Is it considered "normal" to have a strong distaste for any material containing Romance?

D Moness

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crusador90 said:
Is it?

If not, well, aparently, I'm not normal, since I have a strong dislike for the genre and themes wherever it appears.
Doesnt help considering how unavoidable it is.

And for the record, I can discern between love and lust.
Why would your personal taste (like that) be not normal.
Everyone has his/her likes and dislikes. Just because it doesn't match the taste of the people around you doesn't make you abnormal.

Just like my love for anything romantic and my dislike of westerns isn't right or wrong (normal or abnormal) it is just who i am.

Also remember taste can change over time.
 

Eddie the head

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Casual Shinji said:
I don't mind romance at all, unless it's bad romance, i.e. no chemistry, i.e. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
I like you for the most part. And yeah I can agree with you on that. If it doesn't work I hate it if it dose work I like it.
 

loc978

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Romance is a fun fantasy, so long as you remember it's just fantasy. You can't be Wesley to her Buttercup or vice-versa any more than you can attain third level spellcasting, and then memorize and cast fireball.

Real relationships take work, and tend not to last long unless something is forcing the people involved to stay together. Y'know... like children, or strong social expectations.

Normalcy, though? That varies widely by culture, and can change if you travel even twenty miles or so.
 
Jan 13, 2012
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I guess it's pretty normal.

I, for one, love a good romance subplot (and yes, I am in the process of growing a vagina) but only if it's well written and fits in with the overall plot.
 

Angie7F

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I am one person that cannot understand why people will pay money to go and watch romance film in the movie theater.
Its not even worth my time. let alone time and money.
 

xplosive59

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Go play/read Katawa Shoujo, then come back and say that romance as a focal point is bad, this is something that does romance well. When romance is shoehorned in it pretty much always shit, but if it flows with the plot then it can make the material 100x better.
 

Soundwave

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I think I've seen so many bad romantic elements in media that I block them all out. I catch myself looking away when people kiss, get up to make a sandwich during sex scenes, etc. I think for me that it's similar to sports wherein I have no interest in them unless I'm an active participant. Watching other people makes me feel creepy and voyeuristic.
 

Canadamus Prime

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I don't know about "normal" but there certainly isn't anything wrong with that. I'm not terribly fond of it myself, mostly because it makes me terribly depressed.
crusador90 said:
And for the record, I can discern between love and lust.
Unfortunately there are very few who produce entertainment media that can tell the difference.
 

Woodsey

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If it's everything, no matter what, then that's not normal. If it's just when it's poorly done (which, in fairness, is a lot of the time), then that's pretty normal.

To be perfectly honest, anything that goes beyond a certain - very small - threshold of sentimentality makes me nauseous. But Romance can be done very well. Is there anyone on the planet who didn't root for Tim and Dawn/Jim and Pam?
 

talker

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it is normal as long as you are younger then 10. from that point onward, anybody who doesn't will become a great scientist (but a very lonely one who will die of a heart condition).
 

ex275w

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Mr F. said:
Richard A. Kiernan said:
Mr F. said:
Romance has its purpose. Having a distaste for all romance is not normal. The only lives that are devoid of ALL romance are those lived by psychopaths.
I'm not a psychopath, and my life has literally been devoid of anything that could be regarded romantic. I don't have a complete distaste for romance, but I do have a great disregard and antipathy for many overtly romantic things. Now, obviously, this thread shouldn't centre around my issues, but I'm really not surprised that the OP is turned off romance, as it can be really, really hard to attune yourself where nearly everybody else seems to be getting lucky and you're not.
But the fact that you mention not getting lucky DOES indicate that romance has played a part in your life, however small. Unrequited love is half of romance. I mean, a central theme is "Boy meets girl, girl already has boy, boy proves himself better than other boy through quest/savingworld/beingrich/bacon, boy wins girl". A hell of a lot of poetry, from all fronts, is centered around "Boy loves girl, Girl barely notices boy, nothing ever happens".

So I still hold that the only lives that are UTTERLY devoid of romance, devoid of it to the point where they do not even think about not getting lucky are psychopaths. And that they would not care, what with being psychopaths.

I can understand being turned off romance. I used to be. Hell, I used to hate seeing young couples, all happy and whatnot, what with my only experience with dating and romance (At the time) being making out with a morbidly obese chick. But, once I had a few more forays into the realms of love (Getting engaged. No longer being engaged. Stuff like that) I just... Grew up, I guess.

