A Love (News)letter to Love at First Sight
Because ranking straight romances is surely the way to celebrate Pride Month.
Whenever trope discourse happens upon my timeline, I get personally attacked. I like a lot of tropes others do not, and I dislike tropes others like. At the end of the day, it’s never that serious since ultimately I think all tropes can be good or bad when done right or wrong. Naturally, I decided to look into one of my favorite “tropes” in the media : love at first sight, and decide when it was best and worst in the form of a ranking!
Love at first sight isn’t necessarily a popular trope... well, it’s not unpopular. It’s one of the more prominent tropes in pop culture. It has, in fact, been done time and time again and is quite iconic. However, on the internet it doesn’t seem as though people tend to really appreciate it. I, too, have the problem that it lacks development and makes relationships seem… forced. It can be used as a plot tactic to avoid having to write reasons for characters to fall in love or… develop a relationship. Discourse can be and has been had about whether it’s realistic, I am not here to get involved with realism in fiction, though. People particularly don’t like instalove, which isn’t inherently the same thing as “love at first sight”, but I do think every “love at first sight” story qualifies as instalove… right? I don’t know, I’m not the President of AO3. I actually never even considered myself a fan of “instalove” until I thought about the fact that I couldn’t possibly separate it from love at first sight. Love at first sight is just about as… insta as it gets.
FAQ : So… why do you even like it? You are so annoying sometimes, damn.
Alright…. Anyways, it’s just so magical to me. When two eyes meet across the crowded room, the music intensifies, the scene turns to slow motion, the chemistry when there aren’t even any words shared, the longing stares, their first interactions… if there’s a moment like that in your film, I am so sold and there is nothing more needed to convince me. Obviously, as I just described, I tend to appreciate this more on screen than in reading. I do believe a lot of the hate for it comes from booktok, book twitter, booktube and not from people discussing film and TV, and I think I can agree with that. I don’t think I can enjoy love at first sight without the inherent theatricality of it all… but wow do I love the theatricality of it on screen. I mean, not to discount all literary interpretations of it. Romeo and Juliet changed fiction forever and though it was a play, it’s mostly taught in classes and read in schools, the writing is what makes it iconic. Generally speaking, though, it’s a better trope in a visual medium and as such, I thought what a great idea it would be to discuss (and of course rank) movies and TVs best (and worst) love at first sight moments. I could’ve included books I’m sure… but I didn’t want to, and you just have to live with that.
Though I did watch a ton of clips in preparation for this I did limit it to movies and shows I have seen because… what if the rest of the movie ruins the love at first sight meet-cute? It would surely impact the ranking greatly! I have not seen The Notebook. Take that up with God.
WEST SIDE STORY (2021)
(Pictured Above : the lovely Rachel Zegler with a grown man sulking around a school gymnasium)
This is in last place solely for contextual reasons. This is my favorite movie I will list I do believe, and I do love a lot about the technical aspects of this scene. I love how it’s made to seem as though that when they lock eyes they are the only two people in the room. The music and the tempo shift when they go behind the bleachers, and the lighting changes, the choreography they do together, and when they get interrupted everything changes back. You really had to be there, it was gloriously envisioned. But I do fear I can’t get past the Ansel Elgort of it all. Not only can he not act and his presence is just unfortunate to watch on screen as a viewer… when you consider who he is as a person, watching him menacingly creep upon a teenage girl at a school dance (who was referred to as a kid in the scene prior) at his grown age just sends a shiver down my spine even reflecting on it. For existential reasons, it does rank last.
THE FAULT IN OUR STARS
You know, I had never considered this a love at first sight story. And actually maybe it doesn’t necessarily count? I don’t know, I never thought of it as instalove, but they were taking trips to Amsterdam together like a month after they started dating, I can’t very much differentiate it now. The more I try to argue that it isn’t the love at first sight trope, I have to think to myself… okay, I guess it was. They bump into each other at their little cancer group and they lock eyes and immediately are both chuckling and smiling and Ansel Elgort kept staring at her throughout the entire meeting and she didn’t… run (I never claimed she made the best decisions). Anyways, it doesn’t give me the same feeling of distress and horror as it does in West Side Story, but Ansel Elgort eerily staring at a defenseless teenage girl in a support group does still harbor a menacing quality to it, even if my nostalgia wants to blind myself from it.
WEST SIDE STORY (1961)
I generally prefer the new one to this one, but points for having the same vision without Ansel Elgort. Natalie Wood looked so pretty!
A STAR IS BORN (2018)
(Pictured Above : Lady Gaga as Ally no last name-Maine in A Star Is Born)
Nobody counted this scene in all of the lists I checked (it was one list) but to me this is such a pinnacle of Love At First Sight in cinema. Maybe it doesn’t count because it wasn’t immediate for Ally? But it still was something so serious and I’ve seen people count lesser scenes as Love At First Sight, so nobody can take this from me. The entire performance of La Vie En Rose was always one of my favorite scenes in the film and borderline one of my favorite musical moments in cinema altogether - I feel as though that’s a hot take and people aren’t going to get it but it’s very serious to me - and then ending with her locking eyes with Bradley Cooper. The slow motion, the close up, just wow. Le cinéma. Also, I have not seen any other A Star Is Born movie, again… take that up with God, I have nothing to say.
