happy new year 2

I think I might be one of the worst people in the world for idealism. Almost two months into the new year, I've not yet settled on a resolution (too much pressure, too many failed promises to myself over the years), but I think cutting idealism is an attractive idea.... and why not now, in time for Chinese New Year's?

But before I zap my idealism and kill my romanticism (the two, unfortunately, go hand-in-hand), I happen to have a very nice image in my mind of one day finding a man who will paint a mural for me. In my kitchen, I think. Of Audrey Hepburn, but all artsy like....

I suppose I could just pay someone to do that.... Maybe new, Non Idealistic Trish will imagine that instead.

Anyway, I caught this line in The Virgin Suicides, which I'm still stealing through, and I couldn't help but think how very true it is. The narrator is talking about one of the Lisbon sisters, post-the first suicide, pre-the rest of them.

"She held herself very straight, like Audrey Hepburn, whom all women idolize and men never think about."

I still have a hang-up about the way men characterize women.... it probably dates back to the character Jack Nicholson plays in As Good as it Gets. I think men can't help but sexualize female characters far more than is actually realistic. Perhaps I'm a prude, but I guess men love the idea of blending naivete and sexuality to make mystery pie.

Having said that, I think Jeffrey Eugenides creates entirely believable female characters. Perhaps because he's writing from the firmly confused state of the post-adolescent male.