Santhana Kanapathippillai
*This article may contain spoilers*
Love in movies and TV shows pave the way for the idealisation of romantic gestures, making it more and more difficult for people to live up to these standards. Here are a few that made me fall in love with the characters and crave excitement and glamour in my own relationships.
10 Things I Hate About You, Patrick Verona and Kat Stratford
10 Things I Hate About You (1999) is the best coming of age rom-com I’ve ever seen. Not only is Heath Ledger completely and irrevocably gorgeous on his own, but his charm as Patrick is also entirely alluring. When I watched it with my housemate, who is a rugby lad and had never seen it before, even he was left gobsmacked and willing to drop everything for a chance with Patrick. The ‘ultimate display of romance’ in this film has to be when Patrick decided to grab Kat’s attention by singing in front of the entirety of their school’s sports field; he even gets the band involved and arranges a flash-mob that would woo Kat. The best thing about the scene was the way Patrick remained completely magnetic throughout, taking a romantic gesture that otherwise would have been soppy and cringy and turning it into a memorable display of love. The scene is made better by the fact that Heath chose the song himself, as the tunes the directors had suggested weren’t romantic enough. This scene is just incredibly feel-good and completely leaves you swooning for days.
Brokeback Mountain, Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar
A display of romance doesn’t need to be loud and huge, but can be seen in quiet displays of love that pave the way for someone to be freer
Brokeback Mountain (2005) is not a movie with large displays of romance or grand gestures, yet it exhibits such a great display of love. As the tagline reads on the poster, love really is a force of nature in this movie. The film ends with Ennis coming to terms with the fact that he is in fact a homosexual man, something he so desperately refused to believe, something that ended up ruining his life, his relationship with his wife and ultimately the beautiful, genuine love he shared with Jack. The last scene, to me, was an ultimate display of romance despite the fact it only involved Ennis. Without spoiling the movie, the final scene involves a great emotional rollercoaster. Jack’s love and relationship with Ennis allowed him to be himself. The scene involves a closet with two shirts. One Ennis’ and the other Jacks’, both intertwined together just as they should be. This scene, coupled with Ennis closing the closet door, is symbolic that the best display of romance Jack showed him is by allowing him to learn that it was okay to be the way he was. A display of romance doesn’t need to be loud and huge, but can be seen in quiet displays of love that pave the way for someone to be freer. (Side note: this movie also features Heath Ledger, who I believe is one of the best actors that has ever lived).
New Girl, Nick and Jess
Nick and Jess share some of the best chemistry I’ve ever seen on television. In this particular episode called ‘Birthday,’ which is in season 3, Nick struggles to distract Jess as he prepares for her birthday surprise. Usually, Jess would spend her birthday alone in the cinema, but Nick’s surprise involved a special video that he played to her in the same place she would go and wallow about being alone. Not only is this just a great display of romance because Nick had completely transformed a sad tradition of Jess’s into a memorable and beautiful surprise, but this is actually shocking of him. He goes above and beyond for someone he loves; this is particularly important because Nick is lazy and often hates doing anything that requires planning or effort. He puts all this aside for Jess. Also, the video is just so completely wholesome and something that Nick knows Jess would treasure; she loves all things to do with her friends so I know this video would have been the most perfect surprise.
A Star is Born, Jackson Maine and Ally
The ultimate display of love in this movie is the song Jackson writes for Ally. It’s completely breath-taking and honestly is the perfect song for those times when you just want to indulge in a great romantic tune. The song ‘I’ll Never Love Again,’ which Jackson plays for Ally on the piano, is just so incredibly raw and honest. He struggles with addiction but his relationship with Ally allowed him to find his love for music and performing again, which is such a moving element of the story. He touches on how she has completely changed his life for the better and just the simple description of how he never wants to “start another fire”, or “feel another kiss”, goes a long way in the exploration of how deeply he feels for Ally.
A successful ultimate display of romance doesn’t always need to be a huge grand gesture but one that actually stirs genuine feelings from you.
Santhana Kanapathippillai
Featured Image courtesy of Mayur Gala via Unsplash. Image use license found here. No changes made to this image.
In article trailer 1 courtesy of Movieclips Classic Trailers via youtube.com. No changes were made to this video.
In article trailer 2 courtesy of Trailer Chan via youtube.com. No changes were made to this video.
In article trailer 3 courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures via youtube.com. No changes were made to this video.
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