History Main / SillyRabbitRomanceIsForKids

* In Fanfic/TheEndOfTheAffair, a YahariOreNoSeishunLoveComeWaMachigatteiru fanfic, Hachiman's primary reason for shunning romance involves this. However, it also shows the real emotional pain that he experiences from this way of living due to emotionally still craving love but unable to allow himself to accept it on a mental level and experiencing a rather bittersweet aftertaste when he see's the lost opportunities of [[FondMemoriesThatCouldHaveBeen what could have been]].

* Oddly, the king of ideal romances, {{Disney}}, had this with Megara in ''Disney/{{Hercules}}''. She was devoted to her first lover, made a ''DealWithTheDevil'' to save his life, and then watched him dump her for another girl, leaving her forever in the service of Hades.(She ended up following the "learn to love again" angle.)

* In Don Bluth's ''WesternAnimation/{{Thumbelina}}'', Mrs. Field Mouse, Mr. Beetle, and the frogs all try to convince Thumbellina that marrying for love is a stupid thing to do, and that she ought to instead choose a husband that has money and can provide for her. This is justified, because those characters all just want to use Thumbellina for their own ends.

* Barney in ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'' is a lot like this as a result of his long-term girlfriend Shannon absolutely crushing him shortly after college and causing him to swear off anything more serious than a one-night-stand. It's shown throughout the series that he isn't a total non-believer in love, particularly through his devotion to Lily and Marshall's relationship and then his realisation of his own love for Robin.

** Which completely misses the point since ''Romeo and Juliet'' is already one big slam against romance. It's not so much a critique of romance itself[[note]]which Creator/WilliamShakespeare seemed to be mostly in favour of[[/note]] as a critique of dumbass kids who, as soon as they ''think'' they're in love, immediately overreact. They're so blinded by love that they kill themselves the moment something goes wrong. Plus all the people they get killed along the way. The message seems to be the opposite of this trope: Romance should only be for people mature enough to deal with it sensibly, and kids should stay out of it.

* Kiri Luchile of DoubleArts swore this to himself at the age of fifteen, after [[spoiler:his childhood friend Sui dated and dumped him three times. ''In three days'']]. It took him all of [[spoiler:[[LoveAtFirstSight one glance]] at Elraine Figarette]] to summarily defenestrate that decision, though.

* The 1940 [[LooneyTunes Warner Bros.]] cartoon "Holiday Highlights" spotlights Valentine's Day, as a little girl entreats a little boy to be her Valentine. The boy responds by throwing himself at her, body and soul in a scene normally reserved for romance features. When the narrator points out to them that it's a leap year (1940 was in fact a leap year), the girl throws herself at the boy in kind.

* Natasha Romanov seems to think this in ''Film/TheAvengers'' based on a comment to Loki. Of course, she could have been lying to motivate him into saying something, but that's beside the point.

* Temperance Brennan refused to believe that love was real in earlier seasons of ''{{Bones}}'', although mainly due to her growing relationship with Seeley Booth, she has come to reconsider her previous position, as she admitted in the fifth season episode, "The Dentist in the Ditch":

* In ''Series/AGameOfThrones'', Robert and Cersei have a scene for themselves where both of them elucidate on this point: The two have been married (for political reasons) for 17 years and hate each others' guts, and both of them have long since lost people they had unrequited love towards and have problems genuinely feeling for anyone else (for Robert, it was Lyanna Stark. For Cersei, it was Robert. ''Ouch'').

* In the episode "Crushed", the normally snarky and brooding [[WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy Mandy]] falls head over heels for a boy Billy befriended named Piff. Angry at her humiliation and fearful that such previously unknown feelings would reduce her into a simpering fool like [[LoveMartyr Irwin]], she demands that Grim cut out her heart so she would no longer experience love again. Initially delighted at the idea, Grim goes for a different method after Mandy explains her dilemma to him. Using makeup and cosmetics, Mandy's new appearance immediately catches Piff's attention, who falls head over heels for her, and pathetically asks her to the Spring Dance (just as Irwin had done earlier) only to be rejected and punched in the face. Considering [[CrapsackWorld where they live]], Mandy had good reason for thinking love was for the weak-minded.

