Just received a confession on my side blog @prettylittleliarsconfessions that inspired this post (that has yet to be posted), but it really got my mind whirring…why do TV shows really go out of their way to romanticize abusive or toxic relationship “tropes”? Just in PLL:
– Anyone who disapproved of Aria and Ezra’s illicit student/teacher relationship was perceived as villainous and getting in the way of their true love story.
– Ezra attempted to isolate Aria from her friends and family by telling her things like “you need to start thinking of me as the person you trust the most.”
– Caleb put a tracking device in Hanna’s car to keep track of her and told her he’s “not letting” her do certain things, and it was spun as sweet and protective.
– Caleb also refused to leave when Hanna asked him to during their reunion after the time jump, and insisted that he knew how she felt better than she did.
– Alison bullied Emily relentlessly over her sexuality and it was later excused because she was confused about her own feelings.
– Alison became extremely possessive of Emily, attempted to make Paige into the enemy, and tore Paige down in front of other professionals, and her over-the-top, insane jealousy was seen as “proof” of her love for Emily.
– Toby frequently grabbed Spencer by the arm or physically prevented her from leaving a room because he was frustrated with her.
– Toby psychologically damaged Spencer beyond belief by joining the A team and going on to fake his own death, and instead of apologizing the night he revealed he was still alive, he whined that she “still didn’t trust him.”
WTF?! None of this is okay! There was so much controlling, possessive, and manipulative behavior in all of these endgame couples that fans largely romanticize as sweet and loving. It’s not!!
This right here is why I just couldn’t buy into Alison’s sudden love for Emily in season 7. Every single one of their big romantic scenes just seemed to basically confirm what Emily said about Alison back in season 4.
Alison loves the way Emily looks at her. She loves that she can count on Emily. She loves that Emily saw the good in her even when she didn’t deserve it. Not once did Ali ever actually explain what she loves about Emily herself. Every reason she gave for loving Emily was directly connecting to Emily’s love and devotion to Ali. That’s because, the way I can’t help but see it, Alison never genuinely loved Emily. She loved that Emily would always worship and protect her, and Emily’s devotion to her let her convince herself that she really had become a good person, instead of actually having to act like a good person.
Alison DiLaurentis: a girl, who was playing with people and manipulating them, who treated Mona and Lucas like a trash, who led her own friend to the bulimia, who was blackmailing Aria and even her dad, who lied to a man about her age leading him to huge troubles, who ran away and didn’t care about the hell her friends went through, who still cares only about her spoiled ass, who is judging people like a hypocrite and who, let me remind you, CAUSED ALL THIS SHIT many years ago.
And please, don’t tell me she had a hard time when she was a child.
I feel like I’m the minority in the PLL fandom with this but I genuinely still don’t like Alison, I think her relationship with Emily is super bad, unhealthy and even borders on abusive and I think Alison’s treatment of Paige is absolutely disgusting.
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