I don't understand how Julie could stick around Billy if he beat her and never really had a steady job. Well except for the silly carousel. But don't get me wrong. I loved the music. The song "If I Loved You" always got me crying.
shareI could write an essay about this, but right now I'll leave it with, "He's your fellow and you love him, that's all there is to that." I think that says it all.
share"I don't understand how Julie could stick around Billy if he beat her and never really had a steady job."
What's really alarming, this is still the case for so many women all over the world today. Julie is most certainly not a unique case. Even in 2006, this senario is more common than it should be.
Although striking one's spouse is wrong, Billy is not portrayed as a major wife abuser--he apparently hit Julie once.
shareWe are talking about the year 1900 or thereabouts. Women had no rights and were expected to stay with the man they married no matter what.
In Julie's case she loved him so much it didnt matter if he did hit her.
Actually, Carrie tells her she'd leave him. Quite a few characters criticize Billy for striking Julie.
shareI think what bothers me is when he goes to strike Louise.
But I do love this movie...
After Billy slaps Louise's hand, the Heavenly Friend sums it up quite well.
shareSeveral characters point out that it's wrong for Billy to hit Julie, and that seems to make everything okay for many viewers. However, that's nonsense. Billy's wife and daughter both go on about how loving it feels to be slapped around. Absolute crap.
shareSome people stay with abusers, either out of fear, out of love, or because they have no place to go. Really, where could Julie go if she left - go back to the factory and try to raise a kid while working 12 hours a day?
The thing is, there's no statement that Julie is *right* to stay with Billy after he hits her, or right to keep loving him after he's gone instead of marrying again or doing something with her life. The script passes no moral judgement on Julie, Billy is the one who gets reamed out in heaven and on Earth for hitting his wife, getting killed during a robbery, and thereby abandoning his family. That's okay by me, it seems like these days people are more eager to ask "Why does he/she stay with an abuser" than "Why did he/she abuse their spouse?". It puts the judgement on the wrong person.
I watched Carousel for the first time in ages. Those were Hollywood's musical days, and they did well. My favorite song is the one he is singing to Julie. . .You'll Never Walk Alone. Now that one brought me to tears.
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