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* In ''[[MiracleOnThirtyFourthStreet Miracle on 34th Street]]'', Doris attempts to keep her daughter Susan away from make-believe things such as Santa Claus (and winds up preventing her from developing an imagination) because of a poor romantic affair.
* Played with in ''{{Enchanted}}''. Robert isn't ''completely'' against the idea of romance, but he becomes extremely cautious about moving forward in his relationship with Nancy because his first wife left him; he also worries that fairy tale romances will set up his daughter for disappointment later in life. Him being a divorce attorney probably doesn't help either.

* Oddly, the king of ideal romances, {{Disney}}, had this with Megara in ''Disney/{{Hercules}}''. She was devoted to her first lover, made a ''DealWithTheDevil'' to save his life, and then watched him dump her for another girl, leaving her forever in the service of Hades.(She ended up following the "learn to love again" angle.)
* Tzipporah has shades of this in ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'', with one of her sisters commenting at one point "That's why Papa says she'll never get married". She warms up to Moses and the two are wed at the end of the "Heaven's Eyes" montage.

* In Don Bluth's ''Thumbellina'', Mrs. Field Mouse, Mr. Beetle, and the frogs all try to convince Thumbellina that marrying for love is a stupid thing to do, and that she ought to instead choose a husband that has money and can provide for her. This is justified, because those characters all just want to use Thumbellina for their own ends.

--> ''In Yuigahama's case, I did not even think she loved me anyway. If pure, unending love existed, I had no inkling of it. All I saw of young love was people scratching each other's backs, drawn to each otheronly because of their selfish desire to have their existence be affirmed by another person.''

* The 1940 [[LooneyTunes Warner Bros.]] cartoon "Holiday Highlights" spotlights Valentine's Day," as a little girl entreats a little boy to be her Valentine. The boy responds by throwing himself at her, body and soul in a scene normally reserved for romance features. When the narrator points out to them that it's a leap year (1940 was in fact a leap year), the girl throws herself at the boy in kind.

* The 1940 [[LooneyTunes Warner Bros. cartoon "Holiday Highlights" spotlights Valentine's Day," as a little girl entreats a little boy to be her Valentine. The boy responds by throwing himself at her, body and soul in a scene normally reserved for romance features. When the narrator points out to them that it's a leap year (1940 was in fact a leap year), the girl throws herself at the boy in kind.

--> '''Natasha''': Love is for children, I owe him a debt.

* Ruby is actually the youngest and by ''far'' the [[ParalyzingFearOfSexuality least experienced]] major character in the cast of ''Webcomic/StickyDilyBuns'', but adopts a disdainful view of romance, calling it "Nothing but trouble".

By definition, this is a trope for older individuals.

* Played with in ''{{Enchanted}}''. Robert isn't ''completely'' against the idea of romance, but he becomes extremely cautious about moving forward in his relationship with Nancy, because his first wife left him. He also worries that fairy tale romances will set up his daughter for disappointment later in life.

* Sort of mentioned in Creator/TerryPratchett 's {{Discworld}} books about Vimes. His musings on love include "That's a dicey word for the over-forties" and "She couldn't do any worse, but then, he couldn't do any better, so maybe they met in the middle." Throughout the series, though, it's shown that he truly loves his wife, especially in ''Thud!'' and heartwarmingly in ''Snuff''.

* In ''AGameOfThrones'', Robert and Cersei have a scene for themselves where both of them elucidate on this point: The two have been married (for political reasons) for 17 years and hate each others' guts, and both of them have long since lost people they had unrequited love towards and have problems genuinely feeling for anyone else (for Robert, it was Lyanna Stark. For Cersei, it was Robert. ''Ouch'').

