History Main / ObliviousToLove

* Mark from ''Film/TheRoom2003'', to a ridiculous extent. He never figures that he's helping Lisa, who is Mark's best friend's Johnny's fiancée, cheat on Johnny until about the ''fourth or fifth'' time that Lisa calls him over to have sex.

* Parodied in ''[[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic The Nostalgia Critic's]]'' fourth video about commercials, which has a RunningGag about [[Film/TheWizardOfOz the Wicked Witch of the West]] wanting to have a sexy time with someone. She attempts to tell her targets about it via all sorts of innuendos, and when that fails, she resorts to bluntly spelling it out to them. They remain utterly oblivious even then -- TheStinger shows [[spoiler: Mark, from ''Film/TheRoom'', being the final recipient of her advances, acting just as oblivious before until [[BrickJoke telling her that it's sexual harassment and he doesn't have to take it]].]]

* Mark from ''Film/TheRoom'', to a ridiculous extent. He never figures that he's helping Lisa, who is Mark's best friend's Johnny's fiancée, cheat on Johnny until about the ''fourth or fifth'' time that Lisa calls him over to have sex.

* ''WesternAnimation/StrangeMagic'': [[PrincessClassic Princess Dawn]] completely fails to notice her [[JustFriends best friend]] Sunny (who's an elf) is in love with her, despite his increasingly obvious hints. She's so busy flirting with every fairy boy that she fails to see his attempts to woo her. [[spoiler: This drives Sunny to make a LovePotion to make her love him.]]

-->'''Angie:''' Just tell me, Oscar, 'cause I'm curious. Why do you think [Lola]'s interested, huh? Do you think, for one minute, that she would even be WITH you if you weren't the rich and famous Sharkslayer? Are you that blind?\\
'''Oscar:''' At least she treats me like I'm somebody!\\
'''Angie:''' Yeah, well, would she love you if you were nobody?\\
'''Oscar:''' '''''NOBODY''''' LOVED ME WHEN I WAS NOBODY!\\
'''Angie:''' '''''[[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove I DID!]]'''''

-->'''Oscar:''' What's gotten into you?\\
'''Angie:''' ME? I swear, sometimes I just wanna take your big dumb dummy head and... ''(angrily pounds her fin in her fist repeatedly)''

-->'''Angie:''' Just tell me, Oscar, 'cause I'm curious. Why do you think [Lola]'s interested, huh? Do you think, for one minute, that she would even be WITH you if you weren't the rich and famous Sharkslayer? Are you that blind?\\
'''Oscar:''' At least she treats me like I'm somebody!\\
'''Angie:''' Yeah, well, would she love you if you were nobody?\\
'''Oscar:''' '''''NOBODY''''' LOVED ME WHEN I WAS NOBODY!\\
'''Angie:''' '''''[[AnguishedDeclarationOfLove I DID!]]'''''

->'''Angie:''' Just tell me, Oscar, 'cause I'm curious. Why do you think [Lola]'s interested, huh? Do you think, for one minute, that she would even be WITH you if you weren't the rich and famous Sharkslayer? Are you that blind?\\

-->'''Oscar:''' What's gotten into you?\\
'''Angie:''' ME? I swear, sometimes I just wanna take your big dumb dummy head and... ''(angrily pounds her fin in her fist repeatedly)''

LoveHurts; it's messy and [[TriangRelations a mathematical nightmare]] where only a few can come out happy, never mind unscathed. One of its worst injuries is perhaps the plainest one... pining away at someone because AllLoveIsUnrequited, and in the end never even holding them because IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy.

This is commonplace in the LoveDodecahedron, and is a type 5 in TriangRelations. It also overlaps with EveryoneCanSeeIt. It is also prevalent in YaoiGenre and (especially) YuriGenre works, where it is often mixed with [[{{Gayngst}} confusion about one's feelings for someone of the same gender]]. Compare ItMeantSomethingToMe, where Bob overtly says he loves Alice, but she denies having any feelings. See also DidYouThinkICantFeel Contrast MistakenForFlirting.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'', [[HotGypsyWoman Esmeralda]] is oblivious to [[TheGrotesque Quasimodo]]'s love. Unfortunately for Quasi, this means [[spoiler:[[DidNotGetTheGirl she hooks up with]] [[KnightInShiningArmor Phoebus]] [[DidNotGetTheGirl instead]]. Right in front of him, in fact]].

