With even more hype on the holiday than usual due to the new release of, “Valentine’s Day,” I find myself baffled as to why this should be so. Though I have not seen the movie, one can guess it is full of “cute,” sappy, romantic scenes in which the audience responds with tears of joy for the character’s fairy tale endings. And then everyone will hold hands and be happy.
Sorry kids, but no.
I have nothing against Valentine’s Day at all, and it can turn out to be “cute,” meaningful and unique, but those are usually the kinds of moments that are not taken directly from films or magazine advice sections. They are taken from the heart; hence, the real meaning of Valentine’s Day. These days, not only is the holiday commercialized, but it is used to replace what feelings should be normally expressed every day in a relationship.
To me, just because a movie is embellishing an already commercialized holiday, does not make it any more important than usual. Unfortunately, the reactions from this film will most likely be women expecting their men to go over and above this year, since they will want to live up to the expectations of a false reality that is the world of entertainment.
But if anyone has seen the film, “500 Days of Summer,” (which I highly recommend), they will know that the main character Tom said, “It’s these cards, and the movies and the pop songs, they’re to blame for all the lies and the heartache, everything. We’re responsible. I’M responsible. I think we do a bad thing here. People should be able to say how they feel, how they really feel, not you know, some words that some stranger put in their mouth. Words like love, that don’t mean anything. Sorry, I’m sorry, I um, I quit. There’s enough bullsh*t in the world without my help.”
In this sad reality, Valentine’s Day has essentially turned into another reason for gift-giving. Another reason for the expansion of our already greedy world. Women should not have to be given gifts to be told they are loved. If there were no gift-giving involved in Valentine’s Day, there would be no holiday. It would just be like any other day. So really, it just shows that people should treat their significant other with care and love every day. There’s no need to embellish what is already there, if it is.
Furthermore, women should not expect anything either. That’s essentially what the holiday has turned into. Men making a mad rush to the local jewelry store in hopes that their loved one will adore it. But if men know the gift is typical and overused, and women only want it because it is expensive, wouldn’t men know that it is not the perfect gift to accurately express their love? Don’t we know material items do not mean anything? Ironically enough, Valentine’s Day is supposed to be about everything not material.
And we wonder why some relationships end on the apparently most romantic day of the year.
Just think: if Valentine’s Day was nonexistent, a large amount of relationships would be salvaged, at least for a short time. In that sense, Valentine’s Day sometimes does more harm than good. However, I do not want the holiday to be nonexistent; rather, it should realistically be every single day. Why should there only be one day where men and women feel free to express their true emotions?
In short, love is love, regardless. And that should be enough to celebrate the perfect Valentine’s Day.
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