Romance: literature & film

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I've seen a lot of games, films, and books involving romance.

Now that I think of it, rarely is my favorite protagonist a bachelor. At least not forever. Except Batman or something. I think that a lifestyle of that sort can be interesting because it centers the reader on specific aspects of a character's life without raising the question of hero's family is doing, for example.

I've noticed that for classical heroes, relationships just happen because they're so cool and accomplish something impressive. For example, who would turn down Hercules or Gilgamesh?

I'm not really familiar with how romance goes for tragic heroes like Orpheus. I don't know if he got the girl or not, but if he did, she probably died or something. I'll look into it.

Where things get really interesting to me though are the Byronic heroes, the absolute bastards of heroes. I don't even enjoy reading stories with these sorts of "heroes" because they usually have the wrong kinds of lessons. Basically, every angsty male protagonist these days.

I like classical heroes the most. For example, Clark Kent in Smallville and T'Challa in Black Panther.

 

[dZpADTLrPmX4c]

Romance in stories often feels so clumsy to me. It could be execution, or could be my personal feelings about romance. Or both.

 

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Romance in stories often feels so clumsy to me. It could be execution, or could be my personal feelings about romance. Or both.

Honestly, I would be inclined to agree with you but I think that the movies that make romance and drama sequential and drawn-out are inaccurate for most people today, at least in Western countries.

This might be my brute brain talking but I think that most romantic relationships in the Western world occur on the impulsive basis of aesthetic things. Basically, the way things look, sound, or seem.

Outside of the Western world, arranged marriage usually.

 

[Krypton]

I don't mind romance, but I usually want it to be one part of a larger picture. And it's not really a requirement.

I'd kind of like to see the usual formulas for romance disrupted in some way. Like people immediately getting together instead of there being a drawn-out process, or where the obligatory "other guys" turn out to be as nuanced and interesting people as the leads, or a woman pursuing a man in a way that isn't framed as embarrassing. Maybe even polyamory or FwB, hah.

 

[Wyote]

The Expanse does a good job of conveying some of the aspects of love.
You think it's going in a sort of traditional story route, but then things get complicated.
That's pretty accurate to life imo.

Stories are just stories, they give you a specific slice of particular facet of love.
Usually stories try to indulge in our strongest feelings and attempt to give the audience those feelings one way or another.

 

[lucyinthedarkness]

I don't like romantic movie. Books with it are so much better for me. I can use my own fantasy. Favorite books with this theme: The Sorrows of Young Werther, The Unbearable Lightness of Being and Twenty Love Poems and a Song of Despair .

 

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The Sorrows of Young Werther

Great book, I don't think it's one that I could ever pick up and read again. I felt extreme depression after reading it. Never again.

I said to myself repeatedly, "Never end up like Werther, never end up like Werther..." Did you cry as well? I did. I cried like an abandoned baby.

 

[dZpADTLrPmX4c]

Great book, I don't think it's one that I could ever pick up and read again. I felt extreme depression after reading it. Never again.

I said to myself repeatedly, "Never end up like Werther, never end up like Werther..." Did you cry as well? I did. I cried like an abandoned baby.

I like the sounds of this. I may yet have to find this book.

 

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The Expanse does a good job of conveying some of the aspects of love.

Why do you think that so many stories involving space have antihero protagonists? That's a common trend I see.

 

[Wyote]

Why do you think that so many stories involving space have antihero protagonists? That's a common trend I see.

Space is dark, like the souls of the adventurers of the deep

 

[lucyinthedarkness]

Great book, I don't think it's one that I could ever pick up and read again. I felt extreme depression after reading it. Never again.

I said to myself repeatedly, "Never end up like Werther, never end up like Werther..." Did you cry as well? I did. I cried like an abandoned baby.

I cried a lot . I read this book 4 times and love it so much. Do you have similar feelings from another book?

I like the sounds of this. I may yet have to find this book.

I can advise you more similar books
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera is very similar. But it it also adds philosophy and historicisms.

 

[Gaze]

I think it depends on how it's done and why. Too often romance is often dismissed because it is romance or it is oversimplified as a romance when the real question is what's the point of this particular romance? What is it trying to make us feel or think? Why? For example, Beauty and the Beast. Beast is not the same as his human counterpart. They are two different personalities. Belle fell in love with the Beast, not the man who became the Beast. So, when they transformed him in the end, they were erasing an entire relationship for a new and untested one. I agree with those who say books do a better job of presenting romance than movies or film.

I'm a huge fan of historical romance. My classic faves are Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and Pride and Prejudice. The newest one is Bridgerton by Julia Quinn, now a series on Netflix. Yes, these stories do milk the idea of the brooding protagonist which everyone loves to hate, but these stories generally show that romantic partners or love itself is not always perfect. They also show that not everyone has the same options or choices for romantic partners. I think it's more problematic when couples are presented as aesthetically and wonderfully pleasing and happy but ditch when things get difficult or showing couples always in conflict, giving the impression that these are the models of a normal relationship. I also think some stories focus too much on cheating or other persons being causes of romantic problems rather than internal or couple based issues.

Yes, romance is idealized in the media, and can send many misleading or misguided messages about love and relationships but depends on what you are noticing and what you take from the stories you are watching. Curious to hear other people's views on modern romance in books and film as well.

 

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I cried a lot . I read this book 4 times and love it so much. Do you have similar feelings from another book?

Yes, the Death of Ivan Illych. This man spends his entire life trying to accrue material things only to have the worst sort of awakening.

I cried after reading that book as well because I identified with people like Ivan, like Werther, at one point in time. The most profound book for me has been War & Peace. In my opinion, there was only one winner of that story.

Only one.

 

[Deleted member 16771]

Yes, the Death of Ivan Illych. This man spends his entire life trying to accrue material things only to have the worst sort of awakening.

I cried after reading that book as well because I identified with people like Ivan, like Werther, at one point in time. The most profound book for me has been War & Peace. In my opinion, there was only one winner of that story.

Only one.

Natasha?

 

[lucyinthedarkness]

Yes, the Death of Ivan Illych. This man spends his entire life trying to accrue material things only to have the worst sort of awakening.

I cried after reading that book as well because I identified with people like Ivan, like Werther, at one point in time. The most profound book for me has been War & Peace. In my opinion, there was only one winner of that story.

Only one.

I like much more books from Dostojevski and Tolstoj which brought me similar emotions. And I can't forget my favorite writer Camus with Stranger and The Fall .

 

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Natasha?

Now that I think about it, yes. But I was going to say, strictly within the context of the book, either Napoleon or the Russian winter.

 

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I like much more books from Dostojevski and Tolstoj which brought me similar emotions. And I can't forget my favorite writer Camus with Stranger and The Fall .

I am a fan of Camus as well. He was my favorite for a long time until I got into Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. I agree more with them philosophically, especially Dostoyevsky who I don't talk about enough.

 

[Deleted member 16771]

Now that I think about it, yes. But I was going to say, strictly within the context of the book, either Napoleon or the Russian winter.

Haha

 

[lucyinthedarkness]

I am a fan of Camus as well. He was my favorite for a long time until I got into Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. I agree more with them philosophically, especially Dostoyevsky who I don't talk about enough.

Sorry for bad translate. In my country he is "Dostojevskij" and I lost "j" .
It looks that we have a common taste in literature

 

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Haha

My favorite character of that story is Prince Andrei Bolkonski.