Who does that?
Jun. 1st, 2013 07:02 pmSpeaking of tropes: one beloved by fanfiction and profiction (at least in tv form) alike is the one where, if the hero/heroine's alternate love interest isn't killed off or revealed to be unworthy, he/she says "but you're really meant to be with X!", recognizing the superior love of the main pairing (or, as ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
likedeuce once put it, realizes "you're the leading actress, but I'm not the leading man!") and their true love, and selflessly steps aside.
Can anyone think of any real life examples for that? I mean, other than historical situations where, say, a monarch got interested and an already existing husband thought it was far better to be accomodating etc. Because I really doubt that. And I'm trying to think of an example, in either pro or fanfic, that I both believed and liked, and coming up short. (Just a few examples: Arguably the worst of the Angel season finales was that of the third season, where everyone and their alter ego tells Angel and Cordy they're meant for each other, including Cordelia's earlier love interest. Lancelot not even bothering to explain himself to Gwen in person but letting Merlin give her the "some things were not meant to be" speech made me want to slap him, and I liked the character otherwise. And I know some slash writers use this plot device so the canon girlfriends/spouses/whatevers don't have to be killed off or be vilified, but that doesn't make "now I can see how superior your love for X is! Shag and be blessed!" scenes more believable to me.
(What I can think of are real life examples of people who thought their previous signifcant others should have this attitude, but not surprisingly, said s.o. were instead responding with varying degrees of hurt and "oh hell, no!". )
Trying to stretch it: hm, perhaps Laurie Juspycek and Dr. Manhattan are a believable and sympathetic-to-me example in Watchmen. Not least because due to his ability to see past, present and future at once, he knew she'd tell him about Dan before it ever happened, plus the comics allow him to be hurt anyway. Also, Watchmen doesn't imply Laurie never loved Jon to begin with, they have their most significant scene after their break up, and their relationship falls apart for completely Dan-unrelated reasons before that. It's not a question of "zomg, now I can see Dan is your soulmate!" or anything like that.
But other than that, I'm at the moment at a loss to think of either pro or fanfic examples where I liked the obligatory "you're meant to be with X! You really love X! You two are perfect together!" *exists stage left* scene.
likedeuce once put it, realizes "you're the leading actress, but I'm not the leading man!") and their true love, and selflessly steps aside.Can anyone think of any real life examples for that? I mean, other than historical situations where, say, a monarch got interested and an already existing husband thought it was far better to be accomodating etc. Because I really doubt that. And I'm trying to think of an example, in either pro or fanfic, that I both believed and liked, and coming up short. (Just a few examples: Arguably the worst of the Angel season finales was that of the third season, where everyone and their alter ego tells Angel and Cordy they're meant for each other, including Cordelia's earlier love interest. Lancelot not even bothering to explain himself to Gwen in person but letting Merlin give her the "some things were not meant to be" speech made me want to slap him, and I liked the character otherwise. And I know some slash writers use this plot device so the canon girlfriends/spouses/whatevers don't have to be killed off or be vilified, but that doesn't make "now I can see how superior your love for X is! Shag and be blessed!" scenes more believable to me.
(What I can think of are real life examples of people who thought their previous signifcant others should have this attitude, but not surprisingly, said s.o. were instead responding with varying degrees of hurt and "oh hell, no!". )
Trying to stretch it: hm, perhaps Laurie Juspycek and Dr. Manhattan are a believable and sympathetic-to-me example in Watchmen. Not least because due to his ability to see past, present and future at once, he knew she'd tell him about Dan before it ever happened, plus the comics allow him to be hurt anyway. Also, Watchmen doesn't imply Laurie never loved Jon to begin with, they have their most significant scene after their break up, and their relationship falls apart for completely Dan-unrelated reasons before that. It's not a question of "zomg, now I can see Dan is your soulmate!" or anything like that.
But other than that, I'm at the moment at a loss to think of either pro or fanfic examples where I liked the obligatory "you're meant to be with X! You really love X! You two are perfect together!" *exists stage left* scene.
