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Edited by Mrph1 on Jul 29th 2024 at 3:09:00 PM
I imagine it's a vicarious-living-through-character thing. "If the fictional character I like has a cool boyfriend/girlfriend, that means I have a cool boyfriend/girlfriend by extension!"
I guess there's a lot of money in that so I can't really blame them, I just don't have to like it.
You cannot firmly grasp the true form of Squidward's technique!It'd be weirder to me if there was no sex/romance at all ever, but it doesn't always need to be some grand, magical thing. I like Luke/Claire because it's casual, rather than some epic 'you are my WORLD' kind of thing. Similarly, I like Jessica/Luke because it's dysfunctional and kind of fucked up in a way that a lot of real-world relationships are. But sex and dating don't have to be a big deal. Like on Daredevil, I think the way the Matt/Elektra/Karen triangle was handled was overblown, stylized in a way that didn't really work with the way the show had been written up to that point. But you could say that about the Hand, too, so I just try not to think about that.
They should've just made a Daredevil/Punisher miniseries, leaving the Hand for Defenders like they originally planned. Those first four episodes are so good.
More room to work with. The darker tone means they don't go for undeveloped TRUE LOVE pairings.
Although, mileages have been known to vary on the Agents of Shield and Agent Carter pairings.
Forever liveblogging the AvengersWith the exception of Jane and Thor (who was just completely mishandled right out the gate), the worst MCU romances have generally been the ones that had absolutely no reason to be there.
I feel Pepper and Tony and Peggy and Steve work because those women were actually fairly important parts of the story and were organically woven into the plot. And even if Incredible Hulk wasn't a great film, Betty still had a legit reason to be there and the movie could rely on the fact that she and Bruce had apparently already been a couple in the past. On the flipside you have Sharon Carter and whatever the hell the name of the woman in Doctor Strange was, where the romance was completely irrelevant to the movie and was clearly just there because it's expected that every superhero movie has to have a man and a woman kiss before the end. Ant-Man was even worse: Hope did have a big role in the plot and the romance still feels tacked on and completely out of nowhere.
edited 31st Jan '17 12:14:01 PM by comicwriter
I felt the point of Dr Palmer being Strange's ex was so that she could be even more disappointed in him. And blah blah his anchor in the normal world.
Apparently they're no more than friends at any point of the movie though.
My theory regarding Hope is that both of them were just fucking with Old Pym because its fun to push his buttons.
Forever liveblogging the AvengersYeah, Ducktor Strange was a welcome break from the usual Romantic Plot Tumor.
Though it would have been nice if there was more to her character than "Strange's old flame".
edited 31st Jan '17 12:36:24 PM by Anomalocaris20
You cannot firmly grasp the true form of Squidward's technique!A problem with Christine was that her big heroic moment tending to Stephens wounds while he is having an astral projection battle is calculated to make her useful rather than actually progressing the story or Stephen's character arc. It is nice there isn't a Token Romance there, but that doesn't make her a very well developed character either.
I do think that a lot of films would be better served cutting out the romance mostly because they don't really put effort into it and it's there mostly as an expectation.
Some of the Netflix shows have done this pretty well with actually interesting relationships that add to the characters and don't feel like a waste of time.
That's probably part of it, but it's a little bit of an oversimplification.
While the overemphasis on romantic relationships in media is pretty terrible, it's still an important part of the palette of the human experience that has as much right to be in certain stories as anything else.
The problem is most writers take that for granted and don't bother making the relationship actually good and it's a difficult thing to get right as it is, and it's not something that needs to be in every story. So most romance regardless of the genre is pretty lackluster and phoned in.
The most compelling relationships I've seen in media tend to be the destructive/unhealthy ones, and those aren't necessarily that easy to work with in the movies proper. Much easier to do it in the netflix shows, which is why some of them have the best-written ones in the MCU so far.
edited 31st Jan '17 1:55:31 PM by Draghinazzo
Out of the various franchises only The Incredible Hulk and the Thor series really seem to actually take advantage of that particular Just Here for Godzilla, and well, we know how that turned out.
Meanwhile if romance was ditched completely from the films where they were extraneous the Mad Matchmakers would find a way to create a healthy shipping community from them and watch the movie for their ships anyway, while maybe fans who don't care for superfluous romances would also be more inclined to come. I dunno, that last point is kinda rambling, but the presence of the romance storylines has a strong feeling of "crafted by committee" there.
edited 31st Jan '17 4:02:14 PM by AlleyOop
It's not strictly necessary to do that to get Young Avengers
The fact that Wanda is Billy's soul mom comes up tragically infrequently. I want more moments like from New New New Avengers where she gave him dubious life advice
Also Teddy will be a bit more of a stumbling block
Forever liveblogging the AvengersPoint being that Wanda as their maybe mom barely comes up.
Teddy being the hybrid of two warring races and the prophesied king of space comes up a lot more than Wanda does.
Not to mention Iron Lad and the Kang thing.
Kate Bishop and Cassie seem the easiest to set up.
Whoa-oh-oh, its magic, y'know?
edited 31st Jan '17 8:10:26 PM by Bocaj
Forever liveblogging the Avengers

I can take it or leave it but apparently a lot of people really like romance in stuff. A bit inexplicable to me but I suppose its seen as an essential part of the human experience by those a lot of people.
Forever liveblogging the Avengers