Do you ever find yourself annoyed when everyone is paired off in movies, tv shows, and books?

[James121]

18 minutes ago, Luftschlosseule said:

Because some people don't become habitually romantically involved and it would be nice to feel aknowlegded.

A tv show or movie that doesn't depict an asexual or someone who simply stays single is simply not a lack of acknowledgement or recognition. This is like a dentist getting all humpty with the fact that no one ever seems to star in a film or soap as a dentist. 

[Luftschlosseule]

8 minutes ago, James121 said:

A tv show or movie that doesn't depict an asexual or someone who simply stays single is simply not a lack of acknowledgement or recognition. This is like a dentist getting all humpty with the fact that no one ever seems to star in a film or soap as a dentist. 

It's not that one show doesn't do it, it's that all of them don't included aros, or people just need a break.
Dentists are more representated than aros, just look at the Little Shop of Horrors, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - the remake - and all those toothfairy movies. The movie with the dentist that inherits a pack of sledge dogs. Can't give you more names cause I seen them in another language.

 

But that's the question of this thread: Do you get annoyed or not? You obviously don't, which is fine, as long as it is fine for you if people with other opinions get to share those, too. (:

[James121]

3 minutes ago, Luftschlosseule said:

It's not that one show doesn't do it, it's that all of them don't included aros, or people just need a break.
Dentists are more representated than aros, just look at the Rocky Horror Picture Show, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - the remake - and all those toothfairy movies. The movie with the dentist that inherits a pack of sledge dogs. Can't give you more names cause I seen them in another language.

 

But that's the question of this thread: Do you get annoyed or not? You obviously don't, which is fine, as long as it is fine for you if people with other opinions get to share those, too. (:

The Shawshank redemption is a film that shows Morgan freeman showing zero interest in romance beyond his friendship with the other main character. Who is to say that he wasn't asexual? I just think that some people hunt for reasons to be offended when in actual fact there is no real Issue. 

[Luftschlosseule]

Just now, James121 said:

The Shawshank redemption is a film that shows Morgan freeman showing zero interest in romance beyond his friendship with the other main character. Who is to say that he wasn't asexual? I just think that some people hunt for reasons to be offended when in actual fact there is no real Issue. 

I don't know that movie, maybe I'll check it out.

Well, to stay at your example, I don't care if dentists are depicted in media, and I think that's because I am not a dentist. I'd like to have realistic depiction of archaeology.

So everybody has their own topic of interest.

[Guest Jetsun Milarepa]

It also annoys me when people have to be in pairs for real life too. Single people are always overlooked in society that bases itself on pairing as the only legitimate stance. thank goodness things are changing.

[James121]

1 hour ago, chandrakirti said:

It also annoys me when people have to be in pairs for real life too. Single people are always overlooked in society that bases itself on pairing as the only legitimate stance. thank goodness things are changing.

It's worrying that you feel that pairings are a negative thing. No doubt about it, children are always better off with mum and dad around to nurture them. 

[Marrow]

On February 14, 2017 at 11:26 AM, Dark General said:

Hey, so I've noticed that a lot of times in movies, tv shows, and books that everyone is almost always paired off. There's never anyone that stays single. I've found that this annoys me to a huge extent, especially if there are no female characters that stay single. I feel like it annoys me because it plays into the common message that nobody can be happy or fulfilled on their own and that everyone needs someone else to be happy. I guess you could say that I really dislike the pairing of spares. To be honest, it gets old after a while seeing everyone in the story becoming the boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife of another character. Does anyone else feel this way or is it just me?

On an asexual point: not really, love is love, but it is overdone. Im rather more annoyed with the fact that media plays off relationships like there so easy to acquire when in reality, heh they're not

[Soraiko]

I'm not sure how a prison movie is supposed to be a big example of a character that isn't interested in romance. While there are depictions of romance in media about prisons, from a practical standpoint you're not going to have your prison film have a bunch of romance. That's not the same as a movie/tv show/book about people just living their lives, not in prison, basically requiring romance to be a part of it. 

 

I also take offense to the idea that people are better off with both parents. I was raised by just my mother and my half-brother grew up with his mom and our dad. He absolutely hates our dad, a feeling that apparently was mutual, and moved to the other side of the planet. While I and as far as I know our older half-brother don't have that issue with him. So a lot of people do better off without both parents. I have relatives who would probably be better off if their parents got divorced and they don't because of that idea. It's a dangerous  and offensive generalization that everyone is better off with both parents, when many people absolutely are not.

[cheshers]

Oop, I seem to be a little late arriving to the party.  I was just really intrigued by the title of this thread and thought I'd toss in my opinion.

 

Personally, it doesn't bother me. As a heteromantic I do enjoy reading/watching movies with a love interest as long as it's meaningful. Cut out the sex scenes and chop them into a million little pieces, but the romance itself? I don't read a book or watch a movie for the love interest, and I agree with a previous comment I read about there generally being more important things going on for the protagonist; but if it's there, it doesn't feel forced, and it's portrayed well/remains interesting then I'm all for it. 