Not saying that you are immature for hating romance just... Well, I dont understand it. In my experience once people get above the age of, say, 17, they have... grown to either like hints of romance in things or, at the very least, not hate it. Relationships are a part of growing up is what I am saying, so... Yeah.

I think I lost my central point here.

I still hold that the OP aint normal for having a "Strong distaste for any material containing Romance" considering that most material has romance within it, even as a sub plot, and that romance makes up a large part of our everyday lives. Unless, naturally, the OP is bitter (Like you appear to be) about their own life, which does make them normal for hating romance, but not normal if they are above the age of, say, 17.

I guess I am saying that if you have a strong distaste for romantic material in things you should grow up. I do not mean this is a mean way, or in a way which sounds like a personal attack, I mean it as someone who DID hate romantic things and then DID grow up.
Dude, I'm asexual and are most certainly not a psychopath by not wanting to date a girl, guy, or animal, sure I love my family and friends, but I still hate 99% of love stuff in media.

The only times I like romance it's if I know it's the central point of the plot. I like sappy, corny stuff like Kanon, because I know it's going to be sappy and corny. Scott Pilgrim is another movie I liked the romance in it because I knew it was a romantic movie.
I dislike the romance stuff in action the Dark Knight and Star Wars because while technically, important to the characters I just find it shoehorned in for no good reason.
 

Soundwave

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Mr F. said:
Richard A. Kiernan said:
Mr F. said:
Romance has its purpose. Having a distaste for all romance is not normal. The only lives that are devoid of ALL romance are those lived by psychopaths.
I'm not a psychopath, and my life has literally been devoid of anything that could be regarded romantic. I don't have a complete distaste for romance, but I do have a great disregard and antipathy for many overtly romantic things. Now, obviously, this thread shouldn't centre around my issues, but I'm really not surprised that the OP is turned off romance, as it can be really, really hard to attune yourself where nearly everybody else seems to be getting lucky and you're not.
But the fact that you mention not getting lucky DOES indicate that romance has played a part in your life, however small. Unrequited love is half of romance. I mean, a central theme is "Boy meets girl, girl already has boy, boy proves himself better than other boy through quest/savingworld/beingrich/bacon, boy wins girl". A hell of a lot of poetry, from all fronts, is centered around "Boy loves girl, Girl barely notices boy, nothing ever happens".

So I still hold that the only lives that are UTTERLY devoid of romance, devoid of it to the point where they do not even think about not getting lucky are psychopaths. And that they would not care, what with being psychopaths.

I can understand being turned off romance. I used to be. Hell, I used to hate seeing young couples, all happy and whatnot, what with my only experience with dating and romance (At the time) being making out with a morbidly obese chick. But, once I had a few more forays into the realms of love (Getting engaged. No longer being engaged. Stuff like that) I just... Grew up, I guess.

Not saying that you are immature for hating romance just... Well, I dont understand it. In my experience once people get above the age of, say, 17, they have... grown to either like hints of romance in things or, at the very least, not hate it. Relationships are a part of growing up is what I am saying, so... Yeah.

I think I lost my central point here.

I still hold that the OP aint normal for having a "Strong distaste for any material containing Romance" considering that most material has romance within it, even as a sub plot, and that romance makes up a large part of our everyday lives. Unless, naturally, the OP is bitter (Like you appear to be) about their own life, which does make them normal for hating romance, but not normal if they are above the age of, say, 17.

I guess I am saying that if you have a strong distaste for romantic material in things you should grow up. I do not mean this is a mean way, or in a way which sounds like a personal attack, I mean it as someone who DID hate romantic things and then DID grow up.
I think you're being a little obtuse here. Considering just how much 'romance' has saturated every type of media, it's certainly reasonable for people to feel distaste for it.
 

chronobreak

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I hate it as well. They say it makes characters relatable, but I can't relate to most romances in media at all, and I've been married for 6 years. I don't like that it has to be shoehorned in to everything.
 

sextus the crazy

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Sean Hollyman said:
I've got no beef with it, but I hate it when it's in something that I don't feel it should be in.

Transformers, for instance. The 'romance' between Megan Fox and Shia Labeouf was painful, I just wanted to see robots fight...
This. If you're going to do it, don't half-ass it. Make it integral and satisfying. Also, for the love of God, do not tease a relationship, but never have the characters go through with it (fucking oblivious male protagonists).
 

crusador90

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Mr F. said:
Richard A. Kiernan said:
Mr F. said:
I will try to come up with examples of books or films that do not contain any form of romance on any level.

