Love is captured, written, and recorded. From heartfelt monologues to subtle gestures, media has accustomed its audience with the language of romance. Whether it is the nostalgia present on the TV screen when watching old rom-coms or the thrill of modern romance novels, Oberlin students reflect on the different forms of media that set the tone for love this Valentine’s Day. 

These interviews have been edited for length and clarity.

College fourth-year Yuji Kono:

One of my all time favorite movies is Your Name. In that story, there’s a sense of keeping someone in your mind for a while and this idea of suddenly coming so close to seeing each other. It’s a will they, won’t they, and then it just misses. That destroys me, and I love it.

College fourth-year Ella Erdahl:

I love reading romance novels. I’m currently reading The True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren. Every time it gets around Valentine’s Day, I always get a trashy romance novel on my Libby app, and I read that in the weeks surrounding Valentine’s Day. I also really like chick flicks — the trashier the better. I see Valentine’s Day as something that’s kind of cheesy and cute. The trashy romance novels, the trashy movies — they lean into the cheesiness. They lean into the camp, and I appreciate that they recognize that while still having the sweet story you can get invested in without getting too pretentious about it.

College fourth-year Josh Dawson:

I listen to a lot of folksy music with heartfelt lyrics. It reminds me of romantic love but also just the connection between people; I think that [kind of] love is more transcendental than romantic love is. There are so many multifaceted ways to love people, and I like music that is representative of that fact.

College third-year Ava Hauswirth:

I’m a musician, so my primary medium that I like is music. I do care a lot about the lyrics, but [as a violinist], I gravitate towards pieces of music that incorporate more orchestral instruments into them —I find it sounds more romantic, especially if it’s strings. I also gravitate toward the feel of the song and what it reminds me of in my own life. Even though some of [Lana Del Rey’s] songs are sad and not as romantic, there is something about her voice and the quality of the music that she produces that sounds very romantic and rich in tone.

College second-year Claudia Lausch:

The media I consume that reminds me the most of romance is old romance music from the ’50s and ’60s — artists like Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra — because it reminds me of what my parents would play when I was a kid.

College first-year Jackie Shugert:

I love rom coms. One of my favorites is 10 Things I Hate About You. I’m more drawn to teen romance … portrayed in a rom com because they feel closer to my age and tend to be funny and relatable. I also like ones that are fun to watch with friends that I might not necessarily watch with my partner. 

College first-year Clara Fass:

What comes to mind specifically is When Harry Met Sally. I feel like there’s not that [many] good Valentine’s Day or love-related media that’s particularly recent. I think a lot of it is the older stuff. There’s something about current media that doesn’t necessarily reflect the same values, it’s a lot more — ironically — romanticized and not as realistic or emotionally intelligent. It’s a lot more surface level. One that I really love that is fairly recent is La La Land and how they don’t actually end up together because there is so much of what’s unexpected in real life. It was really beautiful to see that these two people experienced love, and that changed their lives enough to make a movie, but it didn’t necessarily end with them together. I thought that was very beautiful.