ladyofastolat (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ladyofastolat) wrote2007-08-24 07:50 pm
ladyofastolat) wrote2007-08-24 07:50 pm
Entry tags:
Boring couples
In an email today, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
evilmissbecky happened to mention Joss Whedon's oft-stated opinion that "happy couples are boring" - hence his decision to painfully tear any happy couple apart in all his shows. I know I've ranted about it before in an email, so rather than do so again, I'm doing it on LJ instead.
This comment really annoys me. So happy couples are boring, are they? Well, okay, perhaps their relationship is "boring", in terms of useful material for fiction. But I contend that this doesn't matter. A happy couple, with a happy, "boring" relationship can still consist of two desperately interesting individuals. If the entire focus of your show/movie/book is the romantic relationship, then, yes, perhaps you want to include some tension and stress, not just harmony, peaceful discussions about the weekly shop, and playful jokes about whose turn it is to empty the bin. But why should the focus be only on the relationship? Why can't we can a show/movie/book in which people do amazingly exciting things, then go home to a "boring" happy relationship that just doesn't happen to get delved into? Just because someone is part of a couple it doesn't mean that the relationship defines them. Maybe the relationship is "boring", in terms of fiction, but the people in that relationship don't have to be.
I this that this focus on unhappy relationships can become boring, just because it's so predictable. It's the main reason why I never watch soap operas. If something can go wrong, it does go wrong. Weddings will predictably be disastrous. If a misunderstanding is remotely possible, it will happen, because no-one will ever just shout out, "She's my sister!" And what about all these tiresome TV cops/doctors/detectives, all with their fraught home life and their falling-apart marriages and their rebellious children? Unhappy couples can be boring, too, because it's all we get. If ten TV programmes in a row show a rebellious cop fighting to save his crumbling marriage, the by-the-book cop with the happy home-life seems positively exciting by comparison.
I wonder if my reactions to this comment is tied in to my feelings about pairings in fandom. As I'm sure I've gone on about at length before, I really don't do pairings. Yes, I've written some stories featuring romantic relationships, and I've read some, too, but my prime focus isn't on who fancies whom. If I watch a new show, and then see the question "Who do you ship?" my answer is a rather uncomprehending, "er... no-one." I personally find it more interesting to explore characters as individuals than as part of a pair. I like to explore relationships, but I personally find it more interesting to explore the relationships of friendship, comradeship etc. than romance or sexual attraction.
Are passionate shippers more likely to agree with Joss's comment, I wonder? Hmm...
evilmissbecky happened to mention Joss Whedon's oft-stated opinion that "happy couples are boring" - hence his decision to painfully tear any happy couple apart in all his shows. I know I've ranted about it before in an email, so rather than do so again, I'm doing it on LJ instead. This comment really annoys me. So happy couples are boring, are they? Well, okay, perhaps their relationship is "boring", in terms of useful material for fiction. But I contend that this doesn't matter. A happy couple, with a happy, "boring" relationship can still consist of two desperately interesting individuals. If the entire focus of your show/movie/book is the romantic relationship, then, yes, perhaps you want to include some tension and stress, not just harmony, peaceful discussions about the weekly shop, and playful jokes about whose turn it is to empty the bin. But why should the focus be only on the relationship? Why can't we can a show/movie/book in which people do amazingly exciting things, then go home to a "boring" happy relationship that just doesn't happen to get delved into? Just because someone is part of a couple it doesn't mean that the relationship defines them. Maybe the relationship is "boring", in terms of fiction, but the people in that relationship don't have to be.
I this that this focus on unhappy relationships can become boring, just because it's so predictable. It's the main reason why I never watch soap operas. If something can go wrong, it does go wrong. Weddings will predictably be disastrous. If a misunderstanding is remotely possible, it will happen, because no-one will ever just shout out, "She's my sister!" And what about all these tiresome TV cops/doctors/detectives, all with their fraught home life and their falling-apart marriages and their rebellious children? Unhappy couples can be boring, too, because it's all we get. If ten TV programmes in a row show a rebellious cop fighting to save his crumbling marriage, the by-the-book cop with the happy home-life seems positively exciting by comparison.
I wonder if my reactions to this comment is tied in to my feelings about pairings in fandom. As I'm sure I've gone on about at length before, I really don't do pairings. Yes, I've written some stories featuring romantic relationships, and I've read some, too, but my prime focus isn't on who fancies whom. If I watch a new show, and then see the question "Who do you ship?" my answer is a rather uncomprehending, "er... no-one." I personally find it more interesting to explore characters as individuals than as part of a pair. I like to explore relationships, but I personally find it more interesting to explore the relationships of friendship, comradeship etc. than romance or sexual attraction.
Are passionate shippers more likely to agree with Joss's comment, I wonder? Hmm...