As a university student at a Scottish University, I eagerly awaited the new series ‘One Day’ which begins on the night of Edinburgh University’s graduation on the 15th July, 1988. Picture the scene in Parliament Square: a flurry of puffed out dresses, black tie and music pulsing in the open air until the early hours of the morning. On the last night before the rest of their lives, Emma and Dexter meet, not realising that they will continue to see each other for the next 20 years. A ‘situationship’, to use the modern term, encapsulates their relationship for the next two decades. But here, the ‘will they won’t they’ key feature of any rom com is taken to the extreme as – spoiler alert – it takes the protagonists until the penultimate episode to get together. Despite this, the more ‘traditional’ elements centred in the series, such as letter writing and payphone answer messages bring back not only feelings of nostalgia, but how much human relationships have evolved in the modern age. To take ourselves back 30 odd years, we are greeted not only with good style, music and nightlife, but also we can learn something from the traditional British rom(com).
Throughout the series, we are transported back to the 90s, with a distinct lack of internet and, more specifically, dating apps. A few ‘years’ into the series, the first mobile phones arise, yet notably Emma refuses to use one which leads to Dexter leaving a number of heartfelt messages on her answer machine. With no screen to hide behind, and no option to delete that late night Whatsapp, leaving an answerphone message in the past was uncurated, a true representation of how you really felt. From the moment they are apart, the protagonists write to each other and send souvenirs from wherever they are in the world. The dying art form of letter writing is slowly reducing our relationships to instant connection, one which requires little to no thought or consideration. Before the digital age, if you liked someone, you had to be willing to make more of an effort to stay connected, ultimately leading to a stronger relationship. Again, the letters written during the series provide very few places to hide and when we learn that Emma has kept every single one of Dexter’s letters, it’s clear that they mean more to her than meets the eye.
Currently, with the largest ever rise in social media fuelling our lives, face-to-face meetings are decreasing. Although technology has evolved, the evocative response to ‘One Day’ has shown us that people – Gen Z included – appreciate the possibilities around meeting potential romantic partners for the first time in person. Controversial as it may be, there is hope beyond ‘Hinge’ as human connection is always going to be stronger ‘offline’ than behind the screen. One of the reasons for the show’s mass popularity is the possibility evoked by the characters, each episode we are left wondering which turn the relationship could take.
The prolonged long-distance friendship between Emma and Dexter seemingly provides them with a strong foundation for their eventual relationship. The strength of the friendship, having been through a multitude of tests, transcends into the scene when the two finally get together. The moment Emma says ‘I thought I’d finally got rid of you’ and Dexter replies ‘I don’t think you can’, is the realisation that their bond is unbreakable. There is no doubt that friendships are often based on a deep emotional level, which can enhance the bond in all relationships.
‘One Day’, a seemingly charming love story with buckets of 90s nostalgia, has taught us much more about ‘traditional romance’ than we could have ever imagined. The lives of Dexter and Emma have unwittingly provided not only a compelling on screen relationship, but they have evoked the possibility to once more be less reliant on technology and more open to face-to-face meetings. As for the next few years following the series release, I expect an increase in applications to Edinburgh University and even more tourists taking pictures in Parliament Square.