Today I was attending to my daily NPR fix, when I stumbled upon a story that somewhat blew my mind. One of my favorite comic books, “Archie”, came hot off the press as of yesterday with shocking newness. Allegedly, after nearly seventy years of deviating between Betty and Veronica, Archie pops the big question and asks Veronica to be his bride. Now, I’m not an advocate of monotony but some things are just too sacred to be changed. The constant altering of feelings Archie exhibits amidst Betty and Veronica is something I have desensitized my feminism to, in esteem of metaphorical representations of dating and the everlasting battle for permanence. Naturally, when I heard the grim news of wedding bells, I was distraught. My childhood memories of silly High School farce were shattered, as I realized that a quick archival exploit is more valuable to some than sanctified literature. Blasphemy.
Yet, in all fairness, one must have a difficult time coming up with untrodden tales of girl vs. boy. But why not stop when you have had a good thing going— if not for lack of story but out of respect for the classic Archie aesthetic. The expression may sound a bit pessimistic, but sometimes it is truly necessary to quit while you’re ahead. Preventing failure is something we all strive to attain. However, in an effort to avoid botching it all and remaining productive, we compromise our roots. So let this be a lesson to us all—not to sell out and dismiss our origins, but to stay true to ourselves without accommodation. Authenticity is in severe decline and we only have ourselves to castigate.
