And they call it puppy love!

Melody (1971)
Director: Waris Hussein

I watched this movie just because the Bee Gees made its original soundtrack, and two of their hit singles graced it. The songs 'To Love Somebody' and 'First of May' seem appropriate to showcase puppy love, the main subject. It tells the story of a co-ed British school in which a young teenage boy falls in love with his schoolmate and wants to get married, not in the near future, but ASAP.

The story is told from the point of view of children. The child actors are the main stars, whilst the adults play mere supporting roles. The adults (i.e., parents and teachers) are painted as flawed, ugly, unimpressive, brash, boring, and disassociated from reality. The children are painted as full of life, mischievous, and imaginative in how they want to live their lives.

This is the exact reason why the lovebirds want to get married there and then, not when they are old and boring like the adults around them. Besides creating a whirlwind among the parents and teachers, the boy's best friend is unwilling to share his friendship with this girl. In. the vein of light comedy that the movie is, all the school kids get together in private to organise a mock wedding.

Well, the conservatives amongst us in this country would have acted exactly the same way as the school kids decided to do. Rather than doing all the sinful things their hormones make them do, these full-thinking adults have no qualms about child marriages. There is no question of exercising self-restraint or willpower. They would just let their animalistic instincts dictate their lives! All the modern sociological knowledge of the dangers of child marriages goes down the sewer. It happened centuries ago, and all was well, they justify.

To Love Somebody

The song First of May comes on annually, not for Labour Day, but to commemorate Bee Gees' trio. Three of four Brothers Gibb have since passed, but the remaining Gibb, Barry, has lost his mojo without his twin younger brothers. They had been belting hits after hits from the mid-60s to early 2000s.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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