Libertine
 

sexy but a downer


Have you ever admired someone who lived a less than wholesome life or at best a tragic one?

Is there a person/character that you feel you have a kinship to who is typically thought of for their negative traits?

Interesting question...someone in particular inspired this line of thought for you?

Being musically inclined, I've admired a great many musicians who went down the dark path, but I only did so because they were boldly breaking new ground & making sounds that nobody ever heard before, not for their excesses & abuses that took them away...

I was watching the movie and there were a few times I was able to find some similarities, all the while thinking how sad and pathetic the character was overall.

Wow...and awesome question like that deserves a thought out and well put together response. I have answers, but I need to organize them. Great topic!

In the movie Johnny Depp plays the 17th century Earl of Rochester who I believe was entered into Rippley's Believe It or Not for living the later part of his life wearing a nose cast in silver after his own was eaten away by the late stages of syphilis.A life long friend of mine lived most of his life pretty much as a libertine.In earlier times,his rogueish behaviour was his most admiriable quality.Later toward his end,he was just a pathetic drunk. I could do nothing for him and finally around 1996 I decided to burn that bridge. After a long illness that included a tumor on his spinal cord and severe bleeding ulsers,his sister called late one night in 2002 to inform me that he had passed away.I felt little more than a distant memory of a couple of kids in high school.He could never stop distroying himself and didn't live to see 50.

like rooting for the evil twin in swan lake? :D yeah, i've done that.

i can't say i have admired everything about a person like you describe, but i have certainly admired some of their traits, related to some, and felt jealous of some, too.

Anyone who cannot feel the call of the dark side isn't living.

There are many libertines who I admire for their ability to raise an eyebrow and women fall at their feet. I don't suffer from cold feet personally, but it could be handy.

I watched Libertine too and found it to be much less than I had hoped for. I was hoping for more promiscuity. It was a well told story of a sad and wasted life - a part of me thinks he was truly afriad to let go and live life and instead hid in the dregs of a bottle taking what minor pleasures suited him.

A person/character with typically negative traits I feel a kinshp to? To live another life? Perhaps as Veronica Franco. Educated, clever, loved deeply, and on the downside ...a courtesan. Less than respectable, but *sigh*