Indeed, they are both supporter of Communism and here we are already talking about the mature period of Communist in its fight against the Imperialists (certainly, these are the same imperialists that would have paid Rivera for painting Rockefeller Centre) and the meeting between the couple and Trotsky is defining for the late phase of their relationship.
Artistic practices and values
Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath and Frida and Diego are extremely relevant for this category. First of all, Frida and Diego are members of the artistic community of Mexico and not only (and we are referring here to their presence in France during a time of artistic effervescence, as well as to their trip in the United States), this is the community that influences them and from where they draw their identity as artists. Additionally, it is their art that pulls them together each time the fall apart on any of the other defining levels of their relationship. Whether they are still in love with each other or not, whether the passion still lives in them or not is less the point. The important issue from this perspective is that their souls are perpetually joint at an incredibly high level, the artistic one.
In this sense, it is impossible to believe that Frida and Diego can fall out of love with each other and, from this point-of-view, perhaps their relationship is the happiest of all, as it transforms itself, it evolves, but retaining the mutual spring of creation, the common inspiration that, despite separation as a couple, remains as a common source of artistic interest for both individuals.
If in Frida and Diego's case we are talking about a positive source of inspiration generated by their relationship, by the common grounds they manage to reach, Sylvia and Ted Hughes drives themselves towards destruction. Physically, this only happens to Sylvia, however we are bound to see beyond this and believe that Ted Hughes remained deeply hit by his relationship with Sylvia as well. As an artisan, a creator of poems, Sylvia Plath can be seen as the individualistic, egocentric character that lives as an artist through herself alone....
Sylvia and Ted Hughes have distinctly separate approaches to their work and their creation. Their impossibility and the failure of their relationship comes also from their incapacity to find a common approach in other areas than the simple man-woman relationship. Anthony and Cleopatra find it in politics and the attempt to survive in troubled times, Frida and Diego find it in their artistic credo and the pleasure they find in creating together and having a common artistic perception as powerful, individual artists, but Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes manage only a destructive form of bonding.
The Legend
The movie "Frida" focuses both on the relationship between the two main characters and on their individuality as artists in the 20th century artistic community. In fact, the perception of their relationship is constantly deeply related to the way they act and create as artists and it is difficult to move them apart. Indeed, for example, they meet as Diego is painting one of his famous mural paintings and Frida makes appreciations on his work. The end of the movie pictures Frida on her death bed at her final exhibition, side by side with Diego. Wherever they appear as individuals involved in a relationship, their art is there as well, present to emphasize that Diego and Frida do not exist without ART.
In the movie "Sylvia," the impact is almost entirely focussed on the relationship with Ted Hughes rather than on presenting Sylvia as the successful poet she always was. This comes to support the facts previously presented, notably the fact that Sylvia and Ted exist as separate entities outside their art and that, indeed, their art does not even bind them together in their relationship.
Bibliography
1. Cleopatra VII - Ptolemaic Dynasty. On the Internet at http://www.pcf-p.com/a/m/rig/rig.html.Last retrieved on December 11, 2006
Cleopatra VII - Ptolemaic Dynasty. On the Internet at http://www.pcf-p.com/a/m/rig/rig.html.Last retrieved on December 11, 2006
