Romantic movies are the face of the Day of Romance. Just like what horror movies are to Halloween, romantic films are to Valentine’s Day. Stories of an idealized reflection of what romance could be, with grand gestures and loving notions, we curl up beside our gals and partners and watch these love stories unfold. And beyond that, movies are the medium in which we admire stories and their characters. They are the basis of what we want, a dream version of a job, person, place, and more and they show us insight into the most romantic of couples. But as great as they are, do we ever stop and wonder if we should really be idolizing these love stories or what makes them work so well.
And more often than not, the wrong couple is looked up to and admired. The most famous proof of this is none other than the one I have deemed The Worst Couple In Cinema, Edward Cullen and Bella Swan.
Originally a book series with the same title, Twilight was written by Stephanie Myers and the story would stretch a span of four books, all with a movie counterpart. The actual film Twilight wouldn’t grace our screens until 2008 when the world would become obsessed with Robert Pattinson’s Edward Cullen. Teenage girls were sent into a frenzy and a new age trend of vampires began, all trying to capture the indescribable essence of Twilight, though none came quite as close. However, a common thread between all these new vampire shows was the problematic and toxic nature of Bella and Edward.
The biggest gripe of the story was the large age difference between the pair, their entanglement began when Bella was 17 years and Edward was 104. It was already questionable that Edward chose to stay in high school, but it began to become problematic when he began his infatuation with the high school girl. And despite Bella pursuing him after the fact, Edward doesn’t put a stop to it until she is in danger because of his vampire culture. The situation doesn’t improve when they return to each other when Bella turns 18. Despite being a legal adult, it doesn’t stop the relationship from being inherently predatory as the large age gap allows for a power imbalance to be created. Despite Edward being mentally stuck at the age he was turned, 17, that doesn’t nullify the fact he has lived for decades longer than Bella, making room for the very clear fact that he has groomed Bella.
And despite the clear power imbalance, the fault doesn’t completely fall on Edward as Bella is oftentimes equally as toxic as the vampire himself. In the second film, New Moon, after Edward leaves Bella, she learns that ghosts of Edward would show up to ward her away from danger and ask her to stop. Consequently, Bella would begin putting herself in dangerous situations to get Edward’s attention, from getting into a motorcycle accident to practically attempting to commit suicide. Around halfway through the film, Bella decides to jump off a cliff into rapid waters in an attempt to have Edward return. The only reason why she survived was because a separate character would rescue Bella after her attempt.
Truly their entire relationship is so unstable and toxic from the very beginning of each other’s infatuation for the other. The foundation of their relationship was Edward stalking Bella and breaking into her room to watch her sleep. It’s truly disturbing. And in the subtext of their entire love story, they never share a true type of “love”, at least not one we associate with actual romantic love. Edward’s attraction to Bella is based on an animalistic predisposition to Edward’s vampirical need to eat Bella. His initial reaction to her in the first film was from the heavy smell of her blood and from then on, Edward is morbidly curious about the girl because she is immune to his vampire power. Bella is the only person whose minds Edward cannot read and the journey of becoming a couple, Edward’s main pull towards her is unraveling the mystery as to why he cannot read her mind.
In a similar pattern, Bella’s love for Edward is not true romance but an all-encompassing desire to become a vampire herself. Throughout most of the first four films of the franchise, Bella is insistent on being turned into a vampire, often at the behest of Edward who constantly warns Bella how being a vampire isn’t a good thing. It can even be said that her desire to become a vampire fueled their wedding as Edward told her he would change her after they married.
As often as Bella and Edward are prized to be the icon of the last decade as the parable of true love, their relationship is in fact, quite broken. Their flaws have been hidden behind the curtain of the obsession of their fans’ love for the characters.
Though on the other spectrum of cinematic love, no one could be more in love than the titular Morticia and Gomez Addams. Seen throughout the decades, the pair have been part of an ensemble of eccentric characters deemed the Addams Family. As a subversion of the nuclear family often seen in most films, the Addams are meant to be the complete opposite with a gothic aesthetic to their look opposing the white picket fence of the Brady Bunch. Acting as the heads of the family, the pair are equally as strange as they are in love, equally obsessed with the other to subversive the parents who hate each other stereotype.
Gomez Addams is absolutely enthralled and obsessed with his wife, showering her with love and attention, and making sure she has her every need attended to. He somehow always makes time for her and indulges in her every want and need, like in the 1996 film Addams Family Values, the pair tango around a gala. This is only after the pair caresses the other after Gomez asks how long it has been since they last danced together to which Morticia responds with an enamored “Oh Gomez… hours”. Gomez’s love for Morticia is endless as his loving obsession for his love practically emanates off and through the screen. And from him, audiences would be blessed with one of the most romantic lines ever in a film, spoken over his sleeping wife.
“I would die for her. I would kill for her. Either way what bliss.”
And their love is anything but one-sided, as Morticia is equally as in love with Gomez as he is with her. And despite not having the same type of flair Gomez has in declaring his love for her, Morticia still has the same deep obsession for her husband as he does with her. She swoons over his words and practically smothers him in her love and deep kisses whenever she can.
She returns to the man’s poems of how much he loves her with his poetics and seems to revel in all the attention he gives her. And they truly have found their soulmate in a sea of billions as the pair have equal ways of strangeness that work so well with each other and despite their small differences, they embrace each other. As put into slang, they match each other’s freak.
They are incredibly compatible characters, not only in aesthetics purposes but beneath that in their character. They raise their children in similar ways, have similar parenting styles and both share a loving heart to embrace everyone that comes their way. Not only are they kind and in love with each other but equally as kind and loving to the world. And in the way they interact with their family, they have this deep care for them and raise all their children with pride and acceptance. And beyond their roles as caretakers, as individuals, they meld perfectly in hobbies and ways of loving each other. In an incredibly healthy behavior, the pair share hobbies and do them together, and even when they don’t they find ways to support them. This also overlaps with their habit of spending time with each other and finding ways to connect even after years of marriage.
In the original show called “The Addams Family”, it is shown multiple times the way the couple interacts and spends time together. Morticia fences with Gomez on multiple occasions and Gomez crochets and knits with Morticia and a scene that I love to highlight is how Morticia throws plates for Gomez to shoot. And even when either one is not participating in either hobby, they will still spend time with their partner admiring the other or simply speaking.
Not only do they embrace each other but their cultures as well. Gomez, clearly by his name, is a Mexican man and he loves to call Morticia cute nicknames in Spanish ranging from “querida” to “cara bella”. Morticia seemingly swoons whenever he calls her that, admitting on a multitude of occasions how much she loves to hear him call her that. Equally, Morticia speaks multiple languages and does not fail to call him a range of pet names. For example “bubelah” which is Yiddish and “mon cherie” which is French for my darling in the language. And it never fails to incite a positive reaction from Gomez.
The pair are truly one of the most loving and romantic couples to ever grace the silver screen. And in the spirit of Valentine’s Day, may we all be Morticia and Gomez then Bella and Edward.
