the amateur

Firstly, please note that I am now officially, completely, 100% done with my first semester of grad school! I finished grading finals about ten minutes ago, after blowing through them at lightning speed.

Secondly, I have been thinking about this post for quite some time. And by that I mean a week. I've been mulling over the idea of guy friends (as opposed to boyfriends) and what I think about the whole thing.

That whole thing being whether guys and girls can be friends (tangent: have you ever noticed how there isn't a female equivalent term for guy? boy/girl, man/woman, guy/? gal? Unacceptable. That sounds like I'm in a bad Western).

It started when I was studying for my film history exam and fast forwarding through Rules of the Game, this French film that is supposed to be amazing but which I did not have time to watch. Anyway, this woman and her maid are talking, and the maid says something like:

"Friendship with a man? That's asking for the moonlight at midday."

So I thought about this (while I studied Italian neorealism), and couldn't really come to a conclusion on whether I thought it was true or not. Then I consulted When Harry Met Sally, one of the greatest movies ever made. I'm pretty sure the answers to most of life's questions are in that movie. Remember that scene in the car? It's below if you don't.



Harry and Sally discuss this on and off for the rest of the movie. If you don't know the story, they end up as close friends for several years. But then...they realize they love each other. And they get married at the end.

So, I was still conflicted. On the one hand, I have a ton of guy friends that I am absolutely not attracted to. On the other hand, I have guy friends that are sort of *more* than friends but definitely not boyfriends. Is it more a matter of what the guy thinks of you than of what you think of the guy? I'm beginning to think so.

Now that I'm at the end of this post, I'm beginning to think it doesn't matter.