No Prince: MrBeast’s Disney Date Night
Romance is dead.
It used to be that you could find a suitable partner when your father, noted town kook, got kidnapped by the local reclusive Beast, and you offered to take his place as a prisoner. Sure, the castle might be damp, drafty, and full of sentient objects that break into song, but it’s still a castle. The Beast might not have table manners, but neither do most of the dudes you see on dating apps (crushing creatine shakes doesn’t involve utensils, bro).
Now the only Beast on offer is one with a YouTube channel, and any romance is intertwined with the relentless, yawning need for CONTENT.
Engagement? Content. (And not just for him, but for reaction videos, too.)
Wedding day?
Birth of your first child?
Presumably all fodder for C O N T E N T. It’s a bottomless void, never to be filled.
The mob isn’t outside the castle with pitchforks either; they’re the ones making reaction videos, and they’re in the comments, giving their opinions on your romance.
There’s a suspicious lack of truly viscous trolling in the ~50k comments at the time of this writing, leading this author to suspect there’s some heavy content moderation going on. After all, 84% of Americans surveyed say they feel more empowered to say things online when they have anonymity — unless they’re all spooked by the creators who are fighting back against it.
That seems as unlikely as a universal love for a creator on the scale of MrBeast.
Modern Love
The Beast, imprisoned in his castle from a young age and presumably lacking in comprehensive etiquette tutorials from his equally cursed staff, still made an effort to do nice things for his prisoner-date, Belle. Nice things tailored to her interests.
She loves to read? Give that girl a library inspired by a real one in Austria!
MrBeast set up a series of expensive dates for his fiancée, Thea Booysen, but they aren’t tailored to her interests as far as the audience knows. What are her interests? A 17-minute video highlights famous people’s cameos (Gordon Ramsey and Madison Beer), MrBeast’s friends (including awkward regular Nolan), and participants in other content MrBeast made. There is a brief mention that she enjoys skiing, but that entire scene becomes about how he can’t ski and comically slides down the indoor slope, then the date quickly moves on.
Booysen is there, sure, but she’s little more than a beautiful accessory. A beautiful accessory who is a published author with a bachelor’s degree in law, an honors degree in psychology, and a master’s degree in neuropsychology. MrBeast has cited her “love of learning” as one of her most attractive traits, but that’s nowhere to be seen in the extravagant dates he’s planning for her. (There’s room for product placement, though!)
That’s because they’re not for her, they’re for his One True Actual Love: Content. His commitment to content creation will always come first as long as this is his job. And where The Beast has lovable staff, whom Belle also forges close relationships with, MrBeast has random people joining most of their dates.
His friends crashed the romantic dinner with chef Gordon Ramsey. The private island featured cameos from people he psychologically tortured in previous videos for money (for them) and content (for him). Their wives got to ride on jet skis with them this time, though!
The big finale date, when they have Disneyland all to themselves? It’s not actually all to themselves; it’s more of his friends, including Nolan, and Nolan’s very real date, noted pop star Madison Beer.
Love and Fame in a Funhouse Mirror
Keeping someone captive isn’t love; that’s the lesson The Beast learns at the end of Beauty and the Beast, when he lets Belle go. His redemption comes when Belle loves him anyway (Stockholm Syndrome isn’t even real, kids, this is still a love story for the ages) and presumably forgives him for becoming human and no longer being a handsome Beast.
I can’t pretend to understand the love between two Stars of the Internet any more than that of a bookworm and her Beast, but I do know that chasing fame is a funhouse mirror that threatens to twist any relationships caught in its reflection.
The price of fame is your dedication to the work of creating and maintaining that fame, including accessibility to your persona and that of your loved ones. Booysen knew who she was getting involved with at the beginning of their relationship, just as Belle knew The Beast was a cursed prince.
The reality of every major milestone in your life being ripe for Content is different from the idea of it. The shine pulling you toward the spotlight can start to feel like an inescapable tractor beam.
The same way, the appeal of a life of royal pampering dulls quickly when the French Revolution begins.
Photo © MrBeast
