Answering the biggest question in life

Alan pondered a third bucket of popcorn...in ONE stinking movie. I have decided he is insane. The popcorn drove him that way. Either that or the chemicals they drop in that fake "I totally believe its not butter" crap they put on our popcorn.
Be that as it may. tonight we went to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. Apparently, Star Wars geek is still looking for his fix because at 2:40 there was a line for the 3:40 Star Wars that was, I can say without hyperbole, longer than the Ironman Triathalon. At least during the week you can see it anytime...
SO Douglas Adams got an Exec Director credit on Hitchhikers, so I suppose it is safe to assume his vision for the movie and its subtext was included. That makes some of the iconography even more meaningful.
For those of you smart enough to have never read his five book trilogy (which is a very funny concept in and of itself), the plot revolves around a whiny, simpering English bloke named Arthur Dent.
As the movie begins, his home, which stands in the middle of nowhere, is being demolished to make way for a bipass. When he complains that no bipass is needed, he is told it has to be built...its a bipass (makes a lot more sense with the intonation).
This is a setup for the explanation after the Voganats or whatever their names are blow up earth....to make room for an interstellar hyperspace bipass. Essentially, it is to provide a justification for Adams' rather negative view of bureaucracy.
Various points throughout the movie make it clear he has a low opinion of the usefulness of many bureacratic functions. For that matter, all politicians come in for a bit of acerbic and, I must admit, probably deserved wit at their expense.
All of these things are primarily side issues, however. Most of the time is consumed with a search for the answer to life's question...we learn early on the answer is 42.
Throughout the journey Dent is out of place, simpering, and useless. Yet somehow, the beautiful girl, who seems to serve no function other than to look nice and get into trouble, falls for him as opposed to the dynamic, incompetent yet effective (it makes more sense if you see the movie) President of the galaxy...the man she left Dent and earth with. Uhm...okay.
At long last they find that the computer designed to answer the question of what life is all about was Earth...which, of course, was destroyed in the opening sequence.
THis discovery comes in the midst of a long sequence where all worlds are just constructed by this inter-galactic construction company, mice are the smartest things on earth, and people are simply parts of a computer program.
Dent decides the meanign of life is unimportant, but being happy with a woman is important. Apparently for Douglas Adams, happiness between two people is the meaning of life.
Is that true? I certainly hope not. In a world where people blithely ask for a "fairy tale romance" ( http://portland.craigslist.org/w4m/75889280.html) and plan for their marriages to fail (I refer you to exhibit A, pre-nup agreements; why on earth would you have an exit plan in place if you did not believe it was going to happen? In many ways, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Maybe it is time to change the vows from "Til Death Do us Part" to "UNtil we have an argument or someone better comes along or we get bored"), it seems to me that happiness in that regard is incredibly hard to find.
Face facts, people. Real love requires work and sacrifice. It needs you to be willing to get out of bed at 3 in the morning when you have to be up at 5 because your loved one is sick or thirsty or the baby is crying. It means going places you don't want to go and smiling when you meet people you internally dislike because it makes your better half happy.
And I do mean that better half thing. If you do not regard that other person as the best thing that ever happened to you then you have picked the wrong person.
Furthermore, if the biggest question in the universe is who will bring personal happiness to me, then why bother at all? It isn't going to work out for most people, according to statistics. Only a handful of people will become truly wealthy, most people will encounter health problems, financial difficulties, and other issues.
Life has to mean more. I, of course, believe there is a God and He has told us what life means. I just feel bad for the people for whom all life means is 75 years of trying to find "the one" only to find out what the actually got was...the other one.