I think we’ve all seen The Notebook. It’s a cute story of a young, summer love that prevails in the end. If you’re anything like me, you probably watched it years ago and loved it, but haven’t seen it for a while. Now that I’m older and more educated, I noticed a few things that concerned me.
(Courtesy of Epicstream.com)
1. Noah pressured Allie into dating him
The Ferris wheel scene is cute and all (and so is Ryan Gosling), but I noticed his incessant pressuring of her to date him even though she clearly said no…like three times.
(Courtesy of Thecut.com)
2. We’re made to feel like Lon Hammond is a bad guy
Lon Hammond is the man Allie is engaged to when she goes back to see Noah. When I was younger, I hated Lon and was angry at him. Why though? He was a complete gentleman and very kind to her. Now that I’m older and less blinded by the love story between Noah and Allie, I believe Lon was mistreated and shouldn’t have forgiven Allie. But he did–which is a true testament to his kind nature.
(Courtesy of Thelist.com)
3. Allie blatantly cheated on Lon and felt no blame
Allie went back to visit Noah as an engaged woman and cheated on Lon. Both Allie and Noah are at fault here as Noah knew she was engaged. Yes, I obviously wanted them to end up together still–but what they did was wrong. They should have gone about it in a better way.
(Courtesy of Giphy.com)
4. Allie and Noah did not have a healthy relationship
When they began dating, Noah admitted that they fought all the time. We even see scenes of her punching him. Their relationship was toxic–at least when they were younger.
Love stories are cute, and The Notebook is no exception. It’s a cute story of undying love and I still enjoyed the story. But is important for people who watch those movies to know that that is not real life and their actions are frivolous and often wrong.