Disney Channel and romantic tropes

[meganbmoore]

My DVD player has died and I've been compensating by watching Disney Channel shows.  Do not ask.  I think I've mostly thinking about how they'd be so cool if I were 12.  All the supposedly charming or cool or cute guys need a ounch in the face.  The goody girls who I'm supposed to like are snooty and superior, all other girls are supposed to be annoying, materialistic comedic relief, but are more entertaining.  The smart boys are supposed annoying twats and the "cool" boys are annoying brats who could do with being grounded for years.  I think the only character I like is the hyper competitive and academic sister in some show that's a Brady Bunch knockoff that's named after her irritating stepbrother.  I despair over her taste in boys, though.  (The only show whose title I know is The Suite Life of Zach and Cody.  That one is entertaining, though I keep wondering why the adults haven't murdered all the kids.)

Make me stop watching them.

ANYWAY!

Over at Dear Author, they have a poll about favorite and least favorite romantic tropes.  Since this is a type of topic I never tire of (people's likes and dislikes) give me some of yours.

Comments

[rhap-chan.livejournal.com]

Disney channel shows used to suck less. Or... they used to appeal to my mental age. One or the other. I liked "Phil of the Future," for example. "Suite Life" ticks me off. Those boys are obnoxious. Sort of want to ship the girls together though...

Ooh, forgot the tropes. I hate:
Marriage of Convenience
The Revenge Plot
The Big Misunderstanding
The Secret Baby
The Virgin Widow
Amnesia
Captivity Romances
The Will Made Me Do It
Blackmailed for Her/His Love
Forbidden to Love

Um, this may be why I rarely read romance novels.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yes, the girls are fun. I sometimes wonder if we're supposed to ship them. The boys...it'd be less annoying if the academic boy weren't supposed to be annoying because he's smart, and the other boy weren't supposed to be cool and fun because he breaks rules and is rude and makes fun of people and causes trouble.

I've been wondering at the sucks less/mental age thing, too, but I'm afraid to find out.

ETAs for ETA: Amnesia and Forbidden to Love can be done well, but rarely are. In or out of romance novels. Most of those other tropes should die, though. And yet, they somehow irritate me less in romance novels than elsewhere, but I tend to prefer my romance in plots where the romance isn't the main plot.

[radiotrash.livejournal.com]

I hate hate hate the healing penis. I can't think of what I like right now and my break is over but I had to post my hate.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yes, that, and all versions of The Mighty Wang, must die.

Well, the post isn't going anywhere! You can sit and brainstorm until you have internet again!

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

Suite Life can be funny but the kids are all pretty obnoxious. I kind of sympathize with Moseby (the one who hates all the kids.) Though Arwin, the superintendent guy, kind of cracks me up.

I didn't see that much of Phil of the Future but it was a good show.

I saw one episode of the stepbrother one, except I'm not sure I remember the title either. (Life With Derek, maybe?) It did have a higher level of acting quality than some of them.

I kind of like Hannah Montana.

In my own defense I usually only watch these when my daughter is over.

[rosehiptea.livejournal.com]

Oh, tropes!

I have a secret weakness for The Marriage of Convenience.

I do really hate The Big Misunderstanding though. I always want to shake everyone and scream at them.

I also seem to have outgrown The Dangerous Rake And His Mysterious Appeal.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Moseby and the mother. I tend to just wait for the scenes where they have to be long suffering. Life With Derek sounds right, and I definitely agree that the acting is a bit better than other shows.

[kirarakim.livejournal.com]

I am actually not sure what all these tropes signify from their title. I tried to search for them on TV tropes but no results. Is there a way to find these?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Hmm...not off the top of my head. There's some expansion on them in the comments, though. Which ones confused you?

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

I loathe the wicked older man who must be redeemed by loving a pure young woman. I mean, why on earth is said wicked older man even interested in the pure young women? Aren't older, corrupt women more of his type?

This, despite the fact that These Old Shades is one of my favorite Georgette Heyer novels. I hate all the other versions of that trope, okay? (Also, it is possible that I love Justin, Duke of Avon so much that I can forgive the trope at the center of the book.)

