What Happens Next: A Gallimaufry

melancholic romantic comic cynic. bi & genderqueer. fantasy writer. sysrae on ao3.

Action vs Romance

In het-male-oriented action stories where the hero gets the girl, his manly efforts at saving the day serve as the narrative justification for the romantic outcome: he has done X, therefore he wins the lady. But because the story is all about the hero’s wants and needs, we’re very rarely shown why the lady likes X beyond a sort of implied, innate correlation: obviously ladies like X - or at least, this particular lady does, because otherwise, she wouldn’t be in the story. Her emotional complicity is a given, because the story doesn’t care about how she arrives at (from the hero’s standpoint) the correct decision; only that he gets his reward for performing X.

In het-female-oriented romance stories, the resolution of conflict between hero and heroine serves as the narrative justification for the romantic outcome: he has done Y and she has done Z, therefore they win each other. The story is about both their wants and needs, and while there’s often a stronger emotional focus on the heroine, the why of the hero’s attraction is still deemed important.

Traditional action narratives teach men that relationships are based on the successful completion of specific tasks, such that women’s internal thoughts, feelings and conflicts are a wholly irrelevant factor. 

Traditional romance narratives teach women that relationships are based on the mutual resolution of conflict. They are also constantly derided as not only lesser stories, but so inherently feminine as to be incompatible with male interest.

Which is why I will forever be deeply fucking suspicious of anyone who trumpets their love of action movies while laughing derisively at the very idea of chick flicks: because chances are, that person? Has internalised the idea that romance and relationships aren’t narratively interesting if you have to care what the woman thinks.

And that is fucking scary.  

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