Nina Kaake
There once was a television character by the name of Allie McBeal. Allie with a successful business career, and her single white female lifestyle offers a unique window for the anthropologist. Allie shows the audience her inner fears and issues that cause her to question her existence. It seems that every time Valentines Day arrives she is still single. The world torments Allie, because North American culture expects someone like her to be happily settled down.
The following story will be the episode of Allie McBeal that was not televised.
It is February 14, 2002, and Allie is once again single. The morning begins with her regular routine, as she makes a pot of coffee and sits down to read the morning paper.
The cover story features a couple that planned to be married in all the spirit that St.
Valentine had ever intended. They look so happy and in love. The whole first section of the paper features more stories of the same nature. The trouble is Allie doesn’t even have a date. Inside her head she has a war going on. Logically she should not care, but the society she knows keeps reminding her of the importance of finding a man. Allie is tormented by the inability she has to participate in the valentine rituals.
Once Allie finally gets herself ready to take on the world, she finds herself submerged in surroundings full of mindless intoxication. It is as though everyone is under some sort of magic spell. Among the involved people, men worship the women in their life and women relish in the attention. Women are worshiped with gifts such as chocolate and diamond jewellery, and men graciously give with hopes of an evening full of erotic pleasure. The gifts are intended to cast a magic spell over the women that will make them very encouraged to participate in sexual behaviour. If the gifts do not meet the expectation of the women then the spell will not work. This requires the man to pay attention for the entire relationship looking for just the right gift to cast the spell. These traditions keep all involved exploding with anticipation for the entire day.
Then you have the helpless single people who are completely left out of the magic of the valentine ritual. Society portrays them as outcasts and they are expected to stay hidden and out of the way of the lovers. They might frantically try to find a date and attempt to participate, or wallow in the mists of the lovers. This torments them as they watch the events going on around them. These people suffer for the whole day, feeling left out and know they have failed the game of romance. This is where poor Allie fits.
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Allie is desperately affected by her inability to participate in the valentine ritual and decides to live vicariously through someone at work. She asks the secretary all about her anticipated evening. The secretary is quite excited and tells Allie the special dress and jewellery she intends to ware, along with the new perfume that will intoxicate him with sensuality. Allie is happy she asked, but disappointed it isn’t the other way around.
Even though the majority of the population is disappointed and unsuccessful on Valentines Day everyone continues to participate each year. Very few actually successfully cast the magic spell they had hoped too as they regretfully did not pay attention. The gift was not right, the restaurant was wrong and the evening ended at the front door of her apartment. They whole society sets themselves up to fail yet they continue to practice this valentine ritual. This day often will make or break a relationship, and the very next year it is possible that you yourself could find yourself an outcast and a failure in the game of love.
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