"Boy and girl, kissing in a tree - k-i-s-s-i-n-g. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes children in the baby carriage." But how frequently does this actually happen? Love at first sight is not a common occurrence, and from a first relationship to marriage is even rarer. I mean, how often is it that your love lives have been set back by botched judgment, an unfortunate first impression, or even just a bad day at school? Through Jane Austen's presentation of characters in her classic love tale "Pride and Prejudice", the distorted views in Bob Spears' social satire "Absolutely Fabulous", and also the graphic imagery in Robert Gray's "Late Ferry", this is what I have gained from this year's study of personal insight: that if we don't look back on ourselves, if we don't gain understanding into ourselves, others, and our society, then we can never truly be happy.
Jane Austen, Watercolour and pencil portrait by he...
English: Back View of Jane Austen, Watercolor
English: Français : Une gravure de 1833 illustran...Personal insight, so what?
I mean, who cares if you don't notice your own flaws? You're perfect - anybody would be lucky to have you, and all you care about is appearances, right? Didn't think so. The truth is that if we don't re-assess our actions, not only will we be unhappy, but also mocked and ridiculed by those around us. This fact of life is shown in Bob Spears' contemporary British social satire "Absolutely Fabulous", affectionately referred to as "Ab Fab", in episode "Death", through the parody of the caricature Edina, and her almost hyperbolic obsession with superficial things.
In Spears' "Ab Fab", Eddie is an archetypal caricature of most people in society - people with a burning desire for material possessions. To show the ramifications that go hand in hand with lack of insight, Spears has juxtaposed how Eddie behaved before and after her...