Narrative Essay: I Hate Valentine's Day

This narrative essay is about the romantic holiday St. Valentine’s Day. 

I Hate Valentine's Day

St. Valentine’s Day is a day that many people worldwide cherish. They view it as a day when an individual expresses his or her true feelings of love to their partners. I Hate Valentine’s Day is a 2009 passionate comedy film directed and written by Nia Vardalos. The main stars in this film are Nia, referred to as Genevieve, and John Corbett, known as Greg.

Genevieve is a lady who loves flowers and romance. She owns a flower shop from which she gets a lot of money during Valentine’s Day since she sells her flowers to people. Her main problem is that she hates relationships. She has been hurt on various occasions when it comes to love matters and thus she hates relationships. She tries to keep herself happy by allowing every man to date her. However, she has a rule that guides her – she cannot date a man more than five times. Dating is a good game for her, and she follows this rule to avoid being hurt or dumped since she does not stick long enough to a single man. Nonetheless, her rule changes when she meets Greg. It portrays her problem as a lack of understanding of the issues of real love and relationships. Her encounter with Greg indicates that real love cannot be guided by rules or regulations. This fact forces her to oversee the rules to have a real relationship without minding the risk of being hurt.

Greg abandons his old career as an attorney to open a restaurant. Therefore, he moves to a town and rents a house near Genevieve’s flower shop where they both meet and start a relationship. Greg is a funny, humble, and good-looking man. Unlike Genevieve, Greg does not have a game in dating. The problem of Greg is trying to adopt someone else’s lifestyle and rules in life. It occurs when he decides to give a trial to Genevieve’s dating rules without demanding to know the reasons behind them. However, the rules do not work for him since at the course of dating he falls in love with her, which is against the dating rule. He comprehends neither how to romance a girl nor the rules of dating. When the two meet, Genevieve describes her way of dating to Greg, and he opts to try this new way of dating. On his side, it seems like a fine way to avoid his usual break-up tragedies. However, in their dating process, both fall madly in love with each other. After their five dates are gone, both find themselves in serious trouble. Genevieve’s rule of dating is put to the test since she does not want to end the relationship. She has to let go of her past and admit that she wants the relationship to continue even at the risk of having been hurt regularly. On the other hand, Greg has to throw away his shyness, swallow his pride, and go after her, since he still yearns for more love. Genevieve’s traditional rule of holding the theory she used in dating had kept her from falling in love and realizing that some people are worth having in her life.

The title of this film is significant to the characters as well as to the viewers of the film.

The title gives the viewers a good description of the content of the film. Bearing in mind the purpose of Valentine’s Day in a relationship, the viewers are attracted to the film to know why the main characters hate this day. As one of the main characters, Genevieve makes a lot of money in her shop by selling flowers. However, as a result of having no relationship, she cannot enjoy Valentine’s Day. The title is thus important since it explains the real feelings of the main character.