Tag: love

• Wuthering Heights

  I decided to spend my Valentine’s Day in the cinema with my roommate to watch the new Wuthering Heights film. I was obviously intrigued by the beauty of Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi, but every scene was breathtaking. As someone who analyzes every frame, I was distracted by all of the striking colors and symbols throughout the film. There were countless intricate details that added more depth than I was expecting, but the one that struck me the most was the detail of human skin, in particular, their backs. We see both Cathy and Heathcliff grow up together, and the beatings he got from her father as they both matured. The transition between childhood and adulthood is seamless using the scars on his back as the progression of age. 

  After his first beating, we see Cathy carefully eyeing the lined blood stains through the back of his white, sheer shirt as it slowly fades into scars on the back of adult Heathcliff. The very intense zoomed-in shot shows every sweat bead and raised piece of skin. The film tends to focus on his back through different points of the story, and we finally see parallels on Cathy’s wedding day. Nelly is helping her into her wedding corset, and she proposes that they postpone the wedding. At this point, Heathcliff has been gone a year already, and Nelly tells her they cannot. She continues to tighten the corset and eventually goes to tie it when Cathy stops her, “Tighter.” Nelly tells her she won’t be able to breathe, and Cathy then repeats again, “Tighter.” The frame gets close enough to see the lines on her back from the already tight corset and the blood that is starting to stain the white fabric. This scene exactly parallels Heathcliff’s scars and the stomach-turning intricacy of human skin. It almost represents the grotesque closeness that both characters have with each other to the point of pain. Both characters look so bedazzling, but once the camera zooms in, we see every imperfection of sweat and blood. 

  Heathcliff got his scars from deciding to protect Cathy, while Cathy inflicted them upon herself. I think this detail can be very telling for both of their characters. Heathcliff is selfless throughout most of the plot, doing anything he can to benefit Cathy. Cathy is shown to be egotistical, selfish, and impulsive in most of her decisions. Her pain is inflicted upon her because of her own decisions, while Heathcliff’s pain is because of Cathy’s decisions. Though neither of them is completely innocent regarding their constant miscommunication, these parallels of self-inflicted pain and forced pain are amazing insights throughout the film. 

  

  2026.02.24

• He’s Just Not That Into You

  As a woman, I think about this movie more often than I should. It was brought to my attention in one of my literary theory classes by my classmates, who were doing a presentation. Every woman in the room said that they show this movie to their friends and peers when they start to overthink their decisions regarding love. The opening scene of the movie depicts the close friendship that women have with one another, but also the disillusionment that we seem to pass on from generation to generation. 

  We see a little girl being bullied by a boy on the playground, and when she runs up to tell her mom, the only thing she says is “He’s doing that because he likes you.” This sentence brought me back to when I was young, and all the older women in my life told me the exact same thing. As much as it bothered me at first, I started to believe it. My friends were told similar fairytales, and they just seemed to evolve as we got older. 

  “He’s not calling because he thinks you’re too good for him.”

  “You’re just too mature for him right now.”

  “He’s intimidated by your beauty.”

  “He probably lost your number.”

  And so on and so forth. No matter what age I am, I hear these types of comments meant to make us feel better, but instead, they’re leading us to think that this is how women are meant to be treated. We allow ourselves to be continuously strung along and treated like shit, because that’s how all the women around us were treated. He doesn’t call when he says he will, or he’s not listening to you on your date because he’s had a rough day. But maybe the truth of the matter is that he’s just not that into you. 

  I have found myself repeating these very phrases to my friends, and It wasn’t until watching this film that I realized the mediocrity of it all. We’ve accepted that maybe women are much more complex and compassionate creatures, but in doing so, we’ve given men countless excuses for treating us subhuman. Many women have found solace in confiding in their friends, but we might be doing more harm than good in the long run. Many of these women end up settling for someone who isn’t enough, but they accept it because of the countless excuses given by their friends. This continuous cycle of delusion has only gotten worse with the age of social media, and now we have new terms and new phrases to feed to each other. 

  “His phone probably died.”

  “He didn’t mean to leave you on opened.”

  “He liked your Instagram story, that means he likes you.” 

  As I get older, it gets harder and harder to bear hearing these phrases, even though I know my friends and family are only trying to make me feel better. I still have to correct myself, but I’ve learned to say;

  “He just isn’t the one; you’ll find someone better.”

  “I would just block him; he isn’t worth your time.” 

  We feel a type of anxious excitement that comes with waiting by the phone, and we always assume that it’s that “spark” that makes us so excited to hear back from them, but it’s really the fear that they won’t call back instead of the joy we feel while actually talking to them. This term the “spark” has also given men more outs for being horrible partners as well as people. If we had friends who didn’t give us the time of day and never called back when they said they would, we would consider them bad friends. Why should relationships be any different? 

  My most valued expression as of late is “An extraordinary man is just an average woman.” This perfectly sums up the experience that the women in my life have experienced. We meet women who would give the world to you if they could, while a man who’s supposed to be your partner for life can’t even call you back or look into your eyes when you’re speaking.

  A very wise family member of mine always asks the same question when I tell her of my recent endeavors: “Is he fun or am I fun and he’s just there?” We see overly romanticized movies daily and assume that everything will just fall into place if you find a guy who checks all your boxes. But the truth is, when all is said and done, do you really enjoy being with him that much? Is it as fun as you imagined it to be?

  Though I would love to continue being a hopeless romantic, I’ve learned that real life doesn’t work that way. You aren’t the exception, but neither is he. 

  2026.02.10

• Is Love an Option?

  I was recently asked the question “Is Love an Option” by one of my close friends. Although I wouldn’t say I’ve experienced the cliche version of love that we all know it to be. I’ve experienced many different types of love: familial, platonic, and a type of romantic affection. Love comes in all shapes and sizes, but do we really know how it starts? Having a crush or being attracted to a person can come naturally or be all consuming, but love doesn’t follow that same criteria. Love is slow and almost goes unnoticed until you find that it’s already there. I’ve watched everyone around me fall in and out of love over the years, and it honestly never looks appealing. I’ve watched my friends fight over trivial things with their boyfriends but refuse to see their flaws at the same time. Once I decide to question them, I always get the same line: “You’ll understand when you’re in love.” 

  This remark used to irritate me; I felt like a child being scolded by an adult for something I couldn’t comprehend. Since I was young, I’ve loved the idea of romance, whether it be in books or films, I couldn’t get enough of it, but the way love is interpreted in these forms is very different to the real world. Love is scary and unsettling; you never really know the outcome. Yet we still continue to love as much as we can, over and over again. Maybe it’s humans that have this affliction; we are made to naturally crave love. Some have a worse affliction than others and take whatever they are given. Even the phrase “I love you” is confusing. It’s commonly said between friends and family, but when it comes to romantic relationships, no one has the answers. Everyone I know has said the phrase at different points in their relationships, and every single one of them still doesn’t think they got it right. Too early or too late, or the wrong timing altogether. Why is it that these types of relationships are so hard to navigate? Even the sayings regarding love make it sound unnerving: “Love makes you crazy” or “Love conquers all.” 

  For those like me, who haven’t experienced this form of love, it sounds frightening and controlling. Romantic love from an onlooker’s perspective doesn’t look pretty or desireable; it seems like something no human on earth has fully figured out. Every piece of literature I’ve read has been influenced by some sort of love, and it always ends with tragedy or change. All of these factors seem to indicate that love is necessary to human life and progression; everything we do involves love. Whether it be protecting our families, hugging our friends, or being with the ones we love. Even if I decided that love was an option, it seems as though humans can’t help but pick love again and again.  

  

  2026.01.20