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!!Examples

--> "...So what happened to the mandibles of death, you sissy furball?!?"
--> "I was beguiled by her feminine charms. Yow. Go soak your head."

-->He looks around the room
-->Innocently overlooks the truth
-->Shouldn't a light go on?
-->Doesn't he know that I've had him memorized for so long?

--> '''Le Bret:''' Your courage and your wit! -- [[SmittenTeenageGirl The little maid]]
--> Who offered you refreshment even now,
--> Her eyes did not abhor you—you saw well!
--> '''Cyrano''' ''(impressed):'' True!

[[quoteright:350:[[Anime/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bf3e88a377ced1cf501ba148b37cfa47.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Oh, hey. You dropped something."]]

* In the ''Theatre/MrsHawking'' play series: In part IV: ''Gilded Cages'', Victoria does not realize that Reginald is falling in love with her. She explains it to her nephew many years later as her own aromantic nature made it hard for her as a young person to see the signs she herself was unfamiliar with.

This is commonplace in the LoveDodecahedron, and is a type 5 in TriangRelations. It also overlaps with EveryoneCanSeeIt. It is also prevalent in YaoiGenre and (especially) YuriGenre works, where it is often mixed with [[{{Gayngst}} confusion about one's feelings for someone of the same gender]]. Compare ItMeantSomethingToMe, where Bob overtly says he loves Alice, but she denies having any feelings. See also DidYouThinkICantFeel Contrast MistakenForFlirting

This is commonplace in the LoveDodecahedron, and is a type 5 in TriangRelations. It also overlaps with EveryoneCanSeeIt. It is also prevalent in YaoiGenre and (especially) YuriGenre works, where it is often mixed with [[{{Gayngst}} confusion about one's feelings for someone of the same gender]]. Compare ItMeantSomethingToMe, where Bob overtly says he loves Alice, but she denies having any feelings. See also DidYouThinkICantFeel

The Japanese have a special term for this: ''Donkan'' (鈍感), which is basically the short-form word for this trope.

* She's UsefulNotes/{{Aromantic}}

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', [[HotGypsyWoman Esmeralda]] is oblivious to [[TheGrotesque Quasimodo]]'s love. Unfortunately for Quasi, this means [[spoiler:[[DidNotGetTheGirl she hooks up with]] [[KnightInShiningArmor Phoebus]] [[DidNotGetTheGirl instead]]. Right in front of him, in fact]].

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* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'': Charlie Brown and Marcie. He's understandably intimidated by Peppermint Patty's overtures, but has yet to notice Marcie. Charlie Brown does figure out that Marcie likes him, but not until she (very bluntly) ''tells'' him so. His self-esteem is so low, he can't really believe that ''any'' girl can be interested in him, even Peppermint Patty. There's also Charlie and the Little Red-Headed Girl, who probably doesn't even know he exists.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Frozen|2013}}'', Anna doesn't realize that Kristoff has fallen in love with her until Olaf casually mentions it.
* ''WesternAnimation/StrangeMagic'': [[PrincessClassic Princess Dawn]] completely fails to notice her [[JustFriends best friend]] Sunny (who's an elf) is in love with her, despite his increasingly obvious hints. She's so busy flirting with every fairy boy that she fails to see his attempts to woo her. [[spoiler: This drives Sunny to make a LovePotion to make her love him.]]

* This is of course the basic plot of any number of {{romantic comed|y}}ies out there.
** Parodied ''mercilessly'' in ''Film/NotAnotherTeenMovie'', as [[ChildhoodFriendRomance Rickey]] has absolutely no problems with CannotSpitItOut, but Janey fails to pick up on the hints. Said "hints" include reading "[[Film/TenThingsIHateAboutYou Ten Things I Love About Janey Briggs]]" ''in class'', with other students groaning over hearing such works again.

