#even if you don’t believe it was consummated or even requited it’s truly just fact at this point that john wanted paul

[franklyimissparis]

obviously i’m very biased but i think it’s so funny when people (primarily on beatles tiktok or twitter) are like “i love john and paul’s relationship but i hate when people say they weren’t platonic” like… those bitches GAY even if they didn’t fully realise it themselves at the time

[cto10121]

R&J (and WSS, Sadly) Clown Takes Part ♾ + 3

More satire claims, some WSS meta, and one assertion from a self-professed R&J fan that is truly…something. Let’s get started.

R&J, a political satire with literally zero politics and mild satire of the feud in the beginning, but with a super iconic balcony scene and several love scenes? WSS, a lovey-dovey musical focusing on the tribalism and poverty and racism with all of (2) love duets, and whom one of the creators admitted they didn’t give a damn about the romance, only the feud [22:45]? It’s less likely than you think.

OP had me in the first half, not gonna lie.

While OP makes a fair WSS point about Tony’s arc, the R&J is…less so. For one thing, the Friar couldn’t have immediately gone to the Prince because R&J needed to consummate their marriage first, and they could only do that at night. Otherwise, the Prince would have been forced, through sheer politics, to declare the marriage null and void, especially since it was done without the parents’ permission. The Friar could have also been punished for such a thing. Fate really did fuck up the Friar’s plan, and his Catholic Idiot Ball juggling didn’t help matters either.

Ay, ay, ay.

First off, as Romeo and Rosaline never dated, nor did Rosaline ever requite his feelings, Romeo’s relationship with Juliet can’t be said to be a rebound. That is just not what a rebound is. It’s an unrequited love Romeo moved on from, and rightly so.

Second off—a relationship based on deceit (R&J don’t deceive each other; Juliet lies to her parents, but for good reason), hormones (honestly, I can’t see adults doing better), and selfishness (hello, my lords Montague and Capulet, how do ye?)? Clown OP is painting on the makeup a little thickly, don’t they? Needless to say, R&J’s relationship have nothing to do with Mercutio’s and Tybalt’s deaths, since the duel wasn’t because of it.

BONUS: This bizarre assertion from this otherwise OK West Side Story review, at 7:03:

Romeo and Juliet are just these kids who think that knowing someone for all of five seconds is enough to say you are in love with them and that feeling that love is enough to just magically fix massive socio-political problems and the worst kinds of deeply ingrained tribalism. They’re incredibly naïve, but they are so sweet with each other…

With fans like these, who needs antis?

So obviously OP has taken her views on the play and characters chiefly from the Zeffirelli version (a really good adaptation, but an adaptation nevertheless), which shows in her preference for a doe-eyed Romeo. Needless to say, Romeo and Juliet do not give their opinion on the feud; the closest they get is Romeo’s cynical “Yet tell me not, for I have heard it all: Here’s much to do with hate / But more with love.” Juliet worries over the feud only as a danger to the safety of her love (i.e. her kinsmen finding out Romeo is here); hell, it doesn’t even occur to her that Romeo could be taking vengeance on her as his enemy by seducing her. Otherwise, the feud is not even a topic of conversation between them. There isn’t really the sense of “our love will change the world!1!1!1!” (which is chiefly why I dislike the Italian translation of RetJ’s “Aimer”). On the contrary, there is actually more the sense of a “oh, feud. That feud. Anyway—”

It’s the Friar, in fact, who canonically believes R&J’s marriage can end the feud. It’s why he marries them in the first place; it’s certainly not because he believes in their love.

So no, Romeo and Juliet are not naïve in that respect. Solipsistic, you could say—they are definitely the “our love or nothing” type of couple. As to the “know each other in five seconds,” while R&J are young and it’s 90% certain this is their first love, they don’t really read as romantically immature. Juliet knows about orgasms and thinks Romeo kisses “by th’book”; Romeo mopes over Rosaline not putting it out. Kids nowadays grow up so fast, I guess.