In the pantheon of great tv and movie couples there looms a few names that instantly invoke feelings of joy as well as a longing urge for that “real love” that many of us desperately want. Names like Martin and Gina, Monica and Quincy (Love and Basketball), Darius and Nina (Love Jones), Ross and Rachael (Friends), Haley and Nathan (One Tree Hill) Cliff and Clair (The Cosby Show), Whitley and Dwayne (A Different World) and a list of other names that can be found on various tv couples lists. Out of all of them few are more memorable than Corey and Topanga from the tv show Boy Meets World. Personally the show helped raised me in the 90’s introducing me to virtually every topic from love, marriage, college, high school, drugs and cheating, all in a way that was tasteful and engaging. The relationship between Corey and Topanga was beautiful as they personified everything that was right with love. On the other hand, the relationship between their friends, Shawn and Angela was the opposite. Difficult at times, confusing, and painful, their relationship endured a lot over the course of their duration. The older I get though the more I find myself longing more so for what Shawn and Angela shared. Brief, intense and chaotic their love is one that has left an indelible impression on me for years.
To me their relationship was more of a realistic portrayal of how love really works. The two of them began dating in college at Penbrooke and in spite of their chemistry and passion find themselves at odds frequently, alternating between on and off for years. Shawn, a gentle soul, has his fair share of demons that Angela’s love helps to soothe and Angela, finds solace in his need to love her, something that she lacks in her relationship with her family. Opposites in almost every way the love they shared connected them together and made their love feel more authentic and less story book. As a kid I could never understand why they could never seem to connect and be on the same page, but now as a man whose had various experiences with women I now am able to better understand why.
As much as they loved each other at their core they both had fundamentally different views on love and the power it holds. Shawn, a big fan of Corey’s relationship always held fast to the notion that in the end love was enough to get through virtually any obstacle and that even when everything said to the contrary to fight harder. Admirable, it was flawed ultimately. In the end Shawn learned his greatest lesson from love when Angela got the chance to leave with her father for Europe.
His heart longed for Angela to stay with him, but his mind he knew that she needed the time with her father who she rarely got the chance to see. The true test of love came when he had to give up what he wanted to allow her to be happy. Everything that they could have had and had previously showed me then that love can be a great experience that should be savored and valued in its time. J. Cole said it best ultimately: “Love is wanting more for someone than they want for themselves.” To love is to want to see the person you love grow with the hopes that together you can do that for each other.
Wright World 