10 Comments

god, this is a topic i find so very interesting and that i’ve been having a lot of thoughts about (all similar to yours!!), but was never able to articulate quite right. i think one of the reason PR relationships even exist in the first place is because of the public’s parasocial relationship with said celebrities. also, love as an amalgam of actions and words stemmed from the feeling of loving, the commercial performance of it, and the romanticization of day to day life or personas on social media ... so well written!!!! <3

Expand full comment

Thank you so much!! The parasocial nature of it all definitely contribute’s to the public’s fascination with PR relationships, I hadn’t considered that part as deeply! But it’s definitely present - it’s like one big high school where everyone wants to talk about who’s with who.

Expand full comment

I have thought of this so much after reading seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo too . It does feel like it is all about PR.

Expand full comment

A lot of my thoughts about this were definitely inspired by The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo!

Expand full comment

This was so good! Especially loved the part about romanticization trends and the fact that social media actually strips the romance out of life.

Expand full comment

Thank you thank you! Taking a step away from social media (e.g. deleting Tik Tok) has made me realize just how unromantic it can be. And yet, “romanticization” somehow thrives on there! Maybe because it’s a more palatable version of it - it’s easier to sit and scroll on social media than sit still in a park. Either way, staring at screens leaves much to be desired.

Expand full comment

Love this one ! Your point about love being about action really resonates. It reminds me of a conversation I had with a new acquaintance once who asked me to define romantic love. I couldn’t describe it as anything other than an indescribable feeling and a cultivation of said feeling through actions.

Expand full comment

Absolutely - I’m a firm believer that love is a feeling of sorts but it can’t exactly exist mutually/between people without action. Love needs to be seen and heard for us to feel it!

Expand full comment

I am SO interested in this as a topic, especially around how our ability to authentically love others is affected by our constant exposure to love as this commercial product or performance

Expand full comment

I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one interested in this! It’s hard to even imagine what ~love~ would love like without thinking about how it’s been portrayed in commercial works like movies and TV shows.

Expand full comment