A show that has been my latest Hulu addiction is 'Younger', which stars Sutton Foster and Hilary Duff. The premise of the show is that it explores the experiences of being a twenty-something in our society. A focal point of this show is age– hence the title 'Younger'. It is a show that heavily emphasizes how age should make the characters different, but actually proves how age is truly just a number, and they are all the same.
A major theme of the show is also love– which all of the lead characters–college aged, late twenties, and forties– must navigate.
A particular scene of the show that had me in awe was when one of the male-leads broke down in his office because the girl he was secretly in-love with was seeing someone else. This male-lead is a mature father, successful New-Yorker, and a level-headed CEO of a publishing house; but his affection for a woman-lead turned him into an anxious, pining, jealous man, acting on his emotions like a hormonal teenager.
This scene resulted in me having an "ah-hah" moment. Regardless of how old we become, it provides evidence that we can all succumb to the toxicity that love can provoke.
Humans are interesting in this way. No matter our distinctions– we are all fundamentally the same.
We may strive to be different. We may choose to differentiate ourselves by our hair color, fashion choices, music, careers, there are endless possibilities to making ourselves unique; but our physical differences are the only true distinction most of us have.
Of course there are distinctions in personalities and biological makeup too– but when we open ourselves up to the possibility of love– we all cave.
When we love someone, we become something else. We become desperate, jealous, possessive. We become addicted to the presence and the attention of our interest– that whomever we were desperately trying to be before, no longer takes priority– we just want to be theirs.
We can all relate to the modern societal affects love can have on us. We can all relate to stalking their social media, their exs, and their friends. We have our hearts slightly broken, or our stomachs drop a bit, when we are left on 'read' or 'open'. We desperately search for them in crowds. We try to come up with pathetic excuses or search for funny vids and memes to DM them to start a conversation. It's a process all of us who have loved in our society have gone through, may be going through currently, or will eventually go through.
We can all relate to the consequences falling in love can have– and this is what astonishes me the most. All throughout history people act out because of love. The toxicity of love has shaped history, started wars, caused deaths, builds our future, and is motivation for change. It doesn't matter our race, sexual orientation, or age, the consequences of love can affect us all the same.