THE GREATEST SHOWMAN
The Greatest Showman is a fun time to just turn your brain off and not even slightly consider what is happening on your screen in context of real history. The moment where Zendaya is doing her little trapeze act and Zac Efron turns around and sees her just as she was coming up (? I don’t have the vernacular to better explain that), and everything turns into slow motion (an effect they used a lot throughout the movie, but it only really worked here for the ✨✨✨dramatics✨✨✨ of it all) wow, what a moment.
THE O.C.
Marissa and Ryan isn’t necessarily my favorite ship ever, but when I tell you the moment they first see each other on this show replays in my head frequently, I am not exaggerating. You don’t understand how much brainwave this occupies for me. They are the modern day love at first sight / star-crossed lovers trope Shakespeare set up for us and if I were a lesser person I would have ranked them higher… maybe they are one of my favorite ships ever and I didn’t realize it until I did this newsletter. Wow. You learn something new about yourself every day.
TITANIC (1997)
This was actually only included by request, because I don’t think I would’ve even considered this to be love at first sight. It has been a while since I’ve had time to watch a 3 and a half hour movie, I’m sorry! The grandeur and how gorgeous Kate Winslet looks makes this a stunning scene to witness. It’s a visually glorious movie altogether. They don’t make them like this anymore, even though I’m not the biggest fan of it altogether. Don’t boo me! I watched it when I was too young to #GetIt, and now I just never have time to revisit it because… who does? Still, I can’t take away the achievements it does have, and the stunning display of love at first sight is a plus. Especially when the fiancé character walks over to Rose, like ooh the dramatics. The set-up in a single clip with such little dialogue, wow.
CINDERELLA (1997) & CINDERELLA (2015)
I felt as though I didn’t do enough consideration for the Cinderella retellings when deciding my love at first sight list, or actually… Disney Princess movies in general, but I will give the 10s where 10s are due now. The moment in Brandy’s Cinderella where she and The Prince share their first interaction and then at the end of the movie when they recite their first conversation. Jaw-dropping. Spectacular. I don’t actually know if it qualifies as love at first sight, but there’s an entire song in the scene and everything, like I made the executive decision to count it, and for the narrative it serves as a love-at-first-sight meet cute, right? Right. And the 2015 Cinderella horse riding first meeting moment reminds me so much of Kate and Anthony’s first meeting in Bridgerton season 2 (they are riding horses, after all!) so of course I love it.
LES MISÉRABLES (2012)
Possibly a hot take? I’m sure some people would want this lower, but this is such a modern blueprint for love at first sight moments in the most basic sense of the concept. Marius sees Cosette from a slight distance, eyes meet, they both have immediate mutual love for one another through energies alone. Slow motion, music shift, no words shared. Added layer being Éponine being by Marius’ side displaying the love triangle clearly, added layer of Amanda Seyfried looking STUNNING as Cosette like she is a LITERAL princess. Later when Marius and Cosette finally have their first interaction, it’s one of the best songs in the entire film, A Heart Full Of Love. Although I’ve always been an Éponine stan, this movie captured the magic of pure love at first sight in such a way that others only could dream of accomplishing.
BRIDGERTON SEASON 2.
I know some people are probably going to be like “this does not count as love at first sight! They hated each other!” And would argue that a meet-cute isn’t inherently love at first sight, but like… it’s basically canon they loved each other since their little horse race moment and they just got thrown off-course for a variety of reasons, you simply have to give me this. I loved their back and forth and tension in their first meeting and how over time what you learn about their characters can recontextualize the entire scene. Also I love how well Simone and Jonathan work together. Very good scene and if you don’t think it counts here.. take it up with somebody who isn’t me, this is not a democracy!
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S ROMEO + JULIET (1996)
(Pictured Above : Claire Danes and Leonardo DiCaprio in Romeo + Juliet)
I suppose it’s only fitting that the crowning achievement of Love At First Sight would be a retelling of the blueprint itself. I actually quite dislike this movie, but that goshdarn fish tank scene. You guys, it is literally IMPRINTED in my head at all hours of the day. It’s so magical, it’s so glorious. Baz Luhrmann outdid himself in the vision he accomplished with what he captured here and Claire and Leo delivered it so brilliantly. Words can’t even properly explain it, just watching it has me filled with so much energy as though it’s not a tragedy. It actually legitimately sells me as a love at first sight too. Like Claire’s face acting? People criticize it to no end but it really looked like the expression of a teenage girl who fell in love with a boy for the first time, it’s so immediately entrancing with not a single line of dialogue shared. Magic, I tell you! I have seen other Romeo and Juliet movies, but why even discuss them when they don’t have this?
Of course, I could’ve never included every single movie or show to ever incorporate love at first sight in their narrative… this trope is centuries old, afterall. That would take a whole lot of time. I also took out some that I just didn’t want to include. I made executive decisions as I am the executive of this newsletter. I do feel bad that I made this issue during pride month without including a single gay ship… go watch First Kill now streaming on Netflix!
(Pictured Above : First Kill now streaming on Netflix. Let’s go, lesbians!)
“Who are you” “whoever you want me to be”