When watching a TV show, we all have a favorite relationship that we fantasize about. However, the way certain couples portray us can distort our perception, making us unable to distinguish between what is normal and what is not.
Viewers love drama, so it’s not uncommon for them to send two characters who have done horrible things to each other, like cheating, dating over and over again, or verbally abusing each other.
We constantly seek to share positive thoughts about love, but we also want our readers to understand that not all couples on television are shining examples of couple goals.
Bella and Edward, Twilight
Despite their success, the Twilight novels and films have been heavily criticized for years and for many reasons, the main one being Bella and Edward’s toxic relationship. The story revolves around the romance between the vampire Edward Cullen and the deadly Bella Swan, who overcome various challenges to remain united forever.
They found their relationship between fear and control, with him pursuing her under the guise of “protection” and “pity for her”, but his influence over Bella was such that even when he left, she was still under his command.
Edward often comes into Bella’s room and watches her sleep. Then there are Bella’s bouts of severe anxiety when she can’t be with Edward. Finally, she gives up everything for him and agrees to become a vampire so they can be together forever.
Noah and Allie, The Notebook
The story of Noah, the poor young man, and Allie, the elegant aristocrat, who fought against their class and family to make their love triumph, made The Notebook a bestseller. However, all that glitters is not gold, and many experts have said that their relationship is not healthy.
For the most part, the two lovebirds barely knew each other; their romance only lasted one summer before they reconciled nearly a decade later, but all we witness is their passion and desire. As a result, there is no foundation on which to build a secure marriage that will last forever. In fact, their relationship is absolutely implausible.
To make matters worse for Allie, Noah has a strange attitude towards her: he writes her letters every day and builds her dream house to prove he’s the perfect romantic guy, but otherwise, Noah is obsessive.
He doesn’t take no for an answer, is verbally abusive, uses emotional manipulation, and even threatens suicide if she doesn’t agree to go out with him.
Christian and Anastasia, Fifty Shades of Grey
Since Fifty Shades of Gray started out as fanfic, we can certainly assume that the love story between the lovely Anastasia and the dark Christian Gray is highly idealized. The Fifty Shades of Gray trilogy and film idealize an abusive relationship.
A type of abusive behavior that comprises recurring occurrences in which one (Christian) humiliates, isolates, intimidates and dominates another person (Anastasia).
Christian Gray is a control freak who wants to rule Ana’s life. He is always looking out for her and the people she is with and even bought the company she worked for.
Every time Ana voices her concerns to him, he ignores her. Christian is very possessive, but Ana always justifies his behavior because of his childhood trauma and tries to help him get over it. This underlines the typical “Red Cross nurse” syndrome.
There are other situations where the two have gender disparities; For example, Christian Gray doesn’t even want her to work, so he prefers her to stay home while he earns all the money.
Also, their relationship in the movies and books lacks basic communication, respect, and empathy. Instead, most conversations are about jealousy.
Ross and Rachel, Friends
We all love Friends and the drama that comes with it, and we all wish that Ross and Rachel had gotten together at some point. Despite being one of the most popular couples in television history, their relationship also displayed a lot of toxic behavior.
Since high school, Ross has been the typical geek, head over heels for Rachel, who, on the other hand, was the typical rich and popular girl who always thought of him as Monica’s loser brother. Their relationship had many problems. They both lacked the ability to trust and respect each other, which resulted in them blaming each other.
While Ross can be charming and helpful, most of the time he was that man who wasn’t sure of his manhood. When they finally get together, Ross becomes jealous of Rachel’s co-worker and his envy leads to a breakup.
He refused to accept responsibility for betraying Rachel, stating that they were “on a break”. Ross lies to her multiple times: After getting married on a wild night in Vegas, he lies to Rachel about the annulment.
Rachel was extremely selfish towards Ross and her relationships. She was constantly jealous of Ross’s girlfriends. Rachel sabotages and disrupts Ross’s happy relationship with Julie, only to reject him after he breaks up with her.
She takes the baby and moves to Paris without informing Ross. She begged Ross to be with her whenever he was with someone else, but once he was single, she didn’t want him anymore.
Do you know of any other on-screen relationships that might exhibit toxic traits?
Preview photo credit Fifty Shades of Grey / Focus Features, The Notebook / New Line Cinema
