Stop automatic romantic pairings between leads
Hollywood needs to think more about NOT automatically pairing up lead male with lead female for no other reason than they’re lead male and lead female.
Especially in any situation where there’s an icky power dynamic (boss and subordinate), a question of ethics (military officers who shouldn’t be fraternizing, or if they’re married to other people) or when they’re coworkers, which is just extremely old.
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5 comments
Amen. Just about every show I’ve ever come to hate has been ruined by the eventual pairing of the leads, which inevitably seems to happen in a way that betrays the characters or everything I thought I was seeing until now.
The fact that there’s been no hint of this on L&O:CI is one of the reasons I keep watching that show. It’s not always the greatest thing I’ve ever seen, but I love both of the mixed gender partnerships on that show, and not a hint of sexual tension.
34, female, US
I hate the will they/won’t they thing those in charge love to string along. Who the bloody heck cares? Show me an interesting story. If it happens to involve romance, that romance is plausible (and not offensive) and the characters and the actors playing them actually have chemistry, then cool. If not, then please do not attempt to shoehorn it in simply because it’s a formula that’s always been used.
Break the mold. Give your audience some credit.
33, female, United States
Agreed. Romance too often comes across as a crutch, written in because of formula, rather than because it suits the characters concerned. Relationships between characters, including those of opposite sexes can occur on a far wider variety levels, and tension can spring from a far wider variety of sources.
As an example, I point to Sydney’s in the series Alias: Dixon, Weiss, Marshall, Sloane, Jack; all men with whom she has deep, evolving, and close relationships, and all of them more dramatic than the one she has with her romantic partner Vaughn.
And Alias didn’t always do romance and sexual tension badly - consider Jack and Irinia, or the sparks that existed between Sydney and Will - but these showed important sides to their respective characters, and they were allowed to share their space with other aspects of the story. They didn’t exist on “autopilot.”
male, 35, UK
female, 20, US
NO. Nothing drives me away from a show faster than that.
Grey’s Anatomy has driven me round the bend with the out of nowhere passionate love of George and Izzie, because understanding of male/female friendships has apparently not progressed since When Harry Met Sally
Female, 27, Canada.
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