Sex and the City recognised it early. Dating has echoed the marketplace for years, a quiet truth that feels sharper now in an age shaped by choice and performance.

Watching Queenie reveals how the performance of being fine becomes its own quiet identity, a form of emotional autopilot that can look like confidence from the outside.

Bridget Jones commits the one unforgivable cultural sin: she tries. She lets the camera watch her wrestle with life instead of floating above it.

The past keeps coming back to our screens, not because we’ve run out of ideas, but because nostalgia has become something you can package, resell, and call comfort.