Six Degrees (or more) of Separation

The topic arose in class that a romance could not be considered a perfect romance until the young maiden was wedded and bedded. This is an intriguing concept, and catalyzed a thought process that eventually led me to contemplate the intertwining relationship between sex and romance. In the early stages of cinema, sex seems to be all together absent with the exemption of innuendos alluding to the subject. But perhaps it is the absence (or repression) of sex that contributes to the romance of these stories. Freud was first to voice the term sexual repression, and was convinced it was the stifling of sexual instincts that led to many problems materialized in the psyche. It seems though, that the absence of sex in early manifestations of film indicated the collective romantic ideals held on sex by the general population. Now my theory on this subject is merely in it's infancy, but I'm beginning to believe the repression of sexual instincts is what causes true romance. If two people in love do not consummate, it lends a weight to their every touch that would not be held if they had sex. Their platonic actions must express their love for each other because they have not or can not be together intimately, thus lending a romance to their relationship unmatched in a consummated couples. If this theory is true, one could take it a step further and make the arguement that it is the sepparation of lovers, their inability to be together physically, intimately, or emotionally, that incites the greatest romance. Take, for example, Titanic, a movie often cited as an exemplary film of the romantic genre. The two lovers are sepparated by class boundaries, thus lending an air of romance to their courtship unmatched in a couple who have no barriers that lie between them to overcome. The death of the boy, the ultimate sepparation, lends a wistfullness and nostalgia to the story that would have otherwise been missing had the two lovers made it off the boat alive together. Thus I present to you, the reader, that the greatest romances are not those that end with the couple happily ever after, but, in fact, the romances that utterly sepparate the lovers from one another.