Disclaimer: I’m a huge nerd. It’s important to get that out of the way before going on. Most non-nerds will watch a TV show or movie purely for entertainment, but once their show is off they’re done with it. Not so much for nerds. After their show is off, they flock to the internet, turning every throwaway line into an elaborate theory and starting flame wars over that dick who said Harry Potter was a kids’ book.
Now, since I’m of that nerdy persuasion, I was browsing a Game of Thrones (aka A Song of Ice and Fire) forum that was in the middle of crucifying director Alex Graves. You know, the guy who directed the rape scene that wasn’t a rape scene in the book? And then pretended that the whole thing never happened? Yes, that guy.
Seeing as Graves had just been elected the fandom’s whipping boy, everyone was digging up any offhand comment that proved his doucheiness. Apparently, he once described the bath scene between medieval buddy cop duo Jaime and Brienne as “two people secretly in love.” This was just more proof that Graves didn’t know what he was talking about…until others pointed out that, you know, the books contain a bunch of subtext that those two might be developing feelings towards one another.
Now I get that some of you couldn’t rub two fucks together about the obscure debates about A Song of Ice and Fire, so I’ll make this brief. That romantic subtext is there, particularly in Brienne’s POV chapters. It’s not explicit, but that’s not old GRRM’s way; it’s buried down deep, in between the numerous feasts and fat pink masts. But some fans were acting like they were offended that someone would even suggest it, the actual text be damned. It was like the great George R.R. Martin would never lower himself to put something as putrid as romance in his gritty grimdark masterpiece.
This got me thinking: why do we, as fans and viewers, hate romance? I’ve seen this kind of talk sprout up in many different fandoms. It seems that general consensus is that romance ruins shows. Especially when the show pairs up two main characters who weren’t together at the start. Which is strange, when you really think about it. I mean, in real life people often start out as friends before dating. And most of us want to find love of some sort. But when it comes to our media, there’s the idea that romance will make it crash and burn.
So what’s the case? Does romance inherently ruin shows, is it simply poorly handled, or are we all just loveless, coldhearted monster children, draining society with our apathy? I’m going to pick the middle ground in this: that romance doesn’t always have to be bad, but it’s usually handled poorly. I’m going to talk about why most mainstream couples tend to suck, and what can be done to fix that, by first analyzing The Bad, and then later talking about The Good.
judeclee 