In the immortal words of Theo Kojak, “Who loves you, baby?”
There’s no overselling the importance of love in entertainment. It inspires operas, it compels good characters to do both wonderful and terrible things, and it acts in some way as a plot motivator in almost every meaningful story we tell. I know this may surprise you, but The Notebook (as it turns out) wasn’t actually about a notebook.
I mean, we even love entertainment! We love it enough to rush to the theater when important films drop, score tickets to our favorite concerts, and tune in on time when our favorite network shows air. Ask any adamant Star Wars fan how they feel about the series, and they’ll tell you.
Yet, love remains a complex element that permeates the films, plays, concerts, albums, and shows we consume. It’s not always smiles and rainbows. In entertainment, love can be a destructive force just as commonly as a motivating one. There’s a reason that break-up songs are so popular, after all (it can be very hard to do). In honor of Valentine’s Day, let’s look at a few instances of love in entertainment.
Love on Film
Toy Story (1995)
While the ongoing series eventually deals with romantic love, the appeal of Pixar’s first feature was the brotherly bond formed between its two main characters, Woody and Buzz. In a story of jealousy (incidentally motivated by an aging toy’s love for its owner, and in turn, that owner’s love of a newer toy), the film deals with feelings of being forgotten, left behind, and tossed aside. One of the many reasons it still resonates with so many people after so many years is the very human relatability of the journey Woody takes toward a renewed sense of self-worth and a dynamic relationship with his new frenemy.
Moonlight (2016)
This film really touches on it all—romantic love, familial love, forbidden love—in a way that feels fresh and new. One of the many reasons it made such a cultural impact is that Moonlight showed some very commonly depicted feelings and relationships set in spaces and between people that haven’t been given as much opportunity to be seen. Love is a universal language, as wonderfully complicated and heartbreaking as it can be, and this film widens the audience’s perspective of what that means.
Love on TV
How I Met Your Mother (2005)
Sure, this show is mostly good fun—silly, ridiculous, absurd—but isn’t that what young love is? Forget for a moment that the lead character is on a nine-season-long quest to find his soul mate, he does so alongside friends who are as close to a family as he’ll ever have. They root for each other. Hurt each other. And sometimes, they fall in love with each other. And this bond means so much to our lead character that the show is framed by his recounting of his love quest to his children many years later. Crazy as the hijinks might be, How I Met Your Mother is … well … a love letter.
Breaking Bad (2008)
As we’ve mentioned, love can be destructive and complicated. Breaking Bad is the perfect example of someone loving their family so much, they compromise every moral they have to do terrible things. Now, this show is nuanced and complex, dealing with a character who has ambiguous tendencies to begin with, but Walter White (Bryan Cranston) sets down his path to become an urban legend-level drug monger because he wants to take care of his family. Upon learning that he will likely die, this run-of-the-mill schoolteacher breaks the law, cooks harmful drugs, and hurts people all in the name of devotion. And before it becomes an interesting study of narcissism, Breaking Bad demonstrates how the power of love is enough to make a good man bad.
Love in Music
Easy On Me (Adele, 2021)
Want to scream out your feelings with reckless abandon while cruising down the freeway? It’s hard to pick a better artist to help you get in touch with a heartbreak than Adele, and this 2021 single is no exception. A modern-day Etta James, Adele leverages her astounding vocal talent against songwriting and lyrics that echo every emotion you experience on the best and worst days of your romantic life. And with “Easy On Me,” the artist asserts her maturity as she begs for time and patience to deal with a hurt that has shaken her world.
All You Need Is Love (The Beatles, 1967)
In maybe the simplest distillation of the band’s overall message, Lennon and McCartney’s “All You Need Is Love” has become more an optimist’s battle cry than a love song over the last fifty years. Written primarily by John Lennon for Our World (the first ever live global television link), the song was performed live for an audience of over 400 million people in 25 countries. With intentionally simplistic lyrics and equally complex arrangement, this song momentarily united the whole world in a singular swoon.
Scroll through your streaming queue and you’ll be hard pressed to find content that doesn’t in some way find itself motivated by our most basic emotional human need. So as Cupid pulls back his bow this Valentine’s Day, close your eyes and listen to the heartbreaking sounds on the radio. Whether you’re in love, hurting because of love, or just plain lovely, you are likely (as Queen B says) “Crazy in Love”.