Real Talk: Relationships in Fiction

[Hakudamashi]

I'm not sure if I've already talked about this or not, but this is seriously a topic that I want to share.

It's just that, recently I can't help but notice that the subject of stable love has been a bit of a taboo in modern fiction writeing in favour of being as dark as possible, or not caring about relationships at all. As in, when I read/hear about something like say, Bioshock Infinite, one thing most people are sure to mention how they like that Elizabeth is not a love interest, but I'm like, you say that like it would ruin everything. Surely if a project is in the hands of a competent writer, the story would remain excellent even if Elizabeth was a love interest... Right?
Another occurence that was brought up recently was talks of Quacamelee's story. Where you have to save your childhood friend/potential love interest, but whenever there is reference to this character, she is spoken of with scoff and sighs, as if she is to be ignored and nobody should care... Why?

I don't understand why people think the very thought of a stable relationship in fictional writing is "stupid" and shouldn't be bothered with...
Nowadays, I've noticed whenever there is a relationship of mutual positive affection between a male and a female, there has to be either death, betrayal, some kinda lie, or all of the above.

I mean, it can't be because love inheritly ruins a story, most of the best known novels end with happy endings of the main character being together with his/her loved one, like Dragon Ball, most of the Disney Movies, Final Fantasies 4, 7, 8 and 9, Clanaad, Avatar the Last Airbender, etc.
If the you got a competent and sensible writer backing up your project, then your story is going to be great regardless of successful love being in it or not.

Also, just a personal nitpick of mine, but I shortly wanna talk about main character duos. There are duos of two men, two women, a man and a woman, two brothers, two sisters, a brother and a sister, A man and a dog, a man and a cat, a woman and a dog, a woman and a cat, two aliens, one alien and one not alien, pretty much any duo you can think of.
But I don't see much of a main character duo consisting of a husband and wife from start to finish, with them both alive and still together in the end. Well, there is Mr. And Mrs. Smith, which was awesome, but I wish more if existed, but that's just me being selfish.

Anyway, I wish to understand why writers nowadays tend to shy away from successful relationships in their stories. What are your thoughts on the matter? Am I just talking outta my ass? Discuss

[jkid101094]

Maybe writers think a standard love story is unnecessary.

Also there are some people that want to point sexism at everything that isn't a strong, independent women wearing anything but man clothes...and don't you even fucking think about showing any skin.

[shadowDOESrock]

Its just way stuff is written.
Changes over time.

10 Years ago everything was about Friendship and Bonds.
20 Years ago everything was about betrayal.
30 Years ago everything was about that hot chick.
40 Years ago everything was about the beautiful princess.
50 Years ago everything was about the chick at home, waiting for the man.
Now we're in a phase of... independent females.



But aside from that, its incredibly hard to write something like that and not be cheesy or sexist.
Nowdays, people would consider Sakura from Naruto to be a sexist character, since she depends on Sasuke.
Hell, Chichi would be considered a sexist character since he she is at home cooking after they get together.
Bad examples, but yeah

[Hakudamashi]

eWell, I have to say that I very much dislike this current generation of "Independent Females", because in my eyes, they might as well have been male characters... Or robots.

I mean, is it really wrong to make a woman soo important to a man's life that he would run through lava to protect her?
Is it really wrong to write a woman character as someone that even though they're independent and strong and whatever, they still think about marriage and children?
Is it really wrong for a woman to be pretty?

I mean, I remember the reason I have my current fixation on girl characters now is because of how interesting I found them back then. Women could be some of the impactful, and cornerstone to a story by simply existing. But nowadays they just come off as men with tits... But apparently that's what this generation wants...

And ChiChi is sexist? Well f*ck her for giving a sh*t about her husband and her son for constantly being put to death's door. And when Goku left her for several years TWICE, she didn't bitch can cry and complain about it, she sucked it up, carried on with her life and raised her sons properly like a good mother. If that's not a strong, independent, intelligent female, I dunno what is...

[shadowDOESrock]

I dunno what is...

A Narcisstic Woman like Lightning from FF13 of Elizabeth from BioShock Infinite. But in Pants and a Jacket.
Or atleast, thats how it feels to me.

I certainly am the wrong person to talk about this.
I dont mind "sexism" in fiction because... well, its fiction. Just like i dont mind racisim in fiction.
Its a fictional universe and not real-life. If you mix together fiction and real life issues, you're gonna have a bad time.
And probably not alot of fun in life... _*cough*

Though, i can see writers struggling with writing something like that and having both characters relevant.
Especially if its a game.

