It’s a small, not very well kept secret that I’m a bit of a sentimental sap. I cry at weddings, I cry during movies, I cry whendescribing a Disney World commercial I once saw where the man buys his wife a glass slipper. It doesn’t take much, is what I’m saying.
I try to make up for it by writing about dead things a lot.
So when I noticed that my semi-official posting schedule would require a post the day after Valentine’s Day, I thought it’d be the perfect opportunity to write something dark and cynical and maybe a little bloody. An update to the Valentine’s Day massacre, for example. Or perhaps a list of little known marriage ceremonies which typically end with one or both spouse’s having their hearts ripped out and eaten by robots. But then I go and read something like <a href=”http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2012/02/14/146717078/a-brother-and-sister-get-married-and-later-their-son-tweets-it”>this</a> and I get all weepy and self-censory.
The fact is, while I despise gooey romance when applied to me, I love a good love story. I’m an abstract romantic: keep it fluffy and pink and at least ten feet away from me. I <i>loved</i> seeing all the men lined up at the florist section of the grocery store this evening, but if I had a significant other, I much would have preferred sitting on the sofa and watching Alien tonight.
Speaking of horror, why haven’t we seen more rom coms set against the fall of civilization? I know we often have love *interests* in apocalypse movies, where the meet-cute happens in the back of a Vet’s van being driven by a terminator, but why not a film which explores how to keep the romance alive while battling the undead? You’ve seen all the films, all the restaurants are gone, vacations are impossible, and ‘propagation of the species’ seems to be a line that will only work once in a marriage.
So I’d like to give a shout-out to the top… as many as I can think of moments in apocalyptic tv and film which seemed to surpass the gratuitous hookup and/or stereotypical emotional hook and showed a moment of real human connection.
1.) Walking Dead Season 2 where Daryl brings Carol a flower in order to give her hope over her daughter.
2) The Terminator suicide scene at the end of T2: Judgement Day (platonic love between a boy and his assassin robot totally counts)
3) Ellen Ripley and Corporal Hicks bonding over the inner workings of the pulse rifle in Aliens
4) Zombieland: almost all of it
5) Walle and Eva
Add your own!
Also, I am officially in love with this spambot message: “Hrm, Not the best post unfortunately. Sorry to be so blunt! You should try some Norwegian carrot cake ( ) to cheer you up instead.”
after ever after 