Facing France

Yann

Martin

Florence

Mathias

Marianne

Louis

Nadia

Nurkyz

New Moon.

The man on the mind this month is Edward Cullen. The second film in the Twilight series, New Moon, has once again had floods of people rushing to watch the tragic love story of Edward and Bella. Even here in France for the English version (version originale) the waiting lobby here was so full that you could smell the sweat before you entered and I didn’t want to go to the toilet because it could have caused us to miss out on decent seats…

But what is it about this film that has caused its popularity? Is it solely the good looks of our dear Robert Patterson? Is it the thrill of the plot? Or is it the beauty of the relationship between Edward and Bella. Because their relationship is beautiful. In fact for me the films is about the beauty of love, chastity and fidelity.

Firstly there is the concept of chastity and the struggle… Edward is asked by the Voltari how it is that he manages to live with this human without spilling her blood to which he replies “Believe me it is not without difficulty”. Shoghi Effendi expands on the Bahá’í concept of chastity to state that it “demands daily vigilance in the control of one’s carnal desires and corrupt inclinations”. So in this way I think that Edward shows strength of holding back despite his desire to do otherwise. In the same way nowadays we have to have this strength in upholding Baha’u’llah’s exhortation of “spotless chastity”. And at the end before doing the deed of “changing” her, he asks her to marry him. The idea that if he takes that step it is serious and it is within marriage, an eternal bond and a “tie that will endure forever”.

The idea of fidelity and the commitment to one person is evident throughout the film. Bella tells Jacob that for her, “It has always been him [Edward]” and we can also see the nature of the relationship by Edward’s response to her worries about her aging and him not wanting her when she looks like her Grandmother. He just replies by asking if she has understood at all his feelings for her which show that they run deeper than just physical attraction and that he is completely faithful to her. This is clear again as he wants to marry her so that they can spend the rest of their endless life together!

In the Bahá’í writings there is a Hidden Word that says “To the true lover reunion is life, and separation is death. His breast is void of patience and his heart hath no peace. A myriad lives he would forsake to hasten to the abode of his beloved”. In their separation the heart of Bella clearly has no peace as she screams in her sleep and Edward’s inability to live when she is not alive shows separation being as death for him.

So is it the striking jaw line and dark eyes that are winning the girls up and down the country or is it the near perfect relationship (in a strange abstract surreal kind of way) that Ed embodies?

“What is this, some sort of survey?”

In the Junior Youth programme, one of the main elements is the concept of ‘Service’ and it is very important to integrate service into the lives of the junior youth in the early sessions of the group. For our first project we decided to do a little research exercise – we divided the junior youth into groups of 3 – 5 and then each group, armed with a ‘microphone’ and notepaper to do things in true reporter fashion,  went out to ask the inhabitants of the area what they though could be improved and what they thought a the junior youth could do as a collective act of service.

It was lovely to see the junior youth speaking with such pride as they explained to the interviewees what the junior youth group was and that they were going to improve their quartier and the world!

So now we need to choose and carry through the act of service … one that came up quite a few times was ‘get rid of the big buildings’ … I don’t know how easy that one would be …