...Okay, so Venetia is another one of my favorite Heyers. That doesn't count either. Damerel isn't really wicked. He just thinks he is. Also, Venetia isn't really pure. She does actually want to host those orgies.

Do you know Heyer?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

And then you change "older man" to "angsty immortal" and it just gets worse and more confusing. Also variations of "raising your wife."

I haven't read Heyer yet, no.

[annwyd.livejournal.com]

Least favorite:
--I see they have something called "the big misunderstanding" there. I'm not sure exactly what that refers to, but I can guarantee you that if a romance gets dragged out because the characters are constantly misunderstanding each other in ways that would be fixed if they'd just freaking talk to each other, I'm going to want to throw something at the characters.
--Anything where one character (especially the woman, because it's usually the woman) has to adhere more to stereotypical gender traits in order to be acceptable to the other.
--Anything where one character (especially the man, because it's usually the man) "protects" the other character by preventing them from doing things.

Favorite:
--I really like when two characters have some unusual previous connection (something less typical than a childhood marriage promise, although if done well I guess I could go for that too) and this later develops into a romance.

I'm kind of headdesking over this at the moment, actually, because one of the anime I follow just resolved a romantic plotline that I'd been very interested in (read as, in fandom terms: canoned my OTP!) in such a way as to contain both least favorite and favorite tropes. AUGH.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

--Anything where one character (especially the woman, because it's usually the woman) has to adhere more to stereotypical gender traits in order to be acceptable to the other.

Men who don't adhere to gender stereotypes are sensitive and learning. Women are unwomanly. Women who want men to adhere to gender stereotypes are pushy or worse, men who want women to adhere to gender stereotypes are looking for a good woman. Unless they're abusive.

--Anything where one character (especially the man, because it's usually the man) "protects" the other character by preventing them from doing things.

This can work if the person being stopped genuinely doesn't understand the danger. But normally, it's "you'll get in the way/can't handle it/etc."

>em>I'm kind of headdesking over this at the moment, actually, because one of the anime I follow just resolved a romantic plotline that I'd been very interested in (read as, in fandom terms: canoned my OTP!) in such a way as to contain both least favorite and favorite tropes. AUGH.

Don't you hate it when they go "Let me cater to your kinks in ways that will make you mad!" (I have this problem with shoujo a lot.)

[ryanitenebrae.livejournal.com]

Oh, the Disney Channel. I still haven't forgiven them for what they did with So Weird. When I was 11-13 I was also smitten with Lizzie McGuire, and while I don't like it now, I still believe it is leagues better than most of the shows they have on there. I enjoy Life with Derek, but it's not actually a Disney show. It's a Canadian sitcom that gets shown on the Disney channel, hence the very different style. Suite Times with Zack and Cody is also decent, sometimes. There was a very weird episode that involved them putting on a production of High School Musical. I haven't watched any of these shows in forever, and really don't know what the current line-up is. I remember thinking Naturally Sadie would be something that might appeal to my inner 12-year-old before realizing that it really didn't.

Hm. I'll give the Romantic Tropes thing some thought.

[rhap-chan.livejournal.com]

Oh. My. God. I hate to hijack other people's posts but I loved So Weird so much. It was literally the first TV show I watched that wasn't a cartoon. It went all weird when they changed the main character, though.

[paperclipchains.livejournal.com]

Man, I hear you. At least one TV in our house is always tuned to Family Channel (Canadian version of Disney Channel) thanks to my little sister, and it is horrible. I'm with you in that the only character I find entertaining is London or whatever her name is.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

London is the spoiled rich girl in suite life and is a blast. (I've seen the actress in a couple other DC things, and the actress is just fun.) The other one is, I think, named casey, and the show is Life With Derek.

[rymenhild.livejournal.com]

Also, I like the Marriage of Convenience, possibly because it is, by definition, a romance plot in which the romance happens after the wedding. I don't like They Get Married And Live Happily Ever After -- this seems to negate the entire point of marriage, which is, to me, to join two different people and give them a chance to do the hard work of building a family and a life. Marriage is too difficult to be waved away with a Happily Ever After. I want to see the effort involved in making marriage work, and Marriage of Convenience is a trope that highlights that effort.

