If you’re into movies and television, then you’ve probably seen almost every romance trope known to man.
We have friends to lovers, enemies to lovers, star cross lovers, and of course, Cinderella lovers. Sadly, tried and true tropes are no longer appealing. People just aren’t buying the whole love conquers all theme. Now, we want drama, strife, struggle, and spicy love scenes. This is the reason why Richonne works from the Walking Dead. They are the power couple capturing a new but jaded audience with a new kind of love. This love isn’t the, I can’t live without you, love, or the, you had me at hello love. Richonne love isn’t a feel-good kind of love. Their love isn’t about how they make each other feel, but how they encourage one another to grow. So if you’re a huge Rick or Michonne fan. Or just a lover of all things Walking Dead fan, you’re going to want to watch this video.
Damsel, the fantasy horror movie airing on Netflix makes the bold statements that women of the new generation can no longer wait to be saved.
Nope, women are going to have to roll up their sleeves, rip the fabric off their dress and fend for themselves. Movies, such as Damsel and season six of the Walking Dead touch on the changing trends of modern society. We are long passed our cave man days, where we hooked up merely for survival. Back in the day, women needed a man. I mean, she really needed a man. She needed him to protect her from Cyber tooth tigers as well as other men. Also, she needed him to provide for her when she was nine months pregnant and while nursing a new born baby. For these reasons, many women are pre-wired to pick the strongest of the bunch. Men, simply had to prove their strength in order to win the favor of a beautiful women. We can see these theme playing out in The Walking Dead, season six. Rick, is able to bang his chest and show off his brawn to win the affections of his new love interest Jessie. And, in true caveman fashion, Rick takes out the competition by brutally killing Jessie’s husband. Now, he was an abusive asshole, but still.
The only problem with this relationship is that while Rick is a caveman, Jessie isn’t.
She is so dainty and sheltered that she’s lost virtually all of her primordial instincts to survive. When the fictional town of Alexandria gets raided by hundreds of flesh-eating zombies. She appears docile and powerless. She is submissively pretty while Rick barks out directions and commands. When the zombies attack her youngest child, she freezes, weeps, shaking her head in denial. C’mon Jessie, you can’t tap into the power of your cave woman ancestors to summon their strength to whip some zombie ass. Women are vicious, especially when protecting their young. But Jessie just folds, like a cheap suit. Jessie is the primary example of why survival love simply doesn’t work anymore. Under survival love many women are stuck with brutes who abuse and mistreat their them. Women are forced to stay in the house, barefoot and pregnant, never gaining the necessary skills to support themselves and their child. As a result, women are in constant need of a man, and may settle for one that isn’t the pick of the litter for safety and security.
Now, you may believe that women get the short end of the stick in survival love.
But I can assure you that’s not true. Men have to constantly be on guard, because there is always someone else out there ready and willing to take his place. Not to mention the stress of having to be the provider and protector. Rick, living in an apocalyptic world where food is scarce, and danger is lurking around every corner, slowly understands that he can’t protect his family. Or more importantly, he can’t protect someone like Jessie who is mostly dead weight. In real life, with the cost of living steadily increasing, men are now understanding that they can’t fully provide for their family. Wives, girlfriends, and mothers have to work. Only now, there is a power shift. Men can no longer be the primary providers and women can no longer be the primary nurturers. Couples need to strike a precarious balance that is foreign to our predecessors but detrimental to our survival as a species. This is why Richonne works. They have yin yang relationship that doesn’t adhere to traditionally gender roles and doesn’t comply to the corny Hollywood tropes that just aren’t believable.
Michonne is a warrior with a Katina and amputated zombies in tow.
While Rick is a gun slinging ax throwing soldier, with a wicked temper. Unlike Jessie, Michonne has no issue taping into her inner warrior, and using all of her cavewoman instincts to fuck somebody up. Michonne in the third season of The Walking Dead was hardened by distressed, death, and disappointment. Rick’s journey was very similar. Can you imagine, getting shot, fighting for your life, only to wake up at the brink of a zombie apocalypse. C’mon, Rick’s life is like a daytime soap opera. Just check out the story line. His wife is loyal and loving before the apocalypse but turns into a complete whore when all hell breaks loose. She sleeps with Rick’s best friend, and then, to add insult to injury, she gets pregnant with his baby. Rick has to father a child, he knows isn’t his, but yet he struggles with this. It’s almost as if Rick is fighting an apocalyptic battle internally as well as externally. Perhaps the one thing that is great about this character is that he doesn’t always win.
Yep, Rick as taken his fair share of ass whipping. And in some cases, he was beaten down so badly that he didn’t know how to get back up.
That’s when Michonne comes into the picture. Michonne isn’t just Rick’s companion, she is his muse. She inspires him to go on living, after the strife, disappointment, and heartache has broken him beyond repair. She is his rock, giving him fleeting pieces of happiness and love in a world that is constantly seeking to break him. And that my friends is the primary difference between apocalyptic love and other types of love. Real love, or romantic love is all about how the other person makes you feel. While this new apocalyptic love is all about how the other person encourages you to grow.
With romantic love, we place such high expectations on our partners to satisfy virtually all of our desires.
We want them to be our therapist, our best friends, mind readers, psychics, and miracle workers. That’s a lot of pressure to put on someone who is not only battling their own demons but working hard to survive their own internal apocalypse. But this dynamic doesn’t exist with Richonne. They don’t need each other to be happy. They need each other to be complete. And if we incorporate their lessons into our own lives, then maybe we too can have better relationships. Instead of being transactional and keeping tabs on who is doing what, we can analyze our own behavior and discern how the people we love truly help us to grow.
What do you think about Richonne? What do you think about apocalyptic love? Please sound off in the comments below.