 

I dabble in writing myself. I have a bad habit of never seeing an idea through to the end, but I love story-telling and I like to think I'll finish something one day that I can be proud of--and I'll be dammed if anything I publish doesn't have asexual representation. It isn't done enough, and I'd like to see more diversity that way in what I read/watch in the future. 

 

 

[Calamity Jim]

I was sooooo mad when they made Dumbledore gay. I had an ace fantasy of him in my head. 

[Darth Tribble]

I do find it annoying, but I try not to let it affect my enjoyment of the story.

[helana12_03]

I often do. I do have my ships, but still... I definitely want books, movies and shows to have more single characters. 

[doggalogga]

No. It doesn't bother me. They're only stories.

 

Stories are often full of gratuitous bullshit. Stupid romantic escapades are part of it.

 

I don't expect any stories to depict my life in the slightest.

[Tototodile]

If you ever read A Streetcat Named Bob and you feel this, don't watch the film.

The book is entirely about a homeless person's relationship with a cat he finds, and about how his life was so improved by Bob's existence. The film is about his relationship with this girl who I'm not sure even existed, and it felt like the cat was just thrown in to fill space.

 

I can cope with romance in films, and can often appreciate it even if it's not really important to the plot, but sometimes it's forced in to the point where I'm just like "can you get on with the story now please".

 

I've only ever encountered one sex scene in a film that didn't profoundly irritate me, and that was in Deadpool of all things: instead of being all fetishised and used entirely to arouse the audience for no good reason, it was mostly used for comedy, actually fit well into the film, but most importantly it was the only sex scene I've seen that actually said anything about their relationship.

[Ace ♠ At ♠ Archery]

I'm reading a book at the moment and this is exactly how I feel. When I got the book it started off really good and I couldn't put it down but the more I read it the more boring it gets. They focus too much on the relationships when that has nothing to do with the story. I find it really unnecessary.

[Roardova]

LA Complex was perhaps the worst in that aspect, but regardless of the pairing off; I still loved that show.  It just sucks because majority of the group scenes weren't long enough for me, I miss that show a lot; it was gay friendly & I liked almost everyone on that cast.  But when they started pairing off with story lines, it got difficult to watch because an actual LA Complex should reflect an entire group of people, not individuals.  Life in general is about everyone & I wouldn't even call myself the main character in my life.  I'm not the only person living, if I were to summarize any part of my life; I may have been alone but there was always some body around to bounce energy off of.

 

When I write my stories, I have my breaking off of things; but it's not in the sense of pairing people off to the point that it's super obvious that they are their own entity & no one else matters.  I don't have any main characters in my stories at all either.  Hell, one of my stories has 400 characters in it but my first planned graphic novel has 36 characters with about 81 in total that make strong appearances in the story.  I've even drawn the faces of all of them & the bodies of 4/5's of them.  After going through this thread, I'm going to have to make sure I don't pair off my characters too much.

[PurveyorOfBadPuns]

I don't mind pairing off (unless it seems forced), but one thing that really pisses me off is love triangles.  I just hate it when there's this manufactured conflict over a person and I've become a little famous in my school for always shouting, "JUST HAVE A THREESOME!" when it starts.

[sir octepus tea]

depends on how it´s written. 

 

in most mainstream media it´s really badly written and the relationships seem unhealthy which really turns me off to to speak. In some fanfictions it´s better written but I don´t really seek out romantic media. 

 

 

[WobblyWallaby]

I don't really mind couples everywhere in the media. It gives me a chance to watch and thank a higher power that I am not even remotely like them. No, what bothers me is when an ace is depicted and they get it wrong. I actually watched a show on Thursday were an ace was depicted but it was for a gag. Someone said something like "Oh that's just Harry...he's asexual...he's only attracted to inanimate objects." To which Harry rubs his face on a fork or something and sighs like he's twitterpated.  Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm the only asexual who isn't dating a fork right now. But I'm pretty sure that the show didn't do their homework and just threw it in there to look cool and get a laugh.

[Yggdrasill]

I don't find it annoying, per se. I find it annoying when people are paired off with people that serve no other purpose, other than being a 'significant other'. I don't think its necessary to have a significant other to explain motivation or altruism, but it seems that its often used as an easy way out. X person loves Y person, and therefore will go to great lengths to achieve Z goal. I find it lazy more than anything, and very annoying. There are plenty of cases where the significant other is an integral part of the narrative, and some sort of bonding is natural in the environments you find in movies, tv shows and books. I read voraciously, and have found it refreshing when a protagonist or even another involved main character remains single; but there are other cases such as in Pacific Rim, where there is nothing beyond a strong platonic bond and its debatable whether or not the characters are 'paired' in any way.

