This is a sentiment I originally saw expressed by a youtuber, who I won't mention because I detest advertising, but basically his idea was this:

The original marriage contract was just "I give you money/protection, loyalty and support, you give me sex/children, loyalty and support". Nothing in there about romantic love being rekindled over and over, mutual inspiration, having fun, long term attraction to each other. Life was too difficult and demanding to prioritize those things anyway.

Over time as life became easier, more and more things got loaded atop marriage. Marriage is now about shared values, excitement, having fun together, inspiring each other, being each other's "best friend", cooperating and neatly fitting together and proving nebulous indefinable emotional value to each other during every phase of life, the idea of shared areas of responsibility, instead of separate male-female domains (anyone who has held a complex job knows that deviations from single-threaded-ownership makes life harder on everyone). Etc, etc.

I understand that this sounds really nice on paper. I understand that people that have this sort of marriage exist and have a right to be proud. I am not sure it is realistic over the vast span of humanity, ridden with flaws and hardships and insufficiencies are we are. I am not sure we're being real with ourselves if we assert that relationships should be like that at all times for all people and if not, there's something wrong with you or your standards.

Your partner ends up having too many obligations to you. They have to be physically and emotionally attractive, make you laugh, have novel experiences with you, share in the journey of life with you, constantly provide novelty and interest and excitement so you don't get bored (this one is hugely problematic), keep you in love with them, keep the spark alive, continue their own personal growth while helping facilitate yours, help you reach your financial and material as well as self-actualization goals... etc, etc.

In the past, many of these needs would be met by your extended family networks, same-gender friendships, church, etc. Or sometimes those effusive, complex emotional needs just wouldn't be met for a while and you would rely on duty, honor and being a good person to bridge the gap. I am not sure it is realistic to expect the majority of human beings to be able to provide these services continuously to their partner as well as receive from their partner in a world of very imperfect, limited, flawed people. Epecially in a world of bills, economic fluctuations and hardships, kids requiring more maintenance than before, skyrocketing prices on everything, wars, aging parents, etc. It's too much pressure to ask someone to be all of those things.

Does marriage need to become more humble again? I don't think raw transactionalism is good, but I do something like choosing the other person, accepting their flaws and not going full aggro is good. I don't think demanding your partner meet every one of your dozen complex socio-emotional needs - like growth, mentorship, deep understanding, sense of purpose in life, spirituality, fun, adventure, excitement - that not even you can fully explain and that fluctuate throughout your life, in comparison to personalites which are relatively static - is good.