<Sniff, sniff>
Can you smell that?
That’s the fragrance of February, which means love is in the air. Whether you’re a diehard Cupid believer or a loner, singles partier, Valentines’ Day is just around the corner. And in response to the month of love, let’s revisit some of the best love stories of all time. So grab a box of tissues and just try not to get teary eyed.
Romeo + Juliet
William Shakespeare’s sonnets and stories are some of the most renown tales in all of literature. And when it comes to love, the man doesn’t shy away. Romeo + Juliet gave us the infamous tale of two star-crossed lovers forbidden to ever fall for one another because of their feuding family history. Yet, in the end, love always wins. Unfortunately, in Juliet’s case, Romeo was so grieved at the thought that she had “poisoned” herself that he committed the ultimate sacrifice to be with her – self-sacrifice with actual poison.
The Fault in our Stars
Love is a touching and often sad subject despite the happiness it brings to those in its power. So, when your two love subjects are teenage cancer patients that fall head-over-heels for each other, the stakes for the ultimate love adventure rise significantly, albeit briefly and sadly.
Titanic
Is it a prerequisite that all love stories end in tragedy? Because there’s a trend forming.
James Cameron’s epic love tale about a young, first-class woman who fears the rich yet imprisoned life she’s headed for, who meets a lucky third-class drifter aboard the greatest ship in history is anything but short on love. It’s one of the biggest ship wreck stories of all time, but it may also be one of the biggest love stories of all time. It’s the story of Jack and Rose … and never letting go.
Casablanca
What happens when your old lover shows up with her new husband needing help and challenges you with unforeseen complications, inevitable heartbreak and a decision that will change everything you thought you knew? One of the greatest love stories of all time happens, that’s what.
“Of all the gin joints, in all the towns, in all the world, she walks into mine …” Touché, Rick. We feel ya, man.
Paris and Helen of Troy
If one woman’s beauty can be attributed for the Trojan War, then it’s a love story worthy of this list. The “face that launched a thousand ships” tells the story of beautiful Queen Helena, the wife of King Menaelaus of Sparta, who ran away with Prince Paris, son of King Priam of Troy. Once King Menaleaus found out about his wife’s lover rendezvous with the perfumed playboy, Prince Paris, he grew outraged and gathered a massive fleet of Greece ships along with his brother, King Agamemnon of Argos, to sail off to Troy and teach him a lesson. Well that “lesson” became the Trojan War that lasted an entire decade.
Beauty and the Beast
Leave it up to Disney to really punch you in the feels with their love stories. And none does so better than the tale as old as rhyme. It’s an age-old story about a spoiled and rotten Prince who is outwardly turned into an ugly beast to match his inner ugliness. He takes Belle as a prisoner but then true Stockholm syndrome inspires as Belle and the Beast begin to fall in love, bringing out the best in one another. Mix in a talking clock and a candle stick, along with a few other speaking furniture items; a love race against a wilting rose that will seal the Beast in his animalistic form forever; and an overly boastful Belle-obsessed hunter named Gaston, who is more beast-like than any creature, and you’ve got one heck of a love story on your hands.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
What happens when two people fall madly in love but just so happen to age in conflicting directions. Yes, it’s pure fiction but the sentiment of love feels incredibly real. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button flips the script of birth and growing up on its head, as Benjamin ages in reverse – being born an old man and dying as a little baby. Mix in the human emotion of connection and an authentic love story of what will happen when Daisy, the love of his life, grows older as he gets younger with each ticking of the clock. The result is a love story that defies all odds and takes you on an adventure you’ll never forget.
Do you have your own documented love story that you want to preserve? Consider digitizing your old pictures, film and audio cassettes, so that those wedding photos, honeymoon videos and mixed tape gifts last the ultimate test of love – time.
