The Fantastic Four and Marriage
I watched "The Fantastic Four" last night and "TFF2: Rise of the Silver Surfer" tonight.
TFF2 was a little thin. When I listened to the commentary on TFF1 the actors kept saying "in the next movie everything will be so much better because we won't have to do back story and they will know how to do the effects". But I when I listened to the writer's commentary on TFF2 they kept saying "the effects in this scene are awful, we wanted it to be so much better" and "we didn't think this should be here but nobody listens to us".
I had no problem with the effects or the scenes that the writers didn't like. The writers thought too much was going on in the plot, I thought not enough was going on.
The only scene I had a real problem with was the wedding. And that is because I have a bee in my bonnet about marriage. Setting aside the legality of performing a ceremony in a different country then you got your license, and importing a cleric to do it (really, considering the paperwork involved it would have been much easier to go back to Manhattan for the ceremony). My real issue is what constitutes a marriage ceremony. The only complete line the cleric gets to say is "I now pronounce you husband and wife" implying that that, and the rings, are the only part of the ceremony that is necessary for a marriage. In fact neither of those are important.
My favorite TV marriage was on "Night Court". A couple spends the whole show agonizing about getting married. Harry finally asks each of them if they want to be married to the other. They each answer "yes". Then he signs the license.
The only essential part of the ceremony is that the couple declare their intent before witnesses.
And that is the part that was left out of the ceremony in TFF2.
People have this strange idea that officials perform marriages but really the officials just administer the ceremony. Marriage is the one sacrament that is performed by the people not the official. It's like the difference between administering a test and taking a test. The official is just there to make sure everything is done properly, otherwise people could cheat and say they did things they hadn't done. Which is part of the legal history of our marriage laws. You need an official to sign the papers in case there are any legal complications, and you need two witnesses to keep the official honest.
TFF2 was a little thin. When I listened to the commentary on TFF1 the actors kept saying "in the next movie everything will be so much better because we won't have to do back story and they will know how to do the effects". But I when I listened to the writer's commentary on TFF2 they kept saying "the effects in this scene are awful, we wanted it to be so much better" and "we didn't think this should be here but nobody listens to us".
I had no problem with the effects or the scenes that the writers didn't like. The writers thought too much was going on in the plot, I thought not enough was going on.
The only scene I had a real problem with was the wedding. And that is because I have a bee in my bonnet about marriage. Setting aside the legality of performing a ceremony in a different country then you got your license, and importing a cleric to do it (really, considering the paperwork involved it would have been much easier to go back to Manhattan for the ceremony). My real issue is what constitutes a marriage ceremony. The only complete line the cleric gets to say is "I now pronounce you husband and wife" implying that that, and the rings, are the only part of the ceremony that is necessary for a marriage. In fact neither of those are important.
My favorite TV marriage was on "Night Court". A couple spends the whole show agonizing about getting married. Harry finally asks each of them if they want to be married to the other. They each answer "yes". Then he signs the license.
The only essential part of the ceremony is that the couple declare their intent before witnesses.
And that is the part that was left out of the ceremony in TFF2.
People have this strange idea that officials perform marriages but really the officials just administer the ceremony. Marriage is the one sacrament that is performed by the people not the official. It's like the difference between administering a test and taking a test. The official is just there to make sure everything is done properly, otherwise people could cheat and say they did things they hadn't done. Which is part of the legal history of our marriage laws. You need an official to sign the papers in case there are any legal complications, and you need two witnesses to keep the official honest.
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