• Meartz, Paul D. 2005. Geography in Media: Love STory. Dakota Alliance XV(2): April-May 2005: 7.

Love Story

Reviewed by Dr. Paul D. Meartz

An oldie, but a goodie this time. Love Story is 1970’s great tear jerker hit. The film is the story of a love relationship that ends in tragedy. It is hard for me to write about because I know that most of our readers under 40 have never heard or seen it, while almost all over 45 have. For the younger crowd, Jennifer Cavalleri [Ali McGraw] meets Oliver Barrett IV [Ryan O’Neil] while they are both in college; Radcliff and Harvard, respectively. They develop a relationship through intellectual sparing, and then turn it into love. This is cast against Oliver’s troubles with his wealthy parents, particularly his father [a hippie theme of the 1960s]. Jenny’s relationship with her working-class father is much more loving and gentle, but still the clash of 1960s hippieness and his strong conservative Catholicism leaves it imprint on the gentle tone of the film. In the end she dies.

The geography is divided between Boston, out state Massachusetts, and New York City. The first issue that stands out is the dominant presence of cold and snow. Normal Hollywood workings would have put the whole thing in Boston and New York in summer; but we see the winter season. One starts with it being the proper time for a hockey player to be playing hockey. But that poor weather nature is maintained through the film. There is no bright summer day. Part of this appears in the video segment on the DVD version in which Arthur Hiller (director) explains that the film was under pressure to be made cheaply and quickly. Money was tight at the studio and they had to fight to get the film on the schedule at all. Filming was compressed to a winter period, hence lots of cold and snow. In Boston we mainly see Harvard, but we do venture into a poorer neighborhood when the married Jenny and Oliver are set free from his parent’s wealth. Harvard dominates with its larger buildings and open spaces. The buildings are grand in their scope and sense of history. Of course one of them is named after one of Oliver’s ancestors, and becomes a focus for discussion of his family problems.

When the young, married Barretts move to New York the deepness of their love for each other seems almost offset by the coldness of the city. Not that anything is done in particular to show this, but the streets seem city cold. They have coats on. The buildings lack any sense of joy and excitement. They live in a small apartment and life is not spent in the colored hues of Broadway or upper crust dining and dancing.

The third setting was actually rural New England, but the theme of cold continued. This area is only found once, and that is when ‘the young, in-love couple travels to see Oliver’s parents. The parents are not thrilled with the news. They are cold, like every other part of the setting. Their house is not welcoming. Its space speaks to distance, not “home.” While the outside is tree covered and pleasant, it is white.

A visit to See Jenny’s father is not much better. While more welcoming, the air is tense. Class boundaries have been crossed, and the watch lights are out.

The continual mention of cold is my way of saying that the film dwells upon it. It is in contrast to the warmth of the loving relationship between Jenny and Oliver. They are cast against the world of his parents and the environment. They win. They provide the heat, while the setting fails. Following Jenny’s death—drowned out by much of the original audience’s sobbing, something for which the film was known—the environment provides a chilling background as Oliver mulls it over sitting at a skating rink in New York. He is alone. She is dead. It is cold.