History Main / HappyMarriageCharade

However, the course of true love -- or raging hormones -- never did run smooth. Eventually thingsget a little rocky but the couple can't break up.

* Soichiro and Sumi's marriage in ''SteppingOnRoses''. [[spoiler: At first.]] Nozomu also thinks this way towards his own marriage with Miu.

* [[WesternAnimation/LegendOfKorra Korra and Tarrlok]] have one initially in FanFic/{{Strings}} after Tarrlok kidnaps her as a hostage and hides in a backwater town. Due to [[StockholmSyndrome them gett]][[LimaSyndrome ing closer]] it has become [[AMatchMadeInStockholm less]] of a charade.

If Alice and Bob aren't really in love because Bob loves Chuck, then Alice is TheBeard and the marriage is still a charade.

* [[WesternAnimation/LegendOfKorra Korra and Tarrlok]] have one initially in FanFic/{{Strings}} after Tarrlok kidnaps her as a hostage and hides in a backwater town. Due to [[StockholmSyndrome them gett]][[LimaSyndrome ing closer]] it has became less of a charade.

* [[LegendOfKorra Korra and Tarrlok]] have one initially in FanFic/{{Strings}} after Tarrlok kidnaps her as a hostage and hides in a backwater town. Due to [[StockholmSyndrome them gett]][[LimaSyndrome ing closer]] it has became less of a charade.

[[AC:RealLife]]
* In real life, many couples who 'married for love' remain married long after having 'fallen out of love' (the old two-to-three year mark is usually when this strikes). This is usually because they're fairly comfortable with things as they are (they've bought a decent home together and/or have a good thing going financially), and they don't want their kids to grow up without a father/mother figure or in a broken home.
** Sometimes, however, the parents in question have an ''epic'' falling-out but still stick together for their kids' sakes. Takes some guts, that. Far too many parents [[ItsAllAboutMe just cut-and-run when it gets tough, kids be damned.]]
*** Sometimes, though not being as passionately in love as before, the couple still care for each other as friends and family. If the "fallen out of love" is a simple cooling of the passion, it is quite normal to remain in the relationship. In fact, it's normal to ignore the sense of unfulfillingness, because after all there is still love between the couple, friendship, and lots of happy memories together. In that case, it's not a happy marriage charade, but something like a happy marriage advancing by inertia.

** Sometimes, however, the parents in question have an ''epic'' falling-out but still stick together for their kids' sakes. Takes some guts, that. Far too many parents [[ItsAllAboutMe just cut-and-run when it gets tough, kids be damned.]]

Alice and Bob met. They fell in love. They got married. And everyone around them thought they were perfect together.

But the course of true love -- or even raging hormones -- never did run smooth. And eventually things begin to get a little rocky.

But Bob's family will cut him off if he gets a divorce! Alice won't get her inheritance if she doesn't have a child born in wedlock! The family will be subjected to the scrutiny of the media and embarrassment from same if it gets out that the perfect couple -- isn't. Or there's some political reason that would make things complicated and unpleasant if they divorced. Or divorce is [[AgainstMyReligion against their religion.]]

* [[LegendOfKorra Korra and Tarrlok]] have one initially in FanFic/{{Strings}} after Tarrlok kidnaps her as a hostage and hide in a backwater town, due to [[StockholmSyndrome them gett]][[LimaSyndrome ing closer]] it has became less of a charade.

* In real life, many unhappy couples remain married and pretend not to hate each other for the sake of their kids.

* [[ScarpiaUltimatum Korra and Tarrlok]] have one initially in FanFic/{{Strings}}, due to StockholmSyndrome and LimaSyndrome it has became less of a charade.

* Soichiro and Sumi's marriage in SteppingOnRoses. [[spoiler: At first.]] Nozomu also thinks this way towards his own marriage with Miu.

* [[NobleBigot Starfall]] of Fanfic/SummerDaysAndEveningFlames has a complicated relationship with his wife. Since she's a pegasus who [[BrokenAngel lost her wings by a griffin attack]], he's held a view of her as "damaged goods" and is rather cold. He's actually the last person to realize this among his circle of coworkers.
* In the {{Tintin}} fanfic [[http://senoraalcazar.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d4ht6t7 An Evening at the Airport]] the author suggests that the Waggs put on one of these.

* Oscar and Judie Valentine of the LucyValentine series are still married on paper. In fact, they're still good friends and occasional lovers, though they maintain separate residences, and Oscar tends to philander. But Oscar's family business is ''matchmaking'' and it would be a blow to the business -- and their wallets -- if the King of Love were revealed to be having a failure to achieve marital bliss. So they hang out together and do social events together to keep up appearances.

** In "The Mysterious Affair at Styles", John and Mary Cavendish. Mary was not in love in John when they got married and he eventually forms an affair with another woman. Subverted in the end because she finally falls in love with him and he finds out, thus leading to an actual happy marriage.
** In "A Caribbean Mystery", roughly the same storyline is played with Edward and Evelyn Hillingdon.

* Lindsey and Melanie do this in QueerAsFolk after they separate when Lindsey cheated on Melanie with a man. Needless to say, they got found out.

* In the film version of ''TheCountOfMonteCristo'' (not sure about the book), Mercedes and Fernand are in one of these when Edmund returns from the Chateau d'If. The facade has been thoroughly broken by the end.

Compare SexlessMarriage and CitizenshipMarriage.

* Oscar and Judie Valentine of the LucyValentine series are still married on paper. In fact, they're still good friends and occasional lovers, though they maintain separate residences, and Oscar tends to philander. But Oscar's family business is ''matchmaking'' and it would be a blow to the business -- and their wallets -- if the King of Love were revealed to be having a failure to achieve marital bliss. So they hang out together and do social events together to keep up appearances.
* Everett and Ivy Noble of ''Heroine Addiction'' are also still happily married on paper. Why? They're both superheroes, and the toast of the town to boot. But even juicier? [[spoiler: Everett actually left Ivy for a guy named Morris Kemp -- who is a supervillain, and one of the family's arch enemies.]] So they go through the motions in public of being happily married, including a date night.
* AgathaChristie uses this trope liberally:

But Bob's family will cut him off if he gets a divorce! Alice won't get her inheritance if she doesn't have a child born in wedlock! The family will be subjected to the scrutiny of the media and embarrassment from same if it gets out that the perfect couple -- isn't. Or there's some political reason that would make things complicated and unpleasant if they divorced.

* John And Mary, on ''FatherTed'' married shopkeepers who are always plotting to murder each other, but who go into over-the-top perfect couple mode whenever anyone else is around.

* On ''FatherTed'' there is a married pair who are always plotting to murder each other, but who go into over-the-top perfect couple mode whenever anyone else is around.