The obsession with Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper has got to stop
Megan Orr, Opinions Editor
A star was born and immediately speculated to be sleeping with her co-star. This year’s darlings of the Academy Awards, Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, have not even been able to exchange a glance since their film, A Star is Born, came out in October without someone on social media analyzing it for secret meaning. This movie remake has people constantly speculating if Gaga and Cooper might be making it behind the scenes, despite the fact that Cooper appears to be in a happy long-term relationship. If you haven’t seen the film, you should. But also, why are you reading this? (spoilers ahead)
There’s no doubt that Gaga and Cooper have chemistry – they’re both extremely talented and attractive, but ultimately, they’re also just really good at their jobs. This obsessive have they/haven’t they that’s been all over the internet (only fueled by their steamy performance at the Oscars), draws from the altogether unsatisfying ending of A Star is Born. We all want them to be together in real life because Ally and Jackson didn’t get their happily ever after.
This isn’t the first time that audiences have reacted to a film like this. People had the same hopeful observations back in 1997 when Titanic came out. There was a great deal of speculation about Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio, among audiences hoping that the pair were a real life item. As a reminder: DiCaprio’s character, Jack, pointlessly drowned in the icy sea while Winslet’s character, Rose, hogged the entire wooden door she was floating on. People seemed just as eager for them to be in a real love affair as a way of creating some sort of ending to the story that wasn’t death. They weren’t a couple, but do have an amazing platonic relationship as close friends.
It’s the same with Gaga and Cooper – fans of the film are trying desperately to come up with an alternate resolution, one that soothes all the pain that the ending of A Star is Born caused. Newsflash: in real life, there aren’t always happy endings. What’s even more realistic: you are forced to watch with a smile plastered on your face as your partner and the father of your child sings a love song with another woman while staring longingly into her eyes in a way that he has never looked at you (ahem, Irina Shayk at the Oscars during Shallow). In response to the rumours Gaga said in an interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, “First of all, social media, quite frankly, is just the toilet of the internet,” and that the reason that we all saw love between them is because that’s what they wanted us to see.
This obsession with celebrities hooking up has got to stop. Just because it happened for Brad and Angelina doesn’t mean that it could happen for everyone, and even that ended in divorce. To vaguely quote the rom-com He’s Just Not That Into You, there are rules and exceptions, and it’s almost always the rule. Brangelina was the exception, while non-couples like Gaga and Cooper are the rule. Now if they could kindly actually not be sleeping together so I don’t have to eat my words, that would be great, thanks.