

This was never going to end happily, as anyone with a cursory knowledge of Shakespeare probably realizes. Throughout his career, from his early comedy The Two Gentlemen of Verona to a late romance, The Winter’s Tale, the prolific playwright wove stories about inseparable friends whose friendships are ultimately torn apart by jealousy and mistrust.

Jesus & J. K. Rowling: Imperfect Matchmakers

Well, it finally happened. Fans have speculated for years over the actual suitability of the series’ main characters for one another, but today Harry Potter author J. K. Rowling affirmed the contentious musings of Harry / Hermione shippers when she allegedly told Emma Watson, in a forthcoming issue of Wonderland Magazine, that the famous boy wizard should have married his best friend.

How to Make Friends

This helpful illustration cropped up yesterday on my Twitter feed. Sarah has a whole Tumblr full of perceptive doodles if you’re interested.

For a long time this was how I made friends. In high school I developed a peculiar habit of assuming that if someone showed interest in me, they probably hated me. Or if they didn’t now, they were going to once they really got to know me. My insecurity irritated people and drove them away.

This was exacerbated by the cult I was in for about three and a half years after college, where friends throughout the country were warned not to talk to me.