Half-formed thoughts.

[permetaform]

You know, in reference to the Blade Runner discussion...I wonder how many people separate 'like' and 'love' the way I do, or perhaps if everybody just mixes it all up which confuses me a bit 'cause they're not the same.

Perhaps it's like the "x loves y, but x is not IN LOVE with y" thing I see occasionally in fic?

It's similar to how I like Blade Runner, but am in love with The 5th Element, I think...but what's the difference?

Is it just a matter of degree? "I like you" v. "I love you"?

Doesn't feel quite right.

I almost want to say that it's a mental love instead of an emotional love, but I'm not sure if that's quite the right analogy.

Perhaps:
Like = critical analytical admiration
Love = bittersweet obsession adoration

[edit] 2.18.5

For whereas 'like' is appreciation, 'love' includes all the messyness, where flaws aren't 'bad', and there's faults but you're in helpless adoration anyways.

Or perhaps I'm still missing the point. ::is befuddled:: This is not helped by the fact that some people I'm attracted to because I want to *be* them. (for instance, The Boy in HS that was way too similar to The Mom, in hindsight, but who I think I always labled as 'Someone Worthy Of Approval')

(...also, this brings up probably bad analogies to the Black Widow thing...ie. absorbing one's talents by ::cough:: absorbing one's ...talents)

::stares in befuddlement at post:: argh. I dunno. I'm still feeling this subject out, would like (and love ;D) input on this.

[edit 2.18.5]
further distinctions:

'in love' = which by my definition starts out in pure passion and mellows out into the bittersweet attachment.
'love' = ie. OMG LOVE!, it's that flare of pure joy that may be empty very quickly. 'like' = for me, lasts about as long as 'in love', but it's...shaded less ardently. I'm not as compelled to understand the messy sides when I like something than with things that I love.

ps. there's tons of neat saiyuki 58 links in the comments to this post

Comments

[guede-mazaka.livejournal.com]

Honestly? I tend to treat them not only as separate things, but as qualities unique to an individual. You know, like how almost nobody's got the same genetic code. I go to several places for my movie reviews, and I've seen too many movies get absolutely, positively diametrically opposite reviews (person A thought the plot was wandering and weak, person B thought it was tightly written and engaging) to believe that you can apply objective judgment to something like that and come out with a 'standard' opinion. Hell, I admired Blade Runner and I laughed my head off at The Fifth Element (which parodied some SF tropes that badly needed to be taken down a few pegs).

It's not even constant over time. You realize that Blade Runner and the novella off which it was based qualified as pulp-fiction when it was written? Now it's considered classic dystophic SF. Dracula was the pulpfiction bestseller of its period. SF and fantasy started out as pulp-fiction type mags. So where's the point in suddenly detaching this stuff from its roots and saying it's too good to be associated with it? Nothing starts out a classic; that happens over time.

[permetaform]

::nods:: I was in this post, and still am actually, trying to suss out my individual reactions to 'like' and 'love' in part by comparing my responses to others'. I realize that it's a changeable quality, but I wish to know where I am currently (to know my position) and to understand my own imbalances so that I know how I might need to set that against the imbalances inherent in everything else.

[guede-mazaka.livejournal.com]

my individual reactions to 'like' and 'love'

English isn't a great language for that, is it? I don't know much Chinese, but I think their way of more expressions for different degrees of 'liking' and 'loving' is more convenient.