Moonstruck

Catholicism and Sanctity of Marriage Norman Jewison is the director of the movie “Moonstruck, “which narrates a life of an attractive 37 year old widow named Loretta Castorini and depicts the sanctity of marriage. She is born with an Italian family background and grows with the faith of Catholicism. In this film, she is involved in a forbidden relationship where it guides her to contaminate the sanctity of marriage. However, some action also has been done by Loretta in order to repay her sin. Indeed, the strong connection between Loretta and religious aspects conveys clearly through this unforgettable movie. Additionally, regarding what Loretta has done, it is indirectly symbolizing the Western Culture where most married people usually don’t consider the sanctity of marriage as one of the most important values of marriage. The way Loretta undergoes her life is really pathetic where her mind sticks with the perception that her life is based on bad luck: “Because I have no luck.” She believes that the reason why her husband gets killed in a bus accident is because of her action in contravening the sacrament of marriage. As she was a Catholics, she knows that marriage should be held at a church, not a city hall where she said, “Maybe if you gave me away, and I got married in a church, in a wedding dress, instead of at the City Hall with strangers standing outside the door, maybe then I wouldn’t have the bad luck I had.” Likewise, her mother also thinks that it is better if Loretta doesn’t get married again. Her mother says, “No! Bad luck! Your mom and I been fifty-two years and nobody died. You were married, what, two years, and somebody is dead. Don’t get married again, Loretta. It doesn’t work out for you.” Thus, at the end, she believes that her next marriage with Johnny is just a formality. According to the sacraments of marriage, after men and women were engaged, no fornication should be involved. Lamentably, this rule isn’t followed by Loretta who has engaged in a sexual tryst with Ronny Cammerari, the younger brother of her fiancé, Johnny Cammerari. However, both of them find their happiness together because they give something valuable to each other. Loretta makes Ronny realize that he is not the only person who has suffered hardship and Ronny awakens her to the fact that she needs love and passion in her life, not a future marriage with a man who only gives an assurance of a stable life. Moreover, Loretta is more like Johnny’s mother rather than a wife, because Johnny is like a “big baby” who always follows what his “real” mother says. Reflecting to what Loretta has done, her father, Cosmo Castorini also violates the sanctity of marriage by having an affair with his mistress, Mona. However, since his wife, Rose Castorini is a self-assured, strong woman who is not afraid to assert herself over her husband, she reveals her feeling to him and makes him realize once again that he sincerely still loves his wife. With Loretta, she tries to repay it by making a confession to a priest in her church, meaning to release her guilty conscious of cheating on her fiancé. Moonstruck presents the relationship between Loretta and the Church as affirmative rather than oppressive. This is shown by how the priest doesn’t castigate her, instead reminding her to not commit the past mistakes. Similarly, when Rose Castorini prays deeply and this clearly clarifies that spirituality is an important aspect in her life. It is very obvious to see that both Loretta and her mother have close connection between their life and their religious. Furthermore, when exploring the movie deeper, one sees that sanctity of marriage should be contained with humbleness, patience, honesty, forgiveness of mutual offenses, faith in the power of God, and kindness. As being a Catholic, Loretta and Her mother success in fulfilling those criteria and indeed, both of them have faith in the power of God that He will give the best for their marriage. In fact, Loretta’s mother knows that her husband is cheating on her and it just based on her instinct as a wife. In addition, forgiveness is one true aspect that Loretta’s mother has where she truly forgives her husband’s fault and only demands him to not meet his mistress again. This forgiveness can be seen in Loretta life where she forgives her parents for their past mistake for not letting her and her deceased husband marry in the church. Nevertheless, the most important thing is marriage should be based on integrity and understanding. If all the above requirements are fulfilled, happy marriage will be the result, just like Raymond and Rita Cappomaggi. They still love each other and it shows through the scene where they play in their bed under the full moon. It is also being predicted that Loretta and Ronny will have happy marriage, because they totally fall in love with one another. Loretta said, “Oh ma, I love him awful” and Ronny said, “I love two things. I love you, and I love opera.” Lamentable, most people who have a Western culture background think that the sanctity of marriage is not as important as their flesh which represents by Loretta as well as his father who do the fornication. They prefer to satisfy their passion with another person if they don’t get it within their marriage, such as intimacy. This perception is being supported by a Catholic pastor named Oswald Sobrino who says, “Since 1968, millions have come of age and been initiated into the sexual practices of post-sixties American culture which now unfortunately include: widespread fornication by both genders.” Undeniably, in the bible God speaks, “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, not homosexuals, nor sodomites.” Thus, it indirectly clarifies that Western culture violates the God words and deems the sin of fornication as usual behavior. Through this movie, Norman Jewison succeeds in communicating the importance of sanctity in marriage towards the audiences. Additionally, he also adds enlightenment about the relation between the culture backgrounds with the sins that most people do in this era, such as fornication. At the end, they might start to explore or reflect on their marriage life as well as realizing how important it is to have sanctity in marriage. Additionally, they should fulfill these aspects, such humility, benevolence, wisdom, endurance, clemency, pure devotion to God’s power and truthfulness to form a happy marriage. Indeed, if there is a sin contravening the sanctity of marriage, it was a must to make a confession to God’s servant, just like what Loretta has done, thus God will wash the sin and even bless it with His great love.