My scrap of dirt

It's kind of a weird feeling where different "lives" crash into each other, as they do sometimes. I'm in the midst of writing a paper and really focused on getting it done, so I wasn't really procrastinating but I checked LJ earlier and learned that Z and V have split up, which took me totally out of work zone for a moment. I don't have much to say, I don't know much about it anyway (my online life has taken a serious hit in the past year or so!), but it made me want to reiterate something I said last year when I was rambling about them as a couple.

As much as I hope that they continue to be happy together for a long time (as it seems to be what makes them happy), I think if they ever break up it won't diminish for one second what they had. It won't diminish their relationship, and it won't touch the way they smile at each other, look at each other, support each other, and love each other today. It won't make it any less beautiful or any less amazing. I wish we would think more about how the important thing is to be happy – to look back at a relationship, whether you're still in it or not, and be able to say, yeah, I was happy. I had an amazing time. How long it lasted, how many people were involved, what gender they were, what the rules were – that's not as important, or rather it's going to work differently for different people. But being happy, whatever that looks like for the people around us, I think maybe that's something we can strive for and hope for, and something that doesn't have to involuntarily reinforce dominant ideals of what happiness looks like.

I don't always look back at my own writing and think I had a good point, but on this one, I think maybe I did. The break-up (if indeed it is true and it lasts) sounds amicable, which I hope is true for both their sake, and I think as people who watch on, in this strange (and even more strangely, compelling) celebrity culture, the best thing we can do is recognize that they had something that looked beautiful, they had it for many years, and the fact that they no longer do doesn't diminish any of it.

This whole thing is making me want to write more, but I have to try and channel that into actual work. So that's all for now.

OK this time I will spare you the ramble unless you want to look at it, so yay lj-cut! This is about Vanessa and Zac and how their story - what we see of it in public anyway - overlaps the high school sweethearts ideal of what love looks like. And just so we're clear - this is not about anything I've seen anyone or the fandom in general do, it's about the bigger picture and the kind of meanings that we as a Western society put onto relationships.

( I struggle to find a way to express how much I love them as a couple, and how genuine they seem to be about their love and support for each other, and the fact that I have very little patience for young forever love as a cultural narrative. )

Okay so I will admit I have like the biggest crush on Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens together. I mean I like Zac a lot but I have fairly little interest in Hudgens except then - THEN -



THEN THEY DO THIS AND I DIE.

And I mean when it comes down to it I actually don't care all that much that it's them. They emphasize it somewhat but it's the photo itself that I just adore, and her hand in his hair and that mop of hair I love on almost anyone and the smiles and the fact that it's so intimate and genuine even though the camera is right there.

I'm a sucker for pictures that show intimate moments. I love to look at them, I love to take them. I know it's intrusive and voyeuristic and all that but I can't help it. It makes me ache in my chest I love it so much. I mean there's a reason I love Jack Slomovitz's photography, at least his stuff with couples (quick sample here and here - and careful, the website is NSFW).

So anyways. Back to Zac and Vanessa. I don't even know. There's just something about them, about the fact that they're 20 and 21 and they've lasted longer than most people can in the business that they're in, the fact that they're very low key about their relationship and don't talk about it but the way they look at each other, it's so obvious this is not a publicity stunt and they deeply care about each other. I don't really believe in soulmates or love forever and they might break up one day and it'll be none of my business, just like this really shouldn't be anyone's business but theirs. But I can't help but indulge in that voyeuristic urge to look on to people who seem so happy with each other, especially when it's a photoshoot and that means the photos were not only agreed to, but this is actually good photography. Not exceptional, but it's still photography and yeah, I love that too.

This isn't a ship, really. It would be sort of weird to ship people in real life for serious? It's more like... loving what's there. Enjoying it while they do, and hoping that they do and that they really are as happy as they seem, not because I have a stake in it, but because I want people to be this happy with each other. For a little while, for a long while. Doesn't matter, as long as there was happiness.

( My two other favorite pictures of this photoshoot. )

Source for the photos.

Louise Attaque is making me all thoughtful and nostalgic, okay? Bear with me.