“But Daddy! I love him!”

Have you ever seen two people so clearly in love, that you can’t help but fantasize about how you wish you were in their shoes? Or maybe you’ve had a crush that opened you to these thoughts. Your mind gets flooded with all the perks of it; the hand holding, the flirtatious teasing, and for some, the goal of starting a family with that person. In a perfect world, every relationship works out for the best. In reality, some of them are more than meets the eye.

Growing up with television, I took note of a lot of romantic couples I looked up to: Lois and Hal (Malcolm in the Middle), Emily and Richard (Gilmore Girls), or even Phil and Vivian (The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air). As time went on, and I grew up, I took note of other couples, but not in the same positive lighting that I used to. Many couples were very toxic, but overlooked by people and the situation seen as “misunderstood”. The perfect example I have of this is the show Euphoria, Maddy and Nate. When I first heard about them, it sounded like nothing but abuse, physical and mental, with a dash of love-bombing and jealousy. You would think that this is textbook “You wouldn’t ever want to be in this relationship in real life”, but surprisingly, not many people think that online. Many people took to the internet and saw this couple and saw Nate as a man who struggled with his emotions and how Maddy was the only one who truly understood him. This is the theory of “It only works because they are hot”. Another example of this is Joe and Love from You; they’re obsessive, they’re serial killers, they’re hot. And just like Euphoria, same for You; people took to the internet to praise their passion for each other and “This relationship works because they match each other's freak!”. Now, I know there are some 30-somethings out there, nodding their heads thinking,“Yea! Everything is so toxic on shows nowadays since they’re aimed towards children! Older shows weren’t like that” WRONG! Everyone, I would like to introduce you to Ethel and Fred Mertz from I Love Lucy. This couple humiliated each other in front of friends, would call each other many forms of the word “ugly”, and even knock down each other's achievements to make themselves feel better. But, people would say “Oh! That’s just their dynamic”, all because they would kiss each other at the end of the show. Who wants to be in a relationship like that? And I can go on for hours about couples like these, that were simply glossed over because: both of them are misunderstood, they are both hot, or even “Well, the relationship doesn’t start out like that”. Bella and Edward from Twilight? Toxic. Greg and Rose Quartz from Steven Universe? Toxic. Beck and Jade from Victorious? Toxic. Piper and Alex from Orange is the New Black? Toxic. Any couple from Friends! And my personal favorite, Sasuke and Sakura from Naruto. The list goes on and on, and will continue to keep going on.

I don’t want it to come off as “I hate romance”, but I feel as though many people consuming these tropes need to understand the importance of them. They aren’t to show that these types of relationships need an hour long deep dive on “Why nobody understands how deep Olivia Pope and Fitzgerald Grant actually love each other”, but to bring awareness how messed up and hurtful these relationships actually are and what to be cautious of. A good exercise is that the next time you watch a show involving a couple is to imagine yourself in their shoes. Would you react like that without knowing what the audience knows? Would you like someone to say certain words to you? How quickly would you forgive them? What if this happened to someone you know? Why would they say these words when they’re supposed to love you? But despite this, I will still open Wattpad to read my Transformers enemies to lovers fanfic,starring Optimus Prime and Megatron.

My name is Alana (Tori) Cush and I am currently working on my BA in Public Relations, minoring in Creative Writing. To be honest, PR has opened a lot of opportunities for things that I want to work on. Originally, I wanted to run PR for a celebrity, but now I’m unsure about my plans for the future. I feel very open to anything and I love learning more about all the types of jobs in the world and how many people are involved with making things happen. Because of that, I may want to do something that involves more with travel and education that involves PR.