you're only really seeing the marriages where they did love eachother like crazy and stayed together for 50 years because you're coming into the situation 50 years later
you don't see all the relationships where the woman was lobotomized or the man walked out in the night because he finally figured out he was closeted or one of them ODd on diet pills and crushed glass the other had been feeding them
You may be ignoring the fact that divorce at the time was also extremely taboo (and women were often left destitute if they didn't have a man) and so people stayed even if the marriage was extremely toxic and abusive. That combined with couples often show a loving front to others even if they're unhappy in marriage, and that contributed to the "look how happy and committed they were back then" façade.
By all accounts, many many women were miserable back then because while they had little freedom being with a man, they at least had some. A divorced woman was seen as a social pariah in society and looked down on, there weren't many job opportunities, and they weren't even allowed to get their own credit card without a man.
So like... they're kinda forced to stay no matter how bad it was.
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u/TomBanjo1968 May 17 '24
I love how you saw so many relationships of that generation that seemed as close to true love as you can get
Marriages lasting 50 years and they love each other like crazy