* Mark from ''Film/TheRoom'', to a ridiculous extent. He never figures that he's helping Lisa, who is Mark's best friend's Johnny's fiancée, cheat on Johnny until about the ''fourth or fifth'' time that Lisa calls him over to have sex.

* ''Film/TheHungerGames'': Katniss Everdeen cannot see that Gale and Peeta clearly love her until they outright state it to her. In Peeta's case, it takes some time for her to realize even ''after'' he blatantly says it.
* ''Film/ThePatsy'': Poor Tony has no clue that Pat is besotted with him. When she tells him "I'm in love with a man who hardly knows I exist," he cluelessly offers her advice on how to attract the mystery man.
* A RunningGag in the original ''Film/Ghostbusters1984'' was Janine's crush on Egon and how he was absolutely oblivious of it due to his cold scientific nature.
* In ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanTheCurseOfTheBlackPearl'', Will wastes all his frustrated energy on swordplay because he's about the only person who can't see that Elizabeth is ready to jump his bones the minute she can get him alone[[note]]So to speak. WordOfGod says they never had sex before marriage, but they did have a lot of rather close dancing and sword practice.[[/note]]. Jack Sparrow even lampshades this at one point. Granted, he may be aware of it; he just thinks that due to their difference in social class (he's a blacksmith's apprentice and she's the governor's daughter), it would be downright ''disrespectful'' of him to have feelings for her. This can be seen in his refusal to call her anything but "Miss Swann" for most of the movie, even though she keeps telling him to call her Elizabeth.
* ''Film/ANewYorkChristmasWedding'': {{Subverted}}. At first it seems like Gabby was completely unaware that Jenni loved her initially, but the last timeline shows that she knew deep down.

* Anne in ''Theatre/ALittleNightMusic'' is not only oblivious to her awkward stepson's feelings for her, but also to her own feelings about him, which [[spoiler: she only realizes at the end.]]
* In ''Theatre/LesMiserables'', depending on the actor, Marius can sometimes come off as quite a bit thick in the head about this with Eponine.
* In ''Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic'', Maria has absolutely no clue the Captain is in love with her until the Baroness (for her own ends, of course) points it out. This is possibly because Maria has spent too much time in a convent. A moral crisis immediately ensues, which the Reverend Mother very nicely clears up.

** Cyrano uses SelectiveObliviousness to refuse to comprehend that he can be loved even with his enormous nose. At Act I Scene V, Le Bret has to remind him of the SmittenTeenageGirl Cyrano meet some moments ago. At Act IV Scene IX, Christian stubbornly tries to convince him that Roxane loves his “soul” – Cyrano – instead of his face. Cyrano will not believe it. Justified because Cyrano has serious MommyIssues and [[MartyrdomCulture his upbringing]] makes him more comfortable being the LoveMartyr.
--> '''Le Bret:''' Your courage and your wit! — [[SmittenTeenageGirl The little maid]]

* In ''Cromwell'' by Victor Hugo, Rochester is one of the men plotting against Cromwell and convinced he's in a forbidden romance with the man's daughter, sharing looks and that this affair will protect him. He's found guilty with the rest and to be executed, at which point the audience learns that Cromwell's daughter had no idea who the man even was and the "affair" existed only in his mind.
* In the ''Theatre/MrsHawking'' play series: In part IV: ''Gilded Cages'', Victoria does not realize that Reginald is falling in love with her. She explains it to her nephew many years later as her own aromantic nature made it hard for her as a young person to see the signs she herself was unfamiliar with.

* Parodied in ''[[WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic The Nostalgia Critic's]]'' fourth video about commercials, which has a RunningGag about [[Film/TheWizardOfOz the Wicked Witch of the West]] wanting to have a sexy time with someone. She attempts to tell her targets about it via all sorts of innuendos, and when that fails, she resorts to bluntly spelling it out to them. They remain utterly oblivious even then - TheStinger shows [[spoiler: Mark, from ''Film/TheRoom'', being the final recipient of her advances, acting just as oblivious before until [[BrickJoke telling her that it's sexual harassment and he doesn't have to take it]].]]

* ObliviousToLove/{{Webcomics}}