‘Searchers’: The Unanswerable Question of Love
Viewing the lives of New York City singles, the search for love is an insatiable quest that seems to have no answer. From Tinder to Bumble, each person has their own way of finding love, but how will the person they find be “The One?”
Throughout the film, there was a common thread. One second, we see a happy couple taking pictures together, but immediately after, we are interviewing single individuals. This juxtaposition acts to emphasize the desperation of these singles, yet it also brings light to the larger problem at hand: the shallow nature of dating in the modern age. From young to old, gay to straight, we see various perspectives of searching singles who decide their romantic fate through the simple gesture of a swipe left or right.
“Why is it so hard when there are so many people out there?” one interviewee asks. Well, that is the question of the century. Dating is time, it is money, yet it all goes unpaid. Especially in a place like New York, the city that never sleeps, one’s time is even more valuable. Dating, as a result, is made that much harder. As a Teen Council educator, I see that these online relationships, ones viewed through a 50-word bio and 5 picture montage, are largely unsustainable and ultimately end up unsuccessful because there is no sense of accountability and no initial trust–factors integral to a healthy relationship.
Through Searchers, we see that the increasingly technological world may be opening up ways to find love, but it may also be inhibiting our ability to develop sustainable, long-term relationships.
- Written by Sylvia Xi
