I don’t get when people dislike a story or a character when there’s romance involved. Setting aside preferences, the fact that they dislike a work because of romance - as if romance is equivalent with bad writing. Why is there this view that romance in a story makes it shallow or cliche? That a character is less interesting if they’re involved in a romance? Why is enjoying seeing this part of human life explored considered silly? Why is it not just as valid as other facets in story telling?
@ghost_bird would elaborate on why you say that? I’m very much inclined to agree with you, but i’d like to hear your thoughts!
@thegudtam I think there are two distinct elements, perhaps? People associate romance with bad writing because genre romance, being written for and usually by women, has historically been treated with more contempt than other kinds of genre writing. And romance as a subject is considered less “serious” and “difficult” because it’s associated with the domestic and the feminine.
@thegudtam (And as a third possibility - because romance, being about feelings and communication, is considered un-masculine, so men and boys in particular feel the need to express contempt to assert their masculinity.)
@ghost_bird definitely!! I agree. Romance is seen as “frivolous” and “silly” and by and large is something women enjoy - so it is therefore looked down upon.
@thegudtam Romance is really marketed as a silly thing for girls and people internalize it. It really ticks me off though when you have characters who clearly hate each other (or it seems that way to me) or have proven incompatible romantically and then without any development the writer haphazardly forces it in there.
But then again, what I think is lazy romance with no development, you might see as the romance of the century? Idk
@guerrillarain oh yeah, different kinds and types of romance are varied and subjective. And that’s not even taking into account how well written a romance may or may not be.
But yeah, what irks me is people writing off romance from the start, just even having the genre mentioned turning people off to a work or it being cited as negative against it. Give it a chance? Overcome your internalized biases and appreciate the story for what it is?
@thegudtam Oh, this is complicated. I think when writing about romance it is difficult to avoid cliche. It's generally hard to write romance and I think many authors fail to represent it in their stories.
@saturno hmm yeah that’s a good point. but I also feel like we’re a lot more critical about what’s considered “cliche” for romance versus other genres. Like, nearly anything is cliche when it comes to romance but I feel like it’s no where near true for other genres. Are we judging romance too harshly, or not being critical enough with others?
@thegudtam maybe we really are more critical because it touches us. Idk. There are other topics that also get bad criticism, like patriotism, lgbt rights.
The world we live in desperately needs more Romantics and Romance Story lines. IMHO, less nihilism, despair / ennui.
@thegudtam Patriarchy, sadly.