* As if ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' fandom didn't have enough to argue about, some people can be very aggressive towards people who have any interest in shipping, claiming that it's an insignificant part of the story, only attracts embarrassing ShipToShipCombat, and detracts from other elements. Of course, the story is about far more than the romantic subplots but this trope is definitely being brought up by a section of the fandom. Ironic, since, despite its wide demographic audience, it's still a children's show.

->''Once upon a time,''
->''Somewhere in your past,''
->''Someone said "forever,"''
->''But that promise didn't last.''
->''Now you don't believe''
->''Love is ever true.''
->''You steel yourself against the day''
->''When I stop loving you.''

* The contrarian Shakespeare critic Gary Taylor was writing about a play by one of Shakespeare's contemporaries. The premise is like a sequel to ''RomeoAndJuliet'' -- they elope together, and instead of killing themselves, they live together, and he pimps her out to the local nobleman. Taylor called it "''Romeo and Juliet'' for grown-ups."

** Which completely misses the point since ''Romeo and Juliet'' is already one big slam against romance. It's not so much a critique of romance itself[[note]]which WilliamShakespeare seemed to be mostly in favour of[[/note]] as a critique of dumbass kids who, as soon as they ''think'' they're in love, immediately overreact. They're so blinded by love that they kill themselves the moment something goes wrong. Plus all the people they get killed along the way. The message seems to be the opposite of this trope: Romance should only be for people mature enough to deal with it sensibly, and kids should stay out of it.

* The GilbertAndSullivan play ''Theatre/{{Patience}}'' features two characters who fall under this trope in the beginning. Our female lead does not love, and is happy because she does not love both senses of the clause). She does admit love eventually ("I had no idea it was a duty!"). But after a third character is forced to renounce it, most of the other characters decide that romantic love is ''irrelevant.'' And, until the end, love is depicted as nothing but painful.

** Which completely misses the point since ''Romeo and Juliet'' is already one big slam against romance. It's not so much a critique of romance itself[[hottip:*:which WilliamShakespeare seemed to be mostly in favour of]] as a critique of dumbass kids who, as soon as they ''think'' they're in love, immediately overreact. They're so blinded by love that they kill themselves the moment something goes wrong. Plus all the people they get killed along the way. The message seems to be the opposite of this trope: Romance should only be for people mature enough to deal with it sensibly, and kids should stay out of it.

* The ManicStreetPreachers song ''Life Becoming A Landslide'' has the pre-chorus "My idea of love comes from a childhood glimpse of pornography / But there is no true love, just a finely-tuned jealousy"
* Queensryche's ''I Don't Believe In Love'' could touch on this trope a little bit in some way...

* ''[Literature/[JohnPutnamThatcher Against the Grain]]'': [[spoiler:Subverted: the villains are actually older people who think this may be their last chance at romance.]]

* ''[[JohnPutnamThatcher Against the Grain]]'': [[spoiler:Subverted: the villains are actually older people who think this may be their last chance at romance.]]

* In Creator/GKChesterton's "The [[MaliciousSlander Scandal]] of Father Brown", FatherBrown gently points out to the IntrepidReporter that he muddled up his story with his assumptions, one of which is about romance.

For some people, especially {{the cynic}}s, a point in life is reached where they consider ThePowerOfLove as a [[LoveMakesYouCrazy ridiculously]] [[LoveMakesYouDumb stupid]] fiction that can be [[LoveMakesYouEvil downright dangerous]], and focus their efforts on satisfying something else instead. Usually, it's caused by their realization that LoveHurts, sometimes due to [[TheFirstCutIsTheDeepest a lover who jilted them or cheated on them]], or because the lovers they witnessed only ended up living in poverty, slavery, DomesticAbuse, being TooDumbToLive, and other such forms of DestructiveRomance that would have been avoided if they used reason.

By definition, this is a trope for older individuals. Some of the more [[StrawVulcan "logical" or "scientific"]] characters can also fall into this category.