Um. *ponders*

Uh. I guess the new Rise of the Planet of the Apes? It was a pretty good film and I cannot remember any "Romance". Not to say that there wasn't any, but hell, I think I was concentrating on the rise of the apes and whatnot. I do not watch many films. But even trashy stuff like Death Race (ONE OF THE BEST FILMS EVER MADE. ITS TWISTED METAL THE MOVIE) contains a tiny bit of romance, or at least a remembered romance, to try and make you empathise with the main character.

I guess if you only like to read non-fiction, watch documentaries about events and not people, and uh... Nope, that is about it.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World is a movie which I don't recall having a romantic sideplot. I don't recall one in Predator either. I've been specifically on the lookout for films that don't contain any romance, because I think that it's absurd how much it's shoehorned into things that don't need it. I think every romantic comedy, by law, should be forced to have at least one shootout or car chase, even if it disturbs the flow of the film.
I dunno. I don't think shoehorned is the right word. A lot of human interaction is centered around getting laid (To put it bluntly) or being happy with whoever you choose, which is essentially romance. Very, VERY few lives are totally devoid of romance, of relationships, and I do not think it is a bad thing whatsoever that this is represented in films.

As for your final statement, which was obviously a joke, not all "Romantic Comedies" need to have car chases and whatnot. Speaking as a dude (Albeit one that doesn't mind decent funny Rom Coms, like Love Actually, but fucking hates shit ones, like "Hes just not that into you" or whatever it was called) some rom coms are funny and they serve their purpose in the market. I do no LIKE this idea that ALL dudes love car chases and whatnot.

Hell, the sort of films I like are usually devoid of mental stupid fight scenes. Easy example is one of my favourite films: District 9. The "Action" scenes were utterly tacked on and badly done. They were interesting, sure, but they served no purpose other than to break the flow to get people who thought they were watching a usual "MAN VS ALIENS" film back into the waking world.

Romance has its purpose. Having a distaste for all romance is not normal. The only lives that are devoid of ALL romance are those lived by psychopaths.

Psychopath? Really? For disliking this entire genre that seems to come naturally to pretty much everyone?

Ok. I'm going to be really honest here. I'm 22 years old, well past my teens, so the expectations of my understandings should be higher.
Another thing is... I'll be honest here, "Distaste" is actually a weak word for me here, I hate romances. I won't go out of my way to see an Anime, watch a movie, play a video game, read a comic/book, or watch a TV show where relationships are the central focus or the crux of the narrative's story, and I won't go out of my way to disparage people who love those stories because we are entitled to our opinions and preferences, and I'd love to distance myself from what I dislike as much possible.

But more often than not, I'm exposed to it anyway, and of the worst kind: the "shoe-horned-in" subplots that don't belong. and the many many many MANY sappy love songs that populate radio airwaves (Thank God for iTunes!).

I also cannot for the life of me, understand the entire concept of "shippping" and why fans are so obssessed over the pairings and relationships of characters from their favorite whatever.

And to be honest... this also extends somewhat to real-life circumstances too; seeing couples openly display their affections, even if it's just hand-holding, is something I don't like seeing, and my reaction ranges from discomfort to deep-seated disgust. I'd be a psychopath if I went out of my way to make sure those people wouldn't be happy, but I'm not, so there you have it.

Bottom line: I don't like romances, so I won't go out of my way to see them, but I also hate them in stuff I want to see.
 

crusador90

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Hmmmm... I also forgot to note that I have made a few exceptions if the romance was executed in a believable and very careful manner.

If it's done very very well, then I won't mind too much.

Most of time, especially with the aforemented Transformers example (Was pretty much the only reason to justify having Megan Fox in the movie, not that the Transformers trilogy cared about tasteful or subtle humour, satire, or themes), it isn't done well, which further justifies my hate for including any of that nonsense.
 

ElPatron

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Romance can be well done.

I'll just say that writers who are writing the romance won't get a good job done. Romance needs to be part of a story like it's part of human life.

You wouldn't like an action movie that was 1h30m of a rifle cycling, muzzle flashing and spent casings being ejected. That's entertaining for like 1 minute.
 

teebeeohh

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romance as a plot element: yeah, like everything, if done well it makes the movie better
romance as the driving force behind everything in the movie: no, thank you, not that interesting since i just have to listen to my girlfriend talk about her friends for that.