There are, obviously, any number of idealized relationships to be found throughout pop culture; just take a look at any romcom or romance fiction and you’ll see stories and characters written specifically to get you to think even for a second, “Oh, I wish that was me.” They’re not solely restricted to explicit romance fiction, however; personally, I’m of the opinion that Superman and Lois Lane are very much couple goals, for example, and will fight anyone who disagrees. (Don’t test me.)

There is, however, one couple in all of pop culture that I have held up for years as the ideal pop culture couple, even if pop culture as a whole has largely forgotten about them in the past few decades, honestly. Nevertheless, take it from me, dear readers: we should all aspire to have our own Nick or Nora Charles in our lives.

Behind The Thin Man

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Nick and Nora — and I suspect that might be most everyone reading this — here’s a necessary history lesson: The couple are the leads of The Thin Man, a 1934 detective novel by the man behind The Maltese Falcon, Dashiell Hammett; that novel was adapted into a movie that same year that proved to be so successful that no less than five sequels were made over the next 13 years. In fact, it was so successful that it also spun out a radio show, The Adventures of the Thin Man, that ran for 10 years that was later adapted again into a 1950s TV show that ran for two seasons. (There have also been additional TV movies and multiple stage adaptations.) All of this nascent franchising isn’t anchored around the mysteries in each story, as fun as they are; instead, the success of The Thin Man (and its many sequels and spin-offs) relies entirely on the relationship between Nick and Nora, and the fact the audience generally wants to spend as much time as possible with both of them.

Song of The Thin Man

The two are a married couple by the time we meet them in that first story; he’s a retired private detective who keeps getting pulled back into solving murders, and she’s a socialite whose family inheritance keeps them busy when they’re not getting into potentially deadly capers. Even that isn’t what makes them so enviable as a couple, however, no matter how much we’d like to be either wealthy enough to not worry about making rent and/or solving murders in our spare time. Instead, what makes Nick and Nora so enjoyable is, bluntly and simply, just Nick and Nora being themselves with each other.

They’re a couple that relishes poking fun at each other, whether verbally or via practical jokes — in the first movie, Nick gets Nora out of potential danger by sticking her in a cab sent to Grant’s Tomb, even when she thinks she’s headed for the next big meet-up of ne’er-do-wells — and a couple who delight in endless verbal sparring that, in other hands, could play out as ill-tempered bickering. Despite all of this, there is never, ever any doubt that the two don’t just love each other but have complete and utter trust and faith in one another, even in the most surreal and unlikely of circumstances.

Unlike couples of a more modern vintage, there’s never even a hint that Nick and Nora are anything other than impossibly happy with each other and a united front against the rest of the world, even as they might be jokingly giving each other a hard time over everything from old friends — in Nora’s defense, Nick remains impressively friendly with the underworld of whatever city he happens to be in at the time — or their shared alcoholic intake. (Again, this is entirely reasonable; the two are amazingly functional alcoholics, which is at least a running gag in the original movies, if one that’s understandably played down in subsequent iterations.)

Shadow of The Thin Man

What makes Nick and Nora Charles so much of a joy to watch, and so particularly wonderful as a pop culture couple to aspire to, is the straightforward fact that the two of them have fun together, and clearly appreciate and adore each other in a way that no-one else could possibly compare. They’re two people who have found their ideal match, and can’t help but share that joy with the rest of the world, as in their regular soirees to reveal the murderer of that particular case which is a dinner show with an intended audience that consists solely of each other (we, as viewers, just get to watch from the sidelines). Everything they do, from verbal sparring to catching crooks, is fueled by and filled with the sheer pleasure of being in each other’s company — something that leaves the audience at once amused and entranced, and also just a little envious if you’re not at that point in your own life just yet.

Let’s raise a glass to Nick and Nora Charles, in that case — they’d appreciate that, given their own proclivities — and search out the first Thin Man movie (which is also the finest) at your earliest given opportunity to learn from the best. It’s a murder mystery that really deserves to be rediscovered by the masses in this era of Knives Out and Poker Face and the like.

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