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Author: aradia22

Dec 23rd 2016 at 11:05:34 PM

Thank you, Arivne. I haven't watched the episode of Gossip Girl since it aired so I forget the details. I know they were supposed to meet on the top of the Empire State Building again but I forget how it played out. Someone else can jump in if they remember. Otherwise, I'll try and get to it as soon as I can track down the episode.

MiinU, I wasn't sure if the Shop Around the Corner/She Loves Me/etc. examples should qualify which is why I didn't include them the first time. I thought maybe it could pass because of how it ends up playing out. The way I see this trope is (like I said earlier) it's not just people arranging to meet somewhere in advance. This trope is specifically creating stakes around a meeting that can then be exploited for drama.

The reason the Love Affair/An Affair To Remember example is where I started is because I think it exemplifies the "contrived" part. The characters agree to meet at this random location at this specific time as a sign that they've sorted out everything in their lives and want to be together. They don't bother exchanging  other personal details (phone numbers, addresses, etc.) and never attempt to contact each other when one of them doesn't make the meeting. I mean, the female character has her reasons after the accident but given how easy it was for him to find her in the phone book, it seems a little silly that he didn't even bother trying to figure out why she hadn't shown up. A Contrived Romantic Rendezvous creates drama. Instead of a cutting to the chase with a simple Love Confession, characters invest so much in trying to get to the meeting and read so much into whether the other person shows up. The characters create these problems for themselves.