What was once a wonderful day to celebrate the stoning of a saint has turned into something dark and unholy. That’s right, Valentine’s Day.
Geoffrey Chaucer’s original notion of courtly love has been
bastardized into a holiday of consumerism and impending loneliness. That’s
right, you can blame Geoffrey Chaucer and Hallmark for why you don’t want to
wake up on February 14. Poor guy turns a saint’s day into a day of love through
a dinky little poem, and he never got any royalties from greeting cards. I’ll
tell you that is a fact.
Full disclosure, I’m really not bitter about Valentine’s
Day, but vehement hatred is far more interesting than grave indifference. Really though, Valentine’s Day has turned
into another day of buying things for someone because you want to (have to), or
talking about being alone (because you have to).
So let’s talk rhetoric of the day of days. We’re heavily
sold the idea that certain ideas must be bought more a significant other on the
day. A card, candy, jewelry. Interesting how heteronormative and focused on
classic gender roles these expectations are.
I rest my case, with this.
I suppose in many ways, one could argue that all holidays
are based on rhetoric promoted by Hallmark’s sales, but few days are less
striking than the feared Valentine’s Day. Perhaps the stigma of being in a
relationship or not develops a unique kind of social rhetoric. At the end of
the day, Hallmark’s going to be in the black, mainly because the emotion of it
all tells us to consume consume consume, or we’re lacking. We’re unloved. We’re
always being persuaded to understand that a relationship is good and normal and
without it, you’re not complete. I would never argue that this isn’t true. We
all need to be loved in some way, or I’m pretty sure we all would end up like
the Unabomber, but we don’t all need a heart filled with chocolates on February
14 to live on.
At the end of the day, the rhetoric of any holiday is based
on expectations, and advertisers exploit this to get a buck.
If I were you, I’d celebrate the 15th and get all
the candy and things on the cheap. Beat the system but still have some
delicious cocoa goods.
I definitely agree with you when it comes to Valentine's Day. The sentiment behind it, showing those you love how much you care, is well intentioned, but has been turned into a "Hallmark Holiday". I just think it's a little odd that there's all this hype leading up to one day during which you are supposed to shower your loved one with gifts in order to adequately express your emotions. Why is there only one day? It's like you're supposed to do everything in one day, and then for the other 364 days do nothing. It just always seemed really odd to me.
ReplyDeleteValentines day is only overhyped and horrible if you make it horrible. I never understood the social pressure of why everyone must have a valentine, why not just treat it as a normal day. Yes, there are a myriad of Facebook statuses, tweets, sales, and advertisements about buying that special someone something but I do not see what is so important if you do not. Treat it as a day to celebrate the sentimental relationships you have with close friend. Maybe it is because I see it from a male perspective and men's emotions are different from women's emotions. I may sound completley ignorant here, but I am beginging to realizer how stupid it is sometimes to follow social norms and standards. Just because society tells you that you should have someone to love for the day does not mean you have to. Live life so you can be happy. However, if the problem is that you want a valentine and cannot get one, keep on complaining, cause then I would completely understand where you are coming from.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I personally agree with you 100%. It's just another day on the calender to me... I'm assuming you were just using "you" in the general sense.
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