Consider This Our Meet-Cute

It's a truth universally acknowledged that our media simply doesn't take romance seriously.

Far too many critics are openly dismissive of messy things like love and sentiment. Earnestness is considered cringe, and vulnerability is presented as a weakness. Pundits frequently look down on anything that isn't a serious drama, writing off entire groups of viewers as somehow lesser and/or unserious simply because they hope some specific set of characters will kiss. Love — the great animating force of humanity — is dismissed as unnecessary, at best; solely to serve the interests of irritating fangirls at worst. (But here's a spoiler for you: Fangirl isn't a dirty word, and more specific sets of characters should kiss.)

Look, I realize the world is awful right now. Maybe it is a little shallow (or possibly even selfish) of me to start this project at this particular moment, when so many people are struggling in ways that go well beyond one unemployed writer who's currently out of a job. But I also think that our current moment is a big, big reason we, as a culture, need to embrace more romance in our media. We desperately need stories that are grounded in emotional connection, that prioritize vulnerability and joy, and that allow space for all types of love to be celebrated. That lets the couple you've been hoping would just get together already take a leap of faith.

In short: We need to ship harder.

That's what I'm hoping to do here. A former colleague of mine once joked that I could find a couple to root for in any piece of media, whether or not they had a snowball's chance in hell of ever actually becoming canon. I wear that as a badge of honor, honestly. Canon may not be for everyone, but connection sure is. (And I should warn all of you, I'm absolutely going to write about some relationship you're either unfamiliar with or don't like at some point. Buckle up.)

It felt most appropriate to announce this thing on Valentine's Day (obviously), but there's a lot of work in progress happening here. Bear with me, and we'll see how it all shakes out. (Don't worry, though, I'm not planning to email every post to every subscriber. More like a weekly roundup situation and an occasional one-off if it's something I'm super proud of.)

Feel free to subscribe in the meantime, if only to let me know that someone besides me is planning to read this thing. 💕