When I was younger, The Notebook was one of my favorite romances. Who could forget Noah and Allie’s kiss in the rain? (He wrote her 365 letters! One for every day of the year!) Of course, Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams’s chemistry only added to the ideal love story. I hadn’t seen the 2000s classic since I was probably 15 years old, but a couple of weeks ago, one of my roommates decided to watch the film. Yet, now being a 20-year-old woman in 2019, my reactions were pretty different than when I was an innocent high school teen:
Alright, we’re starting with the classic Nicholas Sparks opening credits. Lots of nature, there’s some water, and of course slow, romantic music.
Ok… is he really risking his life to ask her out? What happened to “no means no”?
Aw…okay cute first date! Maybe I can root for them after all.
Ok they fight a lot. Maybe this isn’t the best relationship?
Allie’s parents really suck.
Ok so it’s over, but maybe that’s for the best.
Ok, now we’re in the future. Noah has gone crazy, and Allie found a new man.
Noah is horrible to his girlfriend, and Allie is leaving her fiancé to cheat on him.
He wrote her 365 letters!!!!
And after all of that, they’re together.
Now back to the elderly home and preparing myself for the sad part.
Honestly, that ending still gets me.
In the #MeToo era, The Notebook might not be the most romantic movie. Honestly, this film probably wouldn’t do as well if it was released today. I definitely watched The Notebook with a more critical eye being wiser and more educated, but for its time, The Notebook was a classic and always will be. What’s most important is that we view it now through a 2019-lens. I’m not trying to ruin a classic 2000’s era romance, but I can’t see the movie the same way I did before. I’ll still treasure Allie and Noah’s romance, and that final scene will always have me in tears.