Markup View

Author: HeartOfAnAstronaut

Oct 27th 2012 at 8:49:24 AM

"Yet another possible reason is that father-son resemblances and parallels are often more noticeable than father-daughter ones."

This is interesting because maybe (in some cases) it depends on the parent that the series focuses on. Someone already mentioned TheScarletLetter, {{Chocolat}} and GilmoreGirls are other examples where the story follows mothers with daughters born out of wedlock. Then again, on GilmoreGirls Luke found out he had an illegitimate daughter even though he is a main character and the daughter was only a recurring character. In SenseAndSensibility Colonel Brandon's first love had an illegitimate child who was also a girl. Emma from {{Friends}} was a girl, Krusty had an illegitimate daughter on TheSimpsons and Grandpa had one of each (a son in Detroit whose mother was a prostitute, a daughter in England having slept with a girl as a soldier during WW2).

This trope is weird because someone suggested a while ago a trope about how all babies born on TV are boys. There were similar numbers of straight examples and aversions and I'd argue that the more works you list, the more the numbers even out, as in real life. Maybe this trope should be about inheritance issues rather than illegitimate sons in general?

The use of the word "Bastard" is also confusing. Are we only listing examples where there's stigma attached to the child born out of wedlock or do modern examples where it's less controversial also count?