interesting article on Hollywood and love stories

[meganbmoore]

This is pretty interesting: on Hollywood and the romance:  http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1651506-2,00.html

I've actually been pondering this for a while.  If you read my LJ, you know that I'm essentially hopeless when it comes to anything resembling a canon pairing, as long a I like them(unless there's an alternative I find preferable to one member, in which case that becomes problematic for me)  That said...I usually avoid romantic movies, and when I read romances, it's more for escapism than romance, or because of genre storylines.  When I do watch romantic movies, they're usually older ones, or ones based on older stories.

I think the reason for this is because, whether its a fluffy romantic comedy or a doomed angstfest, most modern stories, as covered in the article, are more "I love you for now" than "I'll always love you."  Probably why I get more interested when the pairing is a secondary or side concern than when it's the main thing.

Comments

[bzoppa.livejournal.com]

Interesting article. Thanks for the link.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I think the reason for this is because, whether its a fluffy romantic comedy or a doomed angstfest, most modern stories, as covered in the article, are more "I love you for now" than "I'll always love you." Probably why I get more interested when the pairing is a secondary or side concern than when it's the main thing.

I am similar to you, and this is why I often despair at romantic sides in Western shows - they love, then they don't love, then they love someone else and it never seems to end. I am just plain and simple "forever" girl. And may be this is why I am turning to Asian shows recently where they still have this "forever love" going.

I like a side romance in a show that is otherwise interesting, it adds so much for me. But I rarely watch shows without any romance whatsoever.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I'll often be more interested in something where the romance/relationship is secondary to when it's the main focus...helps give me more confidence that they can handle whatever the world throws at them.

Take Dresden Files...sure, it'd still be a great show/book if Murphy weren't there or were a guy, but the factthat the person he relies on to keep him straight is a woman he's nuts about but will probably never try to win because he can't see himself as being good for her, just her good for him, and the fact that they're so perfectly compatible, makes it 10 times better.

Though, honestly, how TV Murphy resists his puppy eyes is beyond me...

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

To go from your point, but I find it funny that most shows/films manage it better when they're not ostensibly about the love. Take the latest Bond or even Bourne (wuxia hero that he is): both of those suggest that the hero is irretrievably damaged or affected in some way because the one person they trusted died (and in Bond's case betrayed him).

Sometimes I wonder why in the West there is a reluctance to deal with relationships where both parties want to get together but what is keeping them apart (class, race, religion, ethnicity) is really weighty and significant. Because it's said that we are all our own persons and get to make our own decisions (however untrue that is) there's seems less and less interest in exploring how outside factors might affect people.

The even odder thing is how we live in a culture where people spend a fortune on weddings presumably in the deep hope that this is one person they'll be with for the rest of their lives...

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

most western romance these days tend to rely on the sexual relationship, bot the emotional or intellectual relationship. It's largely about quips and sexual tension, and not about whether they'll last beyond it.

Part of the reason I like jdramas and cdramas so much is that they tend to have a hefty plot in addition to the romance. I find that I can like a pairing when it's all about the romance, and occassionally love them, but for me to go nuts about them, there needs to be more.