[Hakudamashi]

Didn't know a woman has to be mean or a God to be relevant these days...

Well from the examples I gave, especially FF9 and Clanaad, I know it's not impossible to make a love story where both are equally crucial to the story, and I find them to be the best stories.

A woman doesn't have to be a hardened “badass” to be a good character dammit...

[jkid101094]

I honestly love how no one says anything about the overly buff, mustachioed men without shirts.

[Hakudamashi]

I honestly love how no one says anything about the overly buff, mustachioed men without shirts.

OMG dude, that's another “real talk” topic I wanna talk about.

[shadowDOESrock]

I honestly love how no one says anything about the overly buff, mustachioed men without shirts.

Because Men (generally) think its badass to look cool and have so much muscles that you dont need a shirt.
Females however, (generally) do not think it looks cool or that its badass to be curvy and only wear skimpy clothes.


There are some things like...
When a female has alot of male friends she is a "slut" but when a man has alot of female friends he's a "ladies man".
But we are different gender.
Why do female children usually like pink/redish while male children like blue/greenish colours?
Its Nature.


This all in the end relates to one single topic; "Sexism / Different Views".

[jkid101094]

Why do female children usually like pink/redish while male children like blue/greenish colours?
Its Nature.

Nature? I've always thought it was forced stereotyping.

Kids develop likes and dislikes at an early age and, naturally, our gender stereotypes tell us everything girly needs to be pink.

In my mind it's simple;

>Little girl sees pink things as a child.
> Her favorite toys are pink.
> Her security blanket is pink.
> She grows up with the color reminding her of those old things, even if she doesn't think about her blankets and what not anymore her brain still associates the color with happiness and security.

My favorite things when I was little were blue. Guess what my favorite color is?

It's not 'nature' that shapes a personality, it's culture and someone's upbringing.

That is, of course, only my opinion. You have a PHD in Child Psychology I don't know about?

[Hakudamashi]

Because Men (generally) think its badass to look cool and have so much muscles that you dont need a shirt.
Females however, (generally) do not think it looks cool or that its badass to be curvy and only wear skimpy clothes.


There are some things like...
When a female has alot of male friends she is a "slut" but when a man has alot of female friends he's a "ladies man".
But we are different gender.
Why do female children usually like pink/redish while male children like blue/greenish colours?
Its Nature.


This all in the end relates to one single topic; "Sexism / Different Views".

Haha, Kyo, that's where you're wrong
Because I for one am tired of these stupid muscular meat bags who feel they have to solve ALL of their problems through violence, and have to kill things with as much gore as possible.
I prefer the male characters that only get into conflict when they need to/are provoked, like James Bond, Superman, Edward Elric.
And most of the females I talk to down in Jamaica actually welcome female characters with skimpy clothing and huge tits cause they're "fun to look at"

It's all about upbringing, not gender.

[shadowDOESrock]

That is, of course, only my opinion. You have a PHD in Child Psychology I don't know about?

No, and i dont want one either.
I read somewhere that they did a study about this and the whole "forced stereotyping" thing by "culture" wasnt true.
Then again, there are so many studies out there and tell the exact opposite.

Haha, Kyo, that's where you're wrong
Because I for one am tired of these stupid muscular meat bags who feel they have to solve ALL of their problems through violence, and have to kill things with as much gore as possible.
I prefer the male characters that only get into conflict when they need to/are provoked, like James Bond, Superman, Edward Elric.
And most of the females I talk to down in Jamaica actually welcome female characters with skimpy clothing and huge tits cause they're "fun to look at"

It's all about upbringing, not gender.

As i said, generally.
But yeah, Jamaica has a different culture.
In Japan we have the exact opposite of (America, Europe) - where Females want to be "taken care" of by males.
Why this suddenly becomes such a massive issue here now... i really dont know nor do i care.
Because i can always just write my own story.

[jkid101094]

No, and i dont want one either.
I read somewhere that they did a study about this and the whole "forced stereotyping" thing by "culture" wasnt true.

Really? I'd love one.
I'd also like to see this study because it's probably complete bullshit.

[shadowDOESrock]

I dont like kids.

Also, i mainly grew up with green and blue, yet my favourite colour is purple.
Given, that is also related with blue to some extent...

[Hakudamashi]

I dont like kids.

Oh no you didn't.