[helana12_03]

On 2/25/2017 at 11:14 AM, sir octepus tea said:

depends on how it´s written. 

 

in most mainstream media it´s really badly written and the relationships seem unhealthy which really turns me off to to speak. In some fanfictions it´s better written but I don´t really seek out romantic media. 

 

 

I hate the "will they won't they" formula that most shows use. It's so predictable and boring. The problem is that most shows use the exact same formula because it seems to work. I wish they were a bit more creative.

[UnicornQueen]

I enjoy romance if it makes sense and adds something interesting into the plot. I even ship some of my favourite characters. But I hate when pairings are forced. I don't understand why some characters can't stay single or what is wrong in being friends instead of romantic partners. 

[TheGrumpyBear]

I read a lot of webcomics. This kind of thing has made me stop reading a number of them. Two big offenders are Dumbing of Age and Between Failures. The worst instances come from when a character who has shown absolutely no interest in any form of romantic or sexual relationship is suddenly (literally two strips in one case) acting like a lovestruck schoolkid with one of the other characters...often these other characters also appeared suddenly. It bugs the crap out of me when an author takes a character who was generally more interesting than most of the others and hamhandedly thrusts them into a relationship. It's as bad as when an author adds in an arbitrary homosexual character. If the character developed as homosexual, that fits. But just chunking it in there for apparently no reason but shock value or to have one in there? That's just sloppy writing.

[fatal flower-boy]

Heck yeah :c

The fact that everything has to revolve around love is tiring after awhile. Like, why does everything have these squishy gross feelings? But, you know, it's a concept that's sold to us so often.. and even though I say these things, I always end up shipping peeps and spazzing over love stories. I'm writing a story right now that isn't about love, but four of the characters are in some kind of romance dilemma..

 

it's something that's hard to get away from tbh.

[Guest Jetsun Milarepa]

@James121 I possibly didn't come across properly in my post 

On 16/02/2017 at 10:30 PM, chandrakirti said:

It also annoys me when people have to be in pairs for real life too. Single people are always overlooked in society that bases itself on pairing as the only legitimate stance. thank goodness things are changing.

 

On 16/02/2017 at 11:46 PM, James121 said:

It's worrying that you feel that pairings are a negative thing. No doubt about it, children are always better off with mum and dad around to nurture them. 

I wasn't being negative about people who want to be in pairs, just those who feel they are being forced by societies norms.

Also, as a single parent of an Oxford graduate, no, nobody needs both parents (especially if one is a numpty) it's the quality of the parenting, not the quantity of parent(s) that counts. How many 2 parent families are in the news for killing their offspring....

[James121]

5 hours ago, chandrakirti said:

@James121 I possibly didn't come across properly in my post 

 

I wasn't being negative about people who want to be in pairs, just those who feel they are being forced by societies norms.

Also, as a single parent of an Oxford graduate, no, nobody needs both parents (especially if one is a numpty) it's the quality of the parenting, not the quantity of parent(s) that counts. How many 2 parent families are in the news for killing their offspring....

Agreed one quality parent is absolutely fine. Can be great even. In your case clearly so but 2 quality parents is irrefutably the best balance you can have in my opinion. 

[aeimquy159]

Nah, I feel bad for them. I have found relating to a sexual protagonist hard. Almost all media wants you to believe that there is one person out there for you. That no matter how bad things are if you find that person you be made "whole" and all of your problems will go away. It's about as far from reality you can get. 

[Cognition!]

In English class, we learned that "a Shakesperean comedy always ends with marriage."

 

And they said those plays were ahead of their time.

 

Spoiler

Don't get me wrong- I love Shakespeare (the plays without excessive romance, that is)

 

[Kelpie]

I'm okay with romance and sex but I want it to serve a purpose (it can also be their own purpose, e.g. in a romance novel or something). A well written romance can be very interesting and even sex scenes can be crucial to convey something about the characters - but I absolutely hate the fact that in nearly every movie/book etc., no matter the genre, people get paired off and you can almost always guess who it's gonna be within the first 5 minutes of the movie. It's just so unnecessary. 

[LeChat]

After reading literary journals, reading synopses of winning/chosen short theater plays, and attempting to enter my own work into these contests, I've been seeing a preference that judges have towards writers or poets who write about a couple's or a single character's sexual desire. It's frustrating because even though I try to write about other life experiences and topics that I intend for many people can relate to, apparently, judges are more interested in topics and descriptions of sexual relationships and think other topics are "boring."

 

I'm not interested in writing sex scenes just to fit in with what sexual people want; I'm trying to be true to myself. Plus, I think I'd write them wrong because I don't have—and haven't experienced—sexual attraction towards anyone.

 

So, asexuals are also subtly discriminated against, economically, in that their writing that doesn't feature sex is less likely to be chosen. It's frustrating because I can't help being asexual, nor the fact that not too many males haven't been interested in dating me. I can't help being this way. Maybe I'm lithromantic.