The word ‘Love’ came into wide play after many eras had already witnessed it in different forms and ways. Love first appeared as “lufu” in the earlier part of the history and then again during the Proto-Germanic time as “lubo”. So, how did “lubo” today become “love” with its very own market capital and economy?
Romantics would argue that “true love” always existed, when even the concept of happily married was first used in the mid-18th century. ‘Romeo and Juliet’ was a love story which happened in 3 days between two teenagers.
Anyways, love itself is a beautiful, beautiful thing, while it lasts. In love, we tend to reconstruct the pattern of our earliest childhood. We seek familiarity. These patterns are subconsciously ingrained in a child’s mind and later are utilised to pick people with whom recreation is possible. The sense of having something familiar – even trauma – makes us feel safe, warm. But love and romanticism has been brutally manipulated and twisted to fit into the realms of the prevailing trends of the society. What we are currently witnessing is the capitalization of love. A Capitalization with absurd amounts of positive and negative layers makes it a topic worth discussing. Given it a tag, it becomes a love market. It’s a market where people spend millions.
Love market boomed after the arrival of Tinder. Basically, the internet became the cupid. It’s a million-dollar market alone in India with an exponential potential for growth in next 5-10 years. It’s a market space worth cultivating as love, itself has become such a precious commodity. Some of the leading players in the Arena currently are, Tinder, Bumble, Hinge, just to name a few. We are witnessing love like never before, and while it’s a mesmerising site to see, it comes with its own Renato Teixeira da Silva’s. A serial killer who killed almost 14 people stretching over the span of 16 years using these dating apps. This was an extreme case scenario; the possibility of this happening is lower than it seems.
Another great gift that the world gave through capitalization is social divisions. As much one would like to ignore it, there’s no doubt that divisions and segregations exist in a society. Sometimes because of finances, other times because of education. But new divisions are being created. New standards to validate one’s social status are being nurtured. Raya, can be a perfect example of this new culture. It is an invite only dating app for exclusives, elites and celebrities. It’s a vicinity that will in future become a surefire way to validate an individual's social status. Another division created on the basis of IQ levels, Sapio, is a perfect example of this. What people often forget is that as much as one would like to function and co-exist with a person with similar IQ, most serial killers and murderers have quite high levels of intelligence quotient as well.
The layers provide capitalization for the many questions that now surround it. Dating apps were not the only way capitalization penetrated society. It was also through the ever-bustling communities on social media giants like Instagram and YouTube. They are constantly catering to people with similar lives, similar interests or people hungry and devoid of love. In a certain way they have glamorised and sensationalised the concept of love and romanticism. People are selling content, left, right & centre on the internet. Couple handled pages have an insane number of followers, and their content consumption is mind-boggling. They might not be selling a commodity, but they are selling an idea, so perfect that it is unattainable. Being in love, long-term isn’t as fancy as it might appear on the surface level. It's hard work, Afterall we are all crazy at some level. Everyone wants it but rarely people get it, and even when they do it's not what they expected it to be. That’s the point when disappointment starts to fracture a relationship.
The reason capitalization was so easily accepted by this generation and even the generations prior to them was simple. Dating apps understood the extent at which the economic system can influence this market and also found that the industry had big gaps that required bridging. They filled the deficiencies that the prior generation felt existed.
This modern society has developed enough to incubate each different idea of love. Even the future of romanticism, love, and relationships appears to have some structure to it now. Polygamy might be the next big advancement in the dating world. Arranged marriage market might collapse in the next decade.
But what is it that motivates an individual to seek love through relationships? This point is not for whom relationships are an extension of love. It is for the people who are seeking love through relationships, going the wrong way around. Of Course, the currency of love is very well understood by everybody engaged in it but many are in it out of the need of companionship, need to constantly have that one person. That person they can call “their human”. The need to have a person within an arm's reach. This brings us on the cusp of dissolving that thin border between having someone and possessing someone. This is pretty prevalent. Hearts break and no doubt, that is painful. The underlying problem here is that lost love is not considered love at all, certainly, it will exist through a different medium – memory – than touch or calls. We are being fed on a silver spoon that love majorly exists in the presence of a person. You can love a person and still not hold onto them. You can forgive a person and not forget what their mistake was. These things aren’t conditional to one another, as we have made them to be.
As much as Love Capitalism is working for the global economy, it is also vouching for the disintegration of the faith in being alone. Destroying the ability of people to be alone and not consider themselves lonely. Hype created around being in love, constantly jumping from one relationship to another does not leave time to reflect and act. The more we spiral down into this land with love currency, we understand that the difference between aloneness and loneliness has somehow melted together.
The point of my essay wasn’t to pick sides. It’s a simple take on finding a much neutral perspective on ‘the crazy kind of’ love. The sort of love that takes lives, makes teenagers get into relationships because the whole world is getting into one, one that makes possession the synonym of love and anything less is considered disappointing. Now is the time for us to accept a much toned-down version of romance, love, and relationships. So, yes, while Cupid isn’t crazy, it has indeed created some crazy notions about love.