All dislikes, BTW

[pikabot]

All Girls Want Bad Boys
Star Crossed Lovers
Ten Minutes In The Closet
There Is Only One Bed
Single Target Sexuality
Mistaken For Cheating
Murder The Hypotenuse
Love Potion
Love Letter Lunacy
Love Makes You Crazy
Love Makes You Dumb
Love Makes You Evil
And, 90% of the time, Love Redeems.

Really, I think I have far more disliked romance tropes than liked ones.

Re: All dislikes, BTW

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think the thing is that most romantic tropes are used badly more often than not, because they're just thrown in instead of carefully considered and developed.

Single Target Sexuality

Not sure I've heard of this one.

[the_rck]

I've banned The Suite Life of Zach and Cody in our house. I got angry at an episode in which the guys were not contradicted in their stated opinion that really, really stupid girls make the best girlfriends. Cordelia's five and doesn't have really good filters for that sort of thing. I just kept thinking that the show was modeling too much in the way of bad behavior. When she's a few years older, I may feel differently about that sort of sitcom.

I do find that a lot of Disney movies look a lot different to me as a parent than they did as a kid or as a non-parent adult.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there's way too much "bad behavior=good, good behavior=loser" there. I haven't seen that episode and I'm glad for it.

[sodapopgirl703.livejournal.com]

I was a Disney Channel and Nickelodeon watcher when I was growing up and at 19, I still watch them (whether my DVD player is working or not). Its pretty weird to see how shows and kids have changed. I feel like preteens nowadays are a lot more "hip" than I was when I was in middle school (alas). I like the girl from Life With Derek too and I can't stand The Suite Life of Zach and Cody. Have you watched Hannah Montanna? I can't believe how ridiculously popular she's become.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Nope, haven't seen Hannah Montana. I honestly think I watch Suite Life just to see if the "cool" twin will ever get put in his place. It'll never happen.

[irishninja.livejournal.com]

"Make me stop watching them."

Uh...

*looks around*

Uh...

*grabs spray bottle and squirts you in the face with water*

Uh... bad!...?

...

That prolly isn't going to work, is it? O_o

There are prolly less healthy and less wholesome temporary addictions than the Disney Channel TV shows, but there are prolly also addictions of higher quality. O_~

...

Hmm... my least favorite of the tropes listed is Big Understanding, which I think is one of the major reasons I don't like most harem anime. Just. Talk. To. Each. Other. >_<;;

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

I think I prefer my less-wholesome temporary addictions. Like when I get addicted to bad MVs...

Harem anime...I tend to do OK until we have multiples falling for the lead. (And why is it that when all the guys fall for the girl, the focus is their friendship not being ruined by it, but when all the girls fall for the guy, the focus is how wonderful he is?)

[lesbiassparrow.livejournal.com]

I don't read much romance, but my big loathings are: anyone 'born to command'* as a hero destined mates, and anything where the guy has raised/been a guardian to the girl. Oh, and fecking supernatural beings of any sort.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Pretty much "ditto."

At least you'll always have immortal mountain men.

[lady-ganesh.livejournal.com]

I think this is where I have to confess to enjoying Wendy Wu, Homecoming Warrior. Maybe you'll get lucky and they'll repeat it.

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

That stars Brenda Song, right? I rather like her. (Based on Suite Life I'm at a loss as to why Ashley Tisdale is the one making waves of the two of them. Not that there's anything wrong with Ashley Tisdale, but...)

[dawnrune.livejournal.com]

I think ALL channels that I watched when I was a munchkin suck more than they used to. I'm not willing to admit that it's because I'm getting old quite yet. I'll blame it on getting into books instead! Hmm-hmm-hmm.

[fa3ryg1rl.livejournal.com]

I started watching those shows w/my daughter now I find myself watching them when I'm home alone....
I really like Wizards of Waverly Place. Have you seen that one?

[meganbmoore.livejournal.com]

Don't think I've even heard of it.

[admiral]

The Suite Life of Zach and Cody is like, the only good Disney Channel show nowadays.
No I lied, I find Hannah Montana hilarious. If only Miley Cyrus wasn't in it.