Ah, Valentine’s Day … the day where love, chocolate and flowers abound. I’ve never much paid attention to it. The only Valentine’s Day I have ever celebrated was spent at MacDonald’s.
It was a momentous occasion.
But, instead of languishing the dark depths of ‘I am so alone‘ I have decided to focus on one of my favourite fictional couples. Because … because. Just because.
… because there is no ‘Real Life Couple’ of which I am part. Let me weep. Let me wallow in my misery.
Nick and Nora Charles of the Thin Man movies
These two are marvelous. They are the very opposite of cliché. They solve murders and sip their beverages and walk their dog, Asta, and are so, so refreshingly not your typical movie couple.
They aren’t dramatic. They aren’t Romeo and Juliet. For one thing, neither of them are thirteen.
Yeah, Shakespeare, I’m lookin’ at you.
… and for another:
Nora: You know, that sounds like an interesting case. Why don’t you take it?
Nick: I haven’t the time. I’m much too busy seeing that you don’t lose any of the money I married you for.
dude’s a keeper
They also seem unaware that the key element of Fictional Romances (as a rule) are Misunderstandings. For instance, when Nora walks in on Nick with another woman in her arms, instead of acting horrified and storming out because her heart has been broken and will never, ever recover, this happens:
He pulls a face at her, she pulls a face back at him.
Situation = resolved.
I can only conclude that she trusts him. (What an astounding idea). All of which cements Nick and Nora Charles as one of the best fictional couples I have hitherto stumbled across.
He pulls a face at her, she pulls a face back